Jose Ubiaga has been running bars on Courtenay Place for 20 years and says the council has never been so difficult to deal with.
Jose Ubiaga has been running bars on Courtenay Place for 20 years and says the council has never been so difficult to deal with.
A Wellington bar owner has been forced to close for two days, losing thousands of dollars, after promoting two-for-one drinks on a chalkboard inside his bar that could be seen from the footpath outside.
Wellington City Council took Jose Ubiaga to the Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authorityin June, accusing his Courtenay Place venues The Residence Bar and Dakota of “irresponsible promotion of alcohol”.
In December, The Residence displayed a chalkboard at the front of the bar reading “Manager’s pick of the week, happy hour 2 for 1, 4pm – 6pm”.
That same month a post on Dakota’s Facebook page advertised “2 for 1 cocktail 10pm – 11pm tonight”.
The council argued it was a criminal offence to advertise in a way that leads people to believe the price of a drink is 25% or more below the price at which the alcohol is ordinarily sold, and promoting it in a way that can be seen from outside the business.
The "happy hour" sign at the Residence Bar on Wellington's Courtenay Place advertising 2 for 1 happy hour drinks was found in breach of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act.
The ruling, published yesterday, says Ubiaga acknowledged the advertisement was a breach of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act, but said that “promotions of this nature had been run by him for some years”.
“He is also now well aware of the likely consequences of further breaches”, the decision states.
Judge Robert Spear ordered a 48-hour suspension of The Residence and placed a negative holding against the business.
When he received the email from the council informing him of the chalkboard breach, he “went straight down there and wiped off the ‘2 for 1′ within minutes", he said.
He said both instances were human error and were corrected when brought to his attention.
Ubiaga believes they were both minor breaches and not deserving of going before the Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority.
“They’ve got a bee in their bonnet about me”, he said of the council, “because I talk out about them”.
The sign at the Residence Bar on Wellington's Courtenay Place advertising 2 for 1 happy hour drinks was found in breach of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act.
Ubiaga, who has been operating bars on Courtenay Place for 20 years, said he used to have a good relationship with the council’s compliance team but in recent years that has deteriorated. He believes they are too focused on compliance rather than working with business.
“We’re at a time where it’s probably been the toughest I’ve ever seen it, especially in Wellington. If anything, the council need to be working with businesses to kind of make sure they stay operating not put roadblocks up.”
He estimates the 48-hour closure, which took place earlier this month, cost the business thousands of dollars.
“You’ve got staff that don’t get two days’ work so they lose out, obviously you’ve got the income from not being able to open for two days as well, you’ve got the cash flow problems, you don’t have to walk around very far to realise how tough it is out there”, Ubiaga said.
Wellington City Council did not have any comment to provide on the matter, except to say it “accepts the ARLA decision”.
Ethan Manera is a New Zealand Herald journalist based in Wellington. He joined NZME in 2023 as a broadcast journalist with Newstalk ZB and is interested in local issues, politics, and property in the capital. He can be emailed at ethan.manera@nzme.co.nz.
