Alcohol authority overturns Napier district committee decision

From left, Bay City Club president Blu Corlett, club member Peter Nee Harland and volunteer bar staffer Nuala Walsh. PHOTO/DOUG LAING

A small but historic Napier club is toasting an Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority finding that the Napier District Licensing Committee was not entitled to make a decision which threatened to close the club's bar.

ARLA says that in deciding on a 12-month adjournment of an application for the renewal of a licence held by the Hawke's Bay Commercial Travellers Assn, trading as Bay City Club, the committee went beyond its powers — "on a frolic of its own".

Club president and manager Blu Corlett says the adjournment left the club, which has a history dating back over a century and has operated from former lodge premises it owns off Milton Rd, without the up-to-date licence required to be displayed on the premises and effectively put the club on probation when it had not done anything wrong. A liquor supplier suspended deliveries for a short time as a result.

The renewal was not opposed by police, the Medical Officer of Health or the District Licensing Inspector, but a hearing of the District Licensing Committee of former licensing inspector Dave Fellows and councillors Faye White and Keith Price was held last July because of a noise-based objection by businessman Rod Earnshaw, the owner of new apartments next-door in the refurbished old Napier Fire Station.

Despite the club's position in the Art Deco Quarter of the Inner-City Retail Zone and the expectation of noise from city nightlife, the Licensing Inspector recommended cutting closing hours from 1am to 11pm, and renewal for just one year instead of the standard three years.

Advised by Corlett that this would force the historic, volunteer-run club out of business, the committee decided to adjourn a decision for 12 months on the basis the licence would be renewed if there were no further noise complaints.

In a decision based on an appeal heard on April 8, Authority chairman Judge Kevin Kelly accepted the club had been operating on its premises since 1983 without any issues, and had taken steps to mitigate noise issues after the small number of complaints over about six months in 2017.

The authority of Judge Kelly and one industry representative noted noise complaints arose during a "brief period" following the conversion of the fire station to apartments, and there was no previous concern of excessive noise in the club's history on the site.

It was satisfied remedial steps had been taken by the club there were no issues of nuisance or vandalism, and there were no reasons the licence should not be renewed with its existing conditions.

Represented by member Peter Nee Harland, the club had argued the committee had no jurisdiction to impose what the club said was "effectively" a probationary period, that the committee failed to give weight to other neighbours' testimony to the club's "good behaviour", and that the committee erred by seeking to obtain further evidence following the hearing and decision.

Earnshaw did not attend the original committee hearing and was not represented at the appeal, where there was also no appearance nor submissions on behalf of the District Licensing Committee or other agencies.