Whakatāne bar's hours reduced to curb alcohol harm

Police are warning other bars with upcoming licence renewals to up their standards. Photo / Getty Images

On appeal, Whakatāne's Rhyley's Bar and Grill has been allowed to retain its liquor licence but must close at midnight – two hours earlier than other bars in the area.

Police are pleased with the outcome and are now warning other bars with upcoming licence renewals to up their standards or face the same fate.

Rhyley's had originally been declined a liquor licence by the Whakatane District Licensing Committee due to concerns raised by police about a king-hit, drunken fights, gang members abusing police, patrons from the bar lying intoxicated on the footpath as well as general noise and disorder.

Bar owner Kelly Jones appealed against this decision to the national Alcohol Regulatory and Licencing Authority which subsequently overturned that decision and granted the bar its liquor licence with limited opening hours.

Whakatane alcohol harm reduction officer Sergeant Caoin Macey said he was very pleased with ARLA's decision because police never wanted to shut the bar down but simply wanted to deal with the harm that was happening in the early hours of the morning.

"Nothing good happens after midnight," Macey said.

"At one stage, we were there every weekend picking up the pieces. We simply wanted to attack that danger time of 12am to 2am.

"We want to reduce alcohol harm and we, as police, want to work with bars to ensure the town is a safe place to be."

While Macey would like to work proactively with bars, he is warning that police will not stand idly by while bars flout their responsibilities as hosts and police are prepared to challenge people's licences when required.

"I want people to be on notice that we will be challenging licences on renewal, and we will challenge them in court if need be," he said.

When considering the appeal, Judge Kevin Kelly for ARLA found when the DLC was considering Jones' suitability to hold a licence, it placed too much focus on her partner Rhys Waititi's involvement in the business.

The DLC had considered Waititi an unsuitable person to hold a liquor licence and asked Jones to provide evidence he was not involved in the running of the bar. ARLA found it was incorrect to expect this of Jones.

Jones' suitability was never in question and ARLA found that she was only inexperienced at running a bar.

ARLA also found Jones had been proactive in ensuring staff were trained and in implementing an incident register.

Both ARLA and the police believe the liquor licence with the reduced opening hours will be a good probationary period for the bar.

If the levels of alcohol-related harm have reduced significantly by the next licence renewal date it is likely the bar will be allowed to open until 2am again.