A company has applied for an on-licence to reopen the Welcome Bay Tavern and open a cafe and restaurant on the same site. Photo / Sandra Conchie
There is hope for the reopening of closed bars in two Tauranga suburbs as new liquor licence applications are considered.
The Welcome Bay Tavern and Maungatapu Sports Bar closed after former operators lost their liquor licences.
The owners of Rusty’s Bar in Tauranga and the Te Aroha Hotel have applied for an on-licence to reopen the tavern.
They plan to use the Welcome Bay Rd space as a cafe by morning and restaurant by evening – with the venue to be called Bayview Restaurant & Cafe – before the tavern opens at night.
Company directors Varinder Pal Singh Sidhu and business partner Arvinder Singh Garwel applied to the Tauranga District Licensing Committee on August 23. A public feedback period closes today.
The tavern, also known as Welcome Bay Sports Bar & Grill, closed in March after the former operators lost their liquor licence due to liquor law breaches.
The attached bottle store’s licence was also suspended after liquor was sold to an underage person in 2023 and 2024 stings. The businesses had the same former licensee.
The tavern briefly reopened in May as an alcohol-free pool hall, but subsequently closed.
The new application shows the applicants have a lease agreement with the property’s owner, the S & K Cholan Family Trust.
Sidhu told the Bay of Plenty Times they had the trust’s consent for the on-licence and also a sale and purchase agreement to buy the tavern.
Sidhu and Gerwal said they had owned and operated similar hospitality businesses since 2021.
“We’ve owned Rusty’s Bar for about a year, and the Lucky Finns bar in Hamilton for more than two years, and the Palace Hotel in Te Aroha for four-and-a-half years.
“We’ve never had objections from any council to holding a liquor licence.”
The hotel had been sold and “would change hands” in early November.
Sidhu said if they were granted the licence, there would be major changes to the decor, lighting and layout of the Welcome Bay premises, including repainting the building.
Other improvements include custom-built tables and chairs, new carpets, and planter boxes to create a “cool atmosphere” and intimate dining areas.
It would seat up to 70 people inside, up to 80 in the garden bar and employ 10-15 staff, including four duty managers and three chefs, he said.
Entertainment would include televised sports, karaoke and an open-mic night, and regular pool and darts competitions.
The cafe would be open 7am to 2pm, the restaurant 5pm to 9pm, then the tavern until 1am.
Sidhu said they hoped to open in early November.
“This site fits perfectly with the type of premises we like to operate, and we hope lots of people support our application.
“We intend to provide great cafe and restaurant food options, and we want to make a long-term commitment to this area.”
If successful, he said they would apply for a gaming licence to operate 18 pokie machines.
Graduate Welcome Bay Ltd has applied for an off-licence to reopen a bottle store next door under the Bottle-O brand.
The company directors are Jatinder Singh and Surinder Singh and the company is part of a group that operates eight licensed premises, including seven bottle stores across the district.
The licensing committee will hear the application on October 10.
M & S Jenkins Holdings Ltd has applied for a liquor on-licence for the Maungatapu Sports Bar, on Maungatapu Rd.
The bar has been closed since February, after the former operator was denied liquor licence renewal. An initial proposed buyer’s plan to reopen it fell over in August.
Under the new application, company directors Marie, Shannon and Whitney Jenkins and Jethro Wilkins from Ōtūmoetai would run the bar.
The application said the directors each had more than 10 years of experience managing “medium- to high-risk” venues and would all work at the bar.
The applicant has a lease agreement with landlords – the same trust that owns the Welcome Bay site.
They proposed to open daily from 10am to 1am.
The application said they planned to have a food caravan on-site for patrons and locals, and operate a delivery service to the wider Tauranga area.
Marie Jenkins told the Bay of Plenty Times it was “too early” in the process to comment on the application.
Public submissions close on October 17.
Tauranga City Council said the district licensing committee would review the applications and submissions, and decide if a public hearing was required.
Sandra Conchie is a senior journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post who has been a journalist for 25 years. She mainly covers police, court and other justice stories, as well as general news. She has been a Canon Media Awards regional/community reporter of the year.