Bar pulled back to 3am closing

BY PRIYANKA BHONSULE

Lower Hutt's Flashbacks Bar and Grill has been pulled back into line with other late night bars with a 3am closing time, following a decision by the Liquor Licensing Authority this month.

The LLA also suspended Phillip Gratton's general manager's certificate for 12 weeks (from October 1) and the bar will have to close for seven days, starting from September 20.

The decision comes after police and other supporting agencies gave evidence at a hearing in July, citing numerous incidents in which the Sale of Liquor Act was breached, in particular selling alcohol to intoxicated people and allowing drunkenness and disorderly conduct.

But Mr Gratton is upset at the way the case was handled, and says his lawyer chose not to interview any of the police witnesses.

"My solicitor basically sold me down the river. I had no intention of going to the case admitting guilt, especially to 17 different accusations, out of which one, maybe one and half, were true."

Mr Gratton may appeal the decision, especially the 12-week suspension of his certificate which he says is "insane".

"The reason I'm being targeted is because I've turned around to them [regulatory authorities] and said 'no, I'm not going to pull my licence [hours] back'. So they've thrown the book at me.

"I'm more fighting for my name because you can't say overnight that I'm a bad operator."

The bar has been reduced to opening only Friday and Saturday evenings, with the pokie machines gone and some staff members let go, says Mr Gratton.

He's annoyed because of the suddenness with which the court case came around.

"Usually if you breach the Liquor Act they call you in to a meeting to try and explain yourself and if they think they can't work with the person, they go to LLA. They didn't do that with me, they went straight to LLA."

In giving their decision, the LLA censured the District Licensing Authority for its "excessively benign attitude" when it came to dealing with Flashbacks.

"To some extent, the regulatory authorities have lulled Mr Gratton into a false sense of security in the way in which he has been managing his tavern," the report stated.

However, the LLA concluded by saying that Mr Gratton had agreed to the 3am closing in the past and the time had come to enforce the agreement.

Mr Gratton made a proposal during the hearing of having a one-way door policy where no one would be allowed entry after 2am. But the authority thought this wouldn't overcome the problem of migration towards Flashbacks and many people would try to enter the bar and cause disorder when they were refused.

Alcohol Harm Reduction Officer Sergeant Andy Smith, who spearheaded the case against Flashbacks, says the cut back in the bar's hours means 75 fewer victims of alcohol-related crime per year.

"That was the main part of the decision because that's what people of Lower Hutt wanted. The suspension of on-licence and his [GM] certificate just enforce his poor management."

Despite Mr Gratton's claims of being targeted by authorities, Mr Smith says there was no special attention paid to Flashbacks but it naturally stuck out because no-one else was open at the time.

One incident of statutory breach by a duty manager usually results in suspension of the certificate for a month and in this case there were nine incidents but since this was the first time Mr Gratton had come to the authority's decision, the time period was reduced to 12 weeks.

- Hutt News