Authorities try to shut bowling party down

A Wellington bowling club rescued from the brink of closure last year is facing down police over its liquor licence.

The Workingmen’s Bowling Club in Newtown is seeking to renew its liquor licence, an application strongly opposed by both police and Wellington City Council’s alcohol inspector.

The club, which sits on Town Belt land at the top of Owen St, narrowly escaped closure in November 2017 when mayor Justin Lester and councillors intervened in council officers’ intentions to end its lease.

The stoush with council attracted some 500 new members to the club’s dwindling membership, and had Lester say ‘‘there is no better place to be in the city’’.

A district licensing committee hearing yesterday repeatedly traversed the smallest details of the club’s operation, including who prints membership applications, how a fee for barbecue use is handled and whether karaoke was regularly available.

Club secretary Ellen Hepburn told the committee the club was a community asset centred on the game of bowls; certainly ‘‘not a tavern trying to make a buck’’.

‘‘I do believe we run a clean shop, and have staff that are well trained.’’

She was questioned on an incident earning the club a $250 fine in December 2017.

A drink was sold to someone neither a member nor a guest in a police sting, conducted during a Christmas function considered outside the scope of the club’s licence.

The club adopted a new sign-in system in March, to ensure only members and guests were able to purchase alcohol, Hepburn said.

‘‘We are confident that this has mitigated the concerns raised by the police last year.’’

Alcohol licensing inspector Phil Whelan said a membership fee of $5 – the same price as a pint – meant being a member was little different than being a member of the public.

‘‘Surely a club should have some kind of exclusivity, surely it should be a privilege to join a club?’’

Hepburn said the fee was set at an affordable price which allowed many people to give bowls a go.

Asked to quantify how many of the 569 members were regularly attending, she said a lot had joined ‘‘in protest of the council’’.

She guessed more than 100 membership cards were never collected.

In November 2017 council said the club was not meeting the healthy living requirements set by the Town Belt rules, citing noise complaints from rowdy parties and bar profits making up half the club’s income. The club, which has leased the land since 1947, was granted a year-long lease and conversations about its future were ongoing.

Police opposition to bowls club liquor licences caused a furore earlier this year, when clubs were caught off-guard by a perceived hardline approach.

‘‘Surely a club should have some kind of exclusivity, surely it should be a privilege to join a club?’’

Alcohol licensing inspector Phil Whelan