Strip bar can stay open on Anzac Day

Stiletto's doorman Mark Everett under the blue lights of the Princes St strip club. Photo / Gregor Richardson

A strip bar in Dunedin will stay open past 1am on Anzac Day, despite late licence applications from other city bars being declined.

Dunedin City Council liquor licensing and projects officer Kevin Mechen said about 20 bars in Dunedin had been granted licences to stay open until 1am.

Dunedin bars seeking licences beyond 1am had been declined at a hearing.

"They were given to 1am, just like everyone else."

A few people had informally commented to the council that bars should close at midnight to respect the Anzac memory, he said.

He expected those who attended the Aerosmith concert to be in bed by 1am and to be "long gone" by the commencement of dawn service.

However, Stilettos Revue Bar owner Peter Cooper said his Dunedin strip bar would be open past 1am because he had a 24-hour entertainment licence.

The bar would remain open to 6am if patrons were still there, he said.

Mr Mechen said only hotels and taverns had to apply for a special licence to serve alcohol on Anzac Day but places like Velvet Burger in George St could remain open and keep serving alcohol because food was its "predominant" service, like entertainment was the predominant service for the strip bar.

The Sale of Liquor Act (1989) had "not kept up with modern times" and the new Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act (2012) would result in all off-licences being closed on Anzac Day next year, he said.

"We are stuck with an old piece of legislation and if it wasn't for Aerosmith, we wouldn't have given any special licences at all."