BOOZE…

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

from The Dominion Post....

Police want Wellington bar Ruby Rabbit stripped of booze licence

By JESSY EDWARDS | 8:40PM - Sunday, 26 April 2016


Ruby Rabbit owner Neil Andrews, when the bar was called Famous.
 — Photograph: Robert Kitchin/Fairfax NZ.

POLICE have accused a Wellington bar owner of taunting them as they carried out routine compliance checks, including once telling the whole bar that the officers were strippers.

Now police are trying to strip Ruby Rabbit's licence to sell booze, and cancel three of its bar managers' licences, saying the Courtenay Place bar, formerly called Famous, is an irresponsible host.

At a Liquor Licensing Authority hearing on Tuesday, police alcohol harm prevention officer Sergeant Damian Rapira-Davies brought forward more than half a dozen witnesses to speak in favour of a booze ban.

Multiple police officers testified that, when they entered Ruby Rabbit to check it was complying with its liquor licence, owner Neil Andrews, who is also a DJ, mocked them over the bar's speaker system.

Sergeant Cameron Browne told the authority that, when he entered the bar with police last month, Andrews was at the DJ booth.

“He used the PA system to tell patrons that the police officers were not real, they were in fact strippers,” Browne said.

“He encouraged patrons to pay police $20 to strip, and continued to encourage patrons to taunt police until the compliance was complete.”

Constable Simon Coffey said he had a similar experience in January. “The comments were: ‘Why don't you go and be real policeman, go and earn some real money and collect some glasses for me’.”

Senior Sergeant Nicholas Thom said the behaviour made the bar's patrons unco-operative.


Neil Andrews at the opening of Amie and Cory Jane's gym in Upper Hutt.
 — Photograph: Pete McDonald/Fairfax NZ.

The officers also testified to often finding intoxicated people in the bar. Some reported seeing drunk people leaving through an upstairs window.

Thom said he assessed two drunk women, barely able to stand, in the bar who “were among the worse I have seen in some time”.

Coffey said he was outside the bar once when three women were turfed out for fighting, some with facial injuries, supposedly after one jumped the queue for the bathroom.

However, Andrews, who was defending himself, said police were unfairly targeting Ruby Rabbit.

He said he was frustrated by feeling there were too many police in his bar for too long, and was releasing his frustration over the loudspeaker, as “my right to free speech”.

He launched into a passionate cross-examination of the officers.

“Are we being targeted because of what we say on the microphone?” he asked. “Are you intimidated by our bar?”

At times he was cautioned by authority member Judith Moorhead to stop “getting carried away”. “Mr Andrews, you're overstepping the mark again,” she warned at one point.

The hearing will continue on Wednesday.

__________________________________________________________________________

Read more on this topic:

 • Police oppose Countdown liquor licence on students' ‘Chunder Lane’

 • Vic Uni boss strongly opposed to Countdown Cable Car Lane liquor licence

 • Wellington grocery store stoush plays out over Aro Valley liquor licences

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/wellington/79333480

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

from The Dominion Post....

Wellington bar owner caught making sex jokes during liquor licence hearing

8:22PM - Friday, 06 May 2016


Ruby Rabbit bar owner Neil Andrews (centre) posted this picture on Facebook
during a liquor licence hearing on Thursday. He was reprimanded by the
hearing panel after police saw the photo online.

IF Wellington bar owner Neil Andrews really wants a liquor licence, then making sex jokes in front of the police is probably not the best move.

Andrews, who owns Ruby Rabbit on Courtenay Place, was caught joking on social media about being at a sex club when he was actually in the middle of a District Licensing Committee hearing on Thursday.

Police have argued the bar should be stripped of its liquor licence, and it was alcohol harm prevention officer Sergeant Damian Rapira-Davies who noticed Andrews had posted a picture on Facebook midway through Thursday's hearing.



The picture of Andrews and two others included a caption saying he was at ‘Sex Club’, feeling “fabulous” and “having a fantastic time at our hearing today”.

When Rapira-Davies brought the ‘selfie’ to the attention of the committee, its members quizzed Andrews about it.

Committee member Judith Moorhead wasn't impressed, Andrews said.

“She told me off and said ‘I hope you're embarrassed’.”

Andrews was asked to explain why he said he was at a sex club.

“I just said it popped up as a place that we were [on Facebook], we weren't disrespecting the hearing,” he said.

Moorhead went on to tell Andrews he was his own worst enemy. He was told not to post any more photos from the hearing.

The hearing has been unconventional at times, mainly due to the fact Andrews — also a DJ — has chosen to represent himself, which has seen him cross-examine a number of police officers.

In previous hearings, the police have argued that Ruby Rabbit, formerly FAMOUS bar, is an irresponsible liquor licence holder.

Multiple police witnesses have testified about intoxicated people being found in the bar, fights on the premises, drunk people exiting the bar onto the awning overhanging the street, and anti-police behaviour.

Some police officers said that when they entered Ruby Rabbit to check it was complying with its liquor licence, Andrews mocked them over the bar's speaker system, telling them to get real jobs and informing patrons the officers were really strippers.

Speaking on Friday, Andrews said if he was granted the licence he would like to sit down with police and start again to develop a working relationship.

“It doesn't work if we're at each other throats, and we've been at each other for so long. It's about being the bigger man and let's get together and talk about this.”

The authority reserved its decision.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/79715663

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

from The Dominion Post....

Booze wars: Police come down hard on Wellington supermarkets selling alcohol

New World and Countdown have both found it tough trying to get a liquor licence in Wellington of late.
Michael Forbes investigates why the police are taking such a hard line on supermarkets selling alcohol.

By MICHAEL FORBES | 5:00AM - Saturday, 07 May 2016


Wellington Police are fighting back against the prevalence of cheap alcohol
available in supermarkets.

TENSIONS are running high in the alcohol aisle at your local supermarket.

Wellington is flush with cheap booze and the police have had enough. They have gone straight to the source to make their feelings known.

It has made for quite the show whenever a big-name supermarket has found itself having to sit in a room with the police and District Licensing Committee to ask for a liquor licence.

In June, New World Newtown got a rap over the knuckles for not being swift enough to move a so-called “gauntlet of alcohol” away from its entrance so customers would not be forced to walk past it.

Then in October, management from New World Wellington City, also known as Chaffers New World, had to sit through three days of police officer after police officer telling stories of illegal drinking and drunken violence taking place in its Wakefield Street car park after hours.

The licensing committee was treated to CCTV video of illegal drinking, public urination and a 30-man brawl. Constables likened the car park to a “fight club” and dubbed its location Wellington's “crime corridor”.

An area commander even spoke about how he was attacked by drunk teenagers while off-duty, as staff watched on “as if it was entertainment”.


Sergeant Damian Rapira-Davies, alcohol harm reduction officer for Wellington Police,
says a lot of alcohol-related harm can be traced back to supermarkets.
 — Photograph: Kevin Stent/Fairfax NZ.

More recently, Countdown was back in front of the committee to seek a liquor licence for its new store in Cable Car Lane, off Lambton Quay. The language at that hearing was no less colourful.

Police were there with concerned community groups — including Victoria University — to point out the ease with which students will be able to use the Cable Car to ferry alcohol from the supermarket to flats and student halls around Kelburn.

One veteran anti-alcohol campaigner served up the moniker, “Chunder Lane”.

So why all the friction? Why are police giving every supermarket the third degree when it comes to alcohol sales?

Well, quite simply, because it is their job, says Inspector Terry van Dillen, prevention manager for Wellington Police.

“If we don't challenge these guys, then who will? Big businesses will just mow through with their lawyers and their money and tick all the boxes on their applications, and boom, they're away.”

Police are making no apologies for that either.

Sergeant Damian Rapira-Davies, the alcohol harm reduction officer for Wellington Police, says the prevalence of cheap booze is a real problem and supermarkets need to own a fair bit of the responsibility for that.

“There's no cheaper place to buy beer than in a supermarket. Bottle stores tell me they try to compete [but they can't]. In fact, some bottle stores tell me they buy their beer from the supermarket,” Rapira-Davies says.

“So with that sort of feedback it's hard not to take a hard look at applications for supermarkets.”


Inspector Terry van Dillen says alcohol goes hand-in-hand with a lot of the crime
we see in Wellington's CBD. — Photograph: Cameron Burnell/Fairfax NZ.

THE PROBLEM OF TOO MUCH ALCOHOL

DURING its licence hearing New World Chaffers revealed just how much money it makes from alcohol sales every year, although this number was suppressed by the committee for commercial reasons.

However it was not an insignificant amount, and Rapira-Davies says that if converted into beer stacked on to pallets and loaded on to trucks, you would see more than 300 truck and trailer units lined up from Wellington to Lower Hutt.

And that's just one supermarket out of the five inside Wellington's central city liquor ban area — a zone of roughly 20 square kilometres from Aotea Quay down to Newtown and across to Brooklyn's Central Park.

As well as the five supermarkets, there are about 60 off-licence premises, such as bottle stores, and close to 500 on-licence premises, such as bars.

“You can find an off-licence that's open until 11pm anywhere in the city within 200 metres,” Rapira-Davies says.

“You won't find another city in New Zealand that has that many [licences] within such a confined space — if you want alcohol in this city then you can find it.”

And where there are vast quantities of alcohol, trouble usually follows.

“Some [police] staff call it a zoo down there but that's actually being a bit nice because some zoos are quite good places to visit,” van Dillen says.

“Alcohol creates a lot of harm in our central city. We can relate it to assaults, we can relate it to robberies. It goes hand-in-hand with a lot of the crime we see in the CBD.”

“Basically, from 9pm through to 5am or 6am, you can bet your bottom dollar that anything we deal with will be tainted by alcohol in some way, from two people who bump shoulders on the street and it turns into fisticuffs, to a domestic, to a serious assault, to the stealing of handbags, jackets and cellphones — all that stuff.”

Rapira-Davies has spent his fair share of time looking after the cells at Wellington Central Police Station on Friday and Saturday nights, and says counting the sober people in lockup is a lot easier than adding up the drunk ones.

“At a certain time of night, it's hard to find an incident where the parties involved aren't affected by alcohol… and that goes for the victims as well.”


The drunken crime occurring in the car park of New World Wellington City after
hours was the subject of much debate at it liquor licence hearing in October.
 — Photograph: Kevin Stent/Fairfax NZ.

NOTHING GOOD HAPPENS AFTER 9PM

POLICE have a saying that nothing good happens in the central city after 3am.

That may be true, but at least if Wellington's drinkers are in the central city then they are most probably in bars where people can monitor their drinking and welfare, van Dillen says.

The same can't always be said when people are drinking alcohol bought from off-licences at residential addresses.

It is perhaps unsurprising then that police figures show a proportionately large number of alcohol-releated incidents occur in people's homes rather than in city bars.

This is another reason why police are getting tough, as they believe Wellington's supermarkets and bottle stores should have to stop selling alcohol from 9pm rather than the current cutoff of 11pm.

That would have the effect of shifting drinkers into the CBD earlier in the night, where police can mange them better, Rapira-Davies says.

“We see people who don't even going into town before midnight. They don't have to because alcohol is freely available at a much cheaper price from an off-licence right up until 11pm… and no one is saying ‘stop’,” Rapira-Davies says.

Then there is the issue of good character, and whether big supermarkets are acting responsibly by large quantities of alcohol within areas so heavily blighted by alcohol-releated harm.

Central government alcohol reforms in 2012 introduced a good character test for alcohol licences. Part of what we are seeing now is Wellington Police putting that new rule to the test with supermarkets.

“Under the good order provision of the Act, if you're going to sell alcohol then you've got to think about more than just your shop,” van Dillen says.

“If you look at Chaffers [New World], there was a lot of stuff happening in the car park, which they initially said was not their problem. But under the Act, it is their problem because they sell alcohol and they have alcohol-related issues outside their front door.”

Rapira-Davies says the police and the wider community certainly don't have any problem with anyone who wants to set up a shop inside the liquor ban area that sells groceries and toilet paper.

“But if they're selling large quantities of alcohol inside a liquor ban area then that is a problem. If they're discounting alcohol beyond cost price — making it extremely accessible — then that is a problem.”


A new Countdown will soon be opening in Cable Car Lane, but there are fears
it will fuel student drinking around The Terrace and in Kelburn.
 — Photograph: Monique Ford/Fairfax NZ.

BUT ARE SUPERMARKETS THE BAD GUY?

BOTH Foodstuffs, which owns New World and Pak n' Save, and Progressive Enterprises, which owns Countdown, declined to be interviewed in person, as both still have liquor licence decisions pending.

But in a statement, Foodstuffs head of external relations Antoinette Laird said the company had no qualms about the good character of those running its supermarkets.

“It has always been the case that alcohol licences are only issued to people who are suitable to hold a licence. Foodstuffs takes this requirement very seriously,” she says.

“Occasionally mistakes are made and the business works hard to address these, but no Foodstuffs supermarket has ever lost its licence due to lack of suitability.”

Foodstuffs felt an 11pm cutoff for alcohol sales was reasonable to meet the needs of its customers, who generally purchase beer and wine with other groceries, Laird says.

“Our focus is on meeting the needs of our customers.”

Greg Harford, spokesman for Retail NZ, which represents supermarkets, said it did appear Wellington supermarkets were being unfairly singled out by the police, particularly since selling alcohol was not illegal.

There had been reports of police putting pressure on alcohol retailers to cut back their hours of sale before it got to the licence hearing stage, but that was an issue supermarkets felt as  handled by a licensing committee.

That said, there are a lot of retainers who were working very constructively with the police on liquor licensing issues, Harford says. Countdown, for instance, had offered to shut its new Cable Car Lane store at 8pm.

But in general, supermarkets were not keen on the idea of stopping alcohol sales at 9pm, as it would hinder convenience, he says.

Restricting sales to 9pm would hurt people who had no choice but to shop at night, such as shift workers.

“Wellington is a very cosmopolitan city, a lot there's a going on… people will go out at night and then pop into the supermarket afterwards.”

Harford says supermarkets are only too aware of the responsibilities that come with selling alcohol. But at the same time, alcohol harm would not be solved without some personal responsibility too.

“People who do misuse alcohol and then go commit crimes afterwards — if they don't buy their alcohol from a supermarket then they will get it from somewhere else,” he says.

“So I do think it is a little unfair to single out supermarkets.”

__________________________________________________________________________

Read more on this topic:

 • Wellington sticks with 4am closing for bars

 • Police oppose liquor licence on ‘Chunder Lane’

 • New World carpark looks more like a ‘fight club’ — police

 • Countdown Blenheim has alcohol licence suspended

 • Another Blenheim supermarket loses alcohol licence

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/capital-life/79637745

[ssweetpea]

Restricting sales to 9pm would hurt people who had no choice but to shop at night, such as shift workers.

LOL the only shift workers who shop at night and may be buying booze are those on day shift!

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

from The Dominion Post....

Last drinks figures show where Wellingtonians booze before crime

By TOM HUNT | 7:16AM - Monday, 23 May 2016


Wonder Woman in trouble at the Wellington Sevens, Westpac Stadium, in 2014.
 — Photograph: Kevin Stent/Fairfax NZ.

PREVIOUSLY-SECRET police figures have backed up anecdotal evidence of drunk Courtenay precinct punters reeling from bars into the arms of the law.

Official data, only released by police after the Ombudsman stepped in, shows which Wellington bars people were last drinking at before going on to get arrested and charged in 2014.

With the exception of Westpac Stadium — thanks largely to a Sevens blow-out — all the top 10 were in or around Courtenay Place.



Drinkers from Electric Avenue topped the Courtenay Place list, facing 19 charges during the year including for domestic assault, fighting, disorderly behaviour, drugs, and drink-driving.

But owner Matt McLaughlin said his bar had traded without trouble for 11 years and was one of the only Wellington bars that stay open till 4am, seven days a week, which could have a bearing on the numbers.

“We also refuse entry to a lot of people who could go on to commit crime.”

“We would be an easy option for them to point the finger after an arrest.”

The fact Courtenay Place bars scored so highly was simply a “numbers game” to him.

“When you get 10,000 party people into two square-kilometres, you have got to do the maths.”

Under the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act it is an offence to sell alcohol to drunk people, with licensees facing fines up to $10,000 and a loss of licence for up to a week.

Police harm prevention officer Sergeant Damian Rapira-Davies said the area of Courtenay Place, Blair Street, and Allen Street could be blamed for a “large amount of alcohol harm” in the wider city.

“You have got a really small area, large number of premises, and late night trading.”

Frontline police did not rate Electric Avenue as any more problematic than other bars in the area, he said.

By comparison, Ruby Rabbit — with nine entries on the list including unlawful sexual connection, fighting, and assault with intent to injure — was regarded as a trouble spot.

Police currently have a case before the Liquor Licensing Authority trying to strip Ruby Rabbit's licence to sell alcohol, and cancel three of its bar managers' licences, saying it was an irresponsible host.

Ruby Rabbit owner Neil Andrews did not return calls for comment.

Rapira-Davies pointed out that while the survey showed the last drink served, it did not show the “drinks one to nine” drunk before that at home or at other bars.

Wellington City Councillor Paul Eagle, who chairs the Community, Sport and Recreation Committee, said the Courtenay Place area was Wellington's “nightlife hub”.

“It's good that we have got this information finally and we are able to do something with it.”

The council could talk to bar owners who were highlighted by the figures about whether they had issues that needed addressing, he said.

The information would also come into play as the council considered its alcohol policy and the liquor ban area, he said.

Police originally refused to supply the information, which was requested more than a year ago under the Official Information Act, but did so last week week after Ombudsman Ron Paterson said its release was in the public interest.

Police senior legal advisor Ian McArthur said the original decision not to release the data was because it would “unreasonably prejudice the commercial position” of bars.


Electric Avenue, Courtenay Place, was the last drinking spot before 19 charges were
laid in a single year. — Photograph: Cameron Burnell/Fairfax NZ.


Mish Mosh on Courtenay Place had 15 punters arrested after leaving the premises.
 — Photograph: Cameron Burnell/Fairfax NZ.


Boston on Blair was another Courtenay precinct trouble spot.
 — Photograph: Cameron Burnell/Fairfax NZ.


Late night Courtenay Place bar El Horno had its share of trouble punters.
 — Photograph: Cameron Burnell/Fairfax NZ.


Red Square drinks were followed by eight charges.
 — Photograph: Cameron Burnell/Fairfax NZ.

21 ‘LAST DRINK’ ARRESTS BUT SEVENS RELATIVELY GOOD

They were charged with assaulting police, and obstructing them too.

There were arrests for trespass, drugs, and disorder.

But the 2014 Wellington Sevens — described by Westpac Stadium management at the time as the “best behaved to date” — went pretty well, authorities say.

Of the 21 arrests that year when people said the last drink they had was at Westpac Stadium, 15 of those were during the Sevens weekend.

Police harm prevention officer Sergeant Damian Rapira-Davies said behaviour at recent Sevens tournaments was much better than the ones seven to nine years ago.

Stadium chief executive Shane Harmon said comparing his stadium — which had 500,000 people though per annum — with other licensees was “apples and oranges”.

The number of people evicted from the Sevens, compared to the numbers inside, was small, he said.

In 2009, 50 people were arrested at the stadium itself and about 60 evicted.

Fast-forward to 2016 and only six arrests were made during the two-day tournament.

THE TOP (WORST) 10

The list of the 10 highest-ranked licensed premises, along with the number of people arrested and charged after last drinking there:

 • Westpac Stadium, 21 arrests.

 • Electric Avenue, 19 arrests.

 • Mish Mosh, 15 arrests.

 • Boston on Blair, 13 arrests.

 • Ruby Rabbit, 9 arrests.

 • El Horno, 8 arrests.

 • Establishment, 8 arrests.

 • Red Square, 8 arrests.

 • The Residence, 7 arrests.

 • Mini Bar, 7 arrests.

__________________________________________________________________________

Related stories:

 • Wellington looks set to stick with 4am closing time for bars

 • Bar opening hours in spotlight as binge-drinkers fill Wellington Hospital

 • Would 5am closing really make Wellington city more dynamic?

 • Cheap booze damaging Wellington's hospitality industry

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/80202091