Satnam Singh's Maungaturoto pub has no beer

The historic Maungaturoto Hotel has become the pub with no beer after the manager had the renewal of his liquor licence declined because of three breaches of his existing one.

Both the on and off licences expired fully in April but were already under suspension because of the record of licensee Satnam Singh.

He was brought before the Alcohol Regulatory Licensing Authority (ARLA) for three significant breaches under the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act in 18 months.

Police Senior Sergeant John Fagan said opposition to renew the licence did not mean the police, the Kaipara District Council and the Northland District Health Board, who had all objected to Mr Singh's management, were against a hotel operating out of the premises.

"It was that management we had concerns about," Mr Fagan said. "For us, the important issue was safety for the community. The risks of alcohol-related harm in the community, had he been able to carry on, were too great. He needed to be able to stand up and take responsibility for how he ran that business."

Police records indicating the hotel was not being managed in a compliant manner had stacked up in that period.

The results of excess alcohol/breath operations pointed to drunk people leaving the hotel and driving, and police had followed up various reports of disorderly behaviour and assault, Mr Fagan said.

"We got to the point where we had to say enough was enough."

Mr Singh's licence was first suspended for 24 hours on November 25, 2015, after failing a controlled purchase operation (CPO), a police sting to catch underage booze buying or out of hours sales.

He then landed a five-day suspension on June 14, 2016, for being drunk on the premises as duty manager.

Finally, on November 11, 2016, he received a 14-day suspension for allowing customers to be drunk and disorderly on the premises.

The ARLA ruled at that time Mr Singh had failed to conduct the pub in a proper manner, and cancelled his manager's licence.

In January this year the Kaipara District Licensing Committee issued a temporary authority to Affordable Earthmoving Ltd to trade under the hotel's then current base licences.

That temporary authority ended on April 20, meaning all existing licences have now expired.

Mr Singh, who is the sole shareholder and director of 5 Star NZ Ltd, told the licensing committee the hotel was for sale.

The owner of the hotel is listed in the companies register as G&K Investment NZ Ltd.