Bars seek licences for bout
Bars around Auckland are seeking special licences to screen the Joseph Parker vs Anthony Joshua world heavyweight unification bout on Easter Sunday.
The fight will be held at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, on March 31 (April 1, NZ time).
Venues wanting to screen the bout live need a special licence if they do not want to be limited by Easter Sunday restrictions, said Auckland Council manager of alcohol licensing Peter Knight.
“Without a special licence, alcohol can only be served to persons who are present on the premises to dine. Simply eating a meal as part of watching a televised sports event is not dining.”
Venues could apply to the council for a special licence to sell and supply alcohol, he said.
Auckland Council, which administers the process, had received several enquiries across the region about the licences – which allow “the premises to sell and supply alcohol as normal”.
Of the licences, Knight said, “we would expect to see any event being completely pre-booked, with no walk-up patrons”.
Patrick Lopez, of The Fox Sporting Bar & Restaurant, in Auckland’s Viaduct Basin, said they were applying for a special licence.
If successful, The Fox planned to show the full fight drawcard and feature “a special menu” at the 350-capacity venue, which has three projectors and nine TV screens on which to show the fight.
Many patrons had been asking whether they were going to screen the bout, he said. “Everybody’s talking about it.”
British boxer Joshua holds the IBF, IBO and WBA titles. Parker is the WBO heavyweight champion. Such is the interest, more than 70,000 tickets sold in an
hour.