Hours of ‘high risk’ store cut

A central city liquor store considered one of the most high-risk in Wellington has had it’s opening hours slashed by more than four hours a day.

Capital Liquor on Manners St, which has long had a closing time of 10.30pm, will now be required to shut at 6pm after a failed appeal with the Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority (ARLA).

The judgment upheld a previous decision by the Wellington City District Licensing Committee (DLC) to have the outlet’s hours permanently reduced seven days a week.

‘‘Capital Liquor is one of the most high-risk off-licenses in central Wellington, if not the highest risk,’’ the committee said in its decision earlier this month.

Medical officer of health Dr Stephen Palmer said the news sent a strong message to other liquor retailers in the area.

‘‘This liquor store is in an area described as ‘ground zero’ in terms of alcohol so they need to be operating with the highest level of expertise . . . These fellows were operating just of this side of the law.’’

Initial opposition to the store’s license, made by the medical officer of health, New Zealand Police and a Wellington City Council licensing inspector, centred around the store’s central city locality and its contributions to crime and disorder in and around the premises.

Alcohol harm prevention officer Sergeant Shane Benge said the availability of alcohol at late hours within the CBD increased alcohol-related harm ‘‘to more than a minor extent’’.

He also noted that more than a dozen thefts of alcohol from the store had been reported since its last license renewal.

However, owner Qiang Liu disputed that his store contributed to the anti-social behaviour occurring nearby.

‘‘They think we’re associated with all the people drinking in the park [Te Aro Park] but we can see them so we don’t serve them.’’

Liu said he had volunteered to drop the businesses hours back to 9pm to fall in line with the majority of city liquor outlets but that request had been denied.

‘‘We feel targeted. They just want to shut us down.’’

Liu planned to appeal the decision, after seeking legal advice, but the earliest that could be done would be January

‘‘This is going to be a problem for all the staff . . . suddenly they’re going to lose their hours during this time. I don’t know how they’re going to cope over the holidays.

Alcohol-related harm has been referred to as ‘‘the dark side of Wellington no-one wants to talk about’’, with Wellington City Council, police and Regional Public Health all working individually and together to combat it.

Medical officer of health Dr Stephen Palmer, representing the public health side of things, saw a recent High Court decision as the catalyst to the recent wave of liquor license oppositions.

In May, Liquor King on Wellington’s Kent Tce had its licence hours reduced after the court found there was ‘‘no realistic doubt’’ it contributed to some of the alcohol-related harm in the area.

The store, which is close to the city’s party zone in Courtenay Place, applied in 2016 to renew its alcohol licence.

The Wellington District Licensing Committee renewed the licence but cut its closing time on Fridays and Saturdays from 11pm to 9pm. This was done after the committee heard from Palmer, who cited evidence the store was in an area where there was a higher number of alcoholrelated attendances at Wellington Hospital’s emergency department, and where there had been 1626 calls to police over a year for alcohol-related incidents.

‘‘One of the leading alcohol lawyers actually emailed me when he saw the decision, congratulating me and said ‘finally the [Sale and Supply of Alcohol] Act may have some teeth’,’’ Palmer said.