Early nights wanted for liquor store

A liquor store close to Courtenay Place’s party zone should face the consequences of younger drinkers wanting to pre-load, side-load, and get ‘‘more bang for their buck’’, a court has heard.

A Wellington medical officer of health, Dr Stephen Palmer, wants 9pm, instead of 11pm, closing for Liquor King on Kent Tce on key nights of Friday and Saturday, to reduce alcohol-related harm.

Off-licences were the ‘‘light for the moths’’ who went to Courtenay Place but were not ‘‘moneyed up’’, Palmer’s lawyer, Gregor Allan said at the High Court in Wellington yesterday.

Given the yawning price difference between drinks in bars and restaurants, compared with spirits and ready-mixed drinks from liquor stores, some people wanting more bang for their buck would go to Liquor King, just 200m from the end of Courtenay Place, Allan said.

They could pre-load before going to Courtenay Place, or side-load between visits to bars to make their money go further, he said.

When Liquor King renewed its off-licence, Palmer won his argument for shorter hours on the two days, but he lost when Liquor King appealed to the Alcohol Regulatory Licensing Authority.

Justice Karen Clark reserved her decision on the latest appeal from Palmer.

Police supported Palmer’s appeal. There was no appeal though against a decision that the store’s carry bags should have its branding on at least one-quarter of one face of the bag. It was an attempt to identify if the store was linked to alcohol related harm in the area.

Allan told the judge that younger people in the area the Kent Tce store served were dramatically overrepresented in the numbers wanting treatment at Wellington Hospital’s emergency department.

The shop was not proven to be linked to past harm, but the correct approach was to look forward to the logical conclusion that it could play a part in future risk, he said.

Lion Liquor Retail has 40 Liquor King stores, including the Kent Tce store. It argued the closing time should stay at 11pm.

Liquor King’s lawyer, Allison Arthur-Young said it was not reasonable for police and a medical officer of health to ask for alcohol availability to be restricted unless there was evidence of harm related to that particular outlet.

The Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority had accepted the evidence showed alcohol-related harm in the wider area but not linked to Liquor King Kent Tce.

Within 500m of Liquor King were about 130 on-license premises and 12 other off-licences, Arthur-Young said. She questioned what harm might be minimised by one bottle store closing two hours early two nights a week.

With the exception of one case of selling to an underage person, the store operated without fault since 2005.

Off-licenses were the 'light for the moths' who went to Courtenay Place but were not 'moneyed up'.

Gregor Allan, lawyer for medical officer of health, Stephen Palmer.