WE PUT OUR QUESTIONS TO SIMON WICKHAM
How does advertising of liquor, and liquor specials, marry with your mandate of responsible sale of alcohol?
The people of west Auckland have not voted for prohibition, but for liquor sales under a business they own and control. We do not own 100 per cent of the market and people regularly exercise their choice elsewhere. We are a business and therefore we must advertise, including our current specials. We have to offer a compelling retail experience, and that includes advertising and having great stores. What we don’t do is try and compete solely on winning customers by being the cheapest. We aim to be of good value and convenient.
How do you foster responsible drinking?
We are strict with our staff on not selling to those under age, and our system forces us to identify those who look under 25, enter their date of birth and it calculates their age. We also don’t sell high-alcohol RTDs, and didn’t for a long time before regulators stepped in to remove the high alcohol ones. We have also never sold legal highs, party pills and the likes. We don’t use deep cutprice liquor to entice people. We operate only 24 stores in the whole of west Auckland in order to strike a balance. Communities with lots mean shop owners get desperate to attract customers – selling to the underage and engaging in price wars. Low margins mean it is difficult for them to meet their legal obligations. We believe we make a difference: Official statistics show that alcohol-related road crashes are relative low in west Auckland, as are alcohol-related health and crime. In regards to closing hours, we poll the public as to what they want, with 79 per cent wanting stores closing no later than 11pm and 90 per cent wanting taverns and bars open no later than 3am. None of our stores open before 9am, and of The Trusts’ 13 taverns and bars, only The Hanger is open til 3pm.
What community groups received the $1 million given back [in the past year]? How was it split?
More than 100 groups were supported. They range from small amounts of around $500 to small clubs, associations and small local organisations to a few thousand dollars to community organisations. Much more was given to large scale projects or events such as The Trusts Spooks and Sparks Family Fireworks Event and our most recognised sponsorship, The Trusts Arena. These are commercially sensitive sponsorships so we don’t disclose the precise amount. About half the $1m was spent on the toolkits, of which we have already given out about 40,000. The smoke alarms are saving lives. For example, the Fire Service told me a man’s life was saved in New Lynn on August 26. He was woken by it and crawled through flames and smoke to safety, telling the Fire Service he had recently got the alarm from The Trusts and it saved his life. The split was 60 per cent from the Waitakere Licensing Trust and 40 per cent from the Portage Licensing Trust.
Is alcohol more expensive out west?
There is a perception of greater expense in our retail stores simply because we refuse to use alcohol as loss leaders and we refuse to join in price wars on particular products. If we did so we would be promoting alcohol irresponsibly. We have spent a lot of time in recent years improving our pricing and our range in stores. We are not the most expensive, nor the cheapest.
Do you have plans for more variety in places to drink?
Absolutely. We would be the first to admit some of our venues have become outdated whilst other successful venues such as Bricklane, BlackSalt and The Hangar still enjoys strong and loyal patronage. We recognise that diversity is essential and not one size fits all. We are now working on a number of new venue concepts at new sites. We are negotiating to bring a leading suburban concept bar to the west. We have firm plans in place to upgrade five existing venues to a very modern standard in the next nine months. Our internal research of west Auckland households noted 58.5 per cent say they want more casual dining, local bistro-restaurants and family dining. It is a myth The Trusts stops development of these. Only 8 per cent say they want more modern bars.
Why did The Hangar bar recently top police statistics for the last establishment that drunk drivers attended?
The short answer is because the police have drink-drive stops nearby and some idiots chose to drink and drive. The Hangar is an obvious target for the police as it is the only bar for kilometres that has a late night license beyond 1am and is close to a motorway. The bar gets about 50,000 patrons a year, and in Last Drinks Survey 33 ran foul of the law. Two drinks can be enough to fail a breath test.
Why do The Trusts promote projects and groups that they have not contributed funds to or for in magazine?
At the time of the super-city amalgamation, the west lost Waitakere News, the magazine produced by the Waitakere City Council. We felt there was a void that needed to be filled. Our West is not about telling The Trusts stories necessarily. It has some The Trusts stories in it, but we state unequivocally ‘‘proudly supported by The Trusts’’.
What do you say to those who don’t want The Trusts?
Talk to us. Often I’ve found people have been misinformed or misled by others. There are a few vocal anti-trusts campaigners that will try and start rumours on social media. The best one I’ve seen is that ‘‘we drive black Holdens and park in your driveway at night if you say bad things about us’’. Nothing could be further from the truth – I drive a white Holden for a start. We are actually people who are working hard to make a difference.