Truro motel and lounge had liquor licence suspended
A motel and lounge in Truro lost its liquor licence for two days after a compliance officer found an off-duty employee so drunk she could barely walk or keep her eyes open and an intoxicated man passed out in the lobby during a routine inspection in February.
No liquor was to be served at the Stonehouse Motel and Julia’s Lounge at 165 Willow St. on Dec. 27 and 28, according to a notice of disciplinary action from the Alcohol, Gaming, Fuel and Tobacco division of Service Nova Scotia issued on Dec. 13. The video lottery terminals at the lounge were also not to be played for the two days as part of the suspension.
On Feb. 17, Jason Bowden, a compliance officer for Alcohol, Gaming, Fuel and Tobacco, was conducting a routine inspection of the licensed premises.
At about 12:44 a.m., Bowden saw a woman stagger into the lounge from the smoking area, the document says. The woman walked past security, staggered toward the bar and picked up a full glass of beer.
Security had her return the glass of beer to the bar and removed her from the premises, but two minutes later she came back, only to be removed again.
Bowden was worried the woman may come back after he left, so he advised that he intended to return later.
When Bowden returned at 1:45 a.m., he noticed a man, who was flush in the face, slurring his speech and walking unsteadily to the bar. Security, who said they called the man a cab two hours earlier but it didn’t show, took him to the lobby where he later passed out.
Bowden then spotted an off-duty employee so drunk “she was unable to speak coherently, her eyes were barely open and she was having difficulty walking,” according to the document.
The woman was taken to the lobby and placed in a chair, where she passed out. When she woke up, she began spitting on the floor and at 2:50 a.m., was spotted throwing pamphlets on the floor.
When the bartender came over to pick up the pamphlets, she realized the woman had “vomited on the floor and attempted to cover it with the pamphlets.”
On May 14, Bowden met with the bartender who was serving on Feb. 17 to collect a voluntary statement.
The bartender told Bowden the woman had two or three drinks after she finished her shift around 11 p.m., before she left the lounge. When she came back later on, she took three shots of tequila.
“The bartender rated the patron as being an eight or nine on a scale of 10 in terms of level of intoxication,” the document says.
“When asked about the intoxicated male, the bartender stated that she didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary because ‘she was so stressed with the female, he didn’t register.’”
The incidents Bowden observed during his inspection are in violation of the Nova Scotia liquor licensing regulations, as a “licensee must not permit a person who is drunk to be in their licensed premises,” resulting in the two-day suspension.