Shapeshifters Bar ownership changes hands
BY BLAIR ENSOR
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Shapeshifters Bar co-owner Kevin King has been ousted from the business by his former partner following the death of Blenheim man Matt Heagney, who was fatally injured in or outside the bar in August.
Mr King resigned as a director and signed over sole ownership of the Blenheim bar and nightclub to Julian Campbell yesterday afternoon, after agreeing to a fee believed to be about $120,000.
The change came after friends of Mr Heagney, who died on August 23, vowed never to visit the Kinross St bar again.
Mr Campbell said he hoped the change would see the business "move in a different direction", lifting what he described as an "ominous shadow". He planned to repaint the entrance and launch a competition to find a new name for the bar, which until then would be "the bar with no name".
A close friend of Mr Heagney, Scott McDermid, said changes to the bar's ownership did not change what had happened there.
"It's still got the same fire exits and the same people in it. I will never set foot in there again," Mr McDermid said.
Another friend, James Crockett, said he could not stand to go near the bar.
"Even if ownership has changed hands, it's still where everything happened."
Mr Campbell said he understood that there would be resistance from Mr Heagney's friends and family, but he hoped that this would change with time.
"We will never forget what happened here," he said.
"The senseless, tragic circumstance of his death has yet to be determined, but feel reassured that the police will determine an appropriate outcome."
Mr Campbell said he had instigated a training day for door staff from all Marlborough bars through the Hospitality Association of New Zealand.
He had also been in close contact with the police in addressing other issues at the bar.
Mr Heagney's father Pat Heagney said the buyout was "pretty good news".
Pat Heagney previously said he wanted to see Shapeshifters closed, but said "that's probably not going to happen".
"It would be great if it closed down, but where are the young people going to go? They're going to go somewhere."
For that reason, it was important that bar staff everywhere were trained in how to handle patrons, he said.
"It's more about just running places properly ... that's my angle at the moment."
Meanwhile, the Heagney family have lodged a complaint about Shapeshifters with the Department of Labour.
In a letter to the department's Nelson-Marlborough service manager Annette Baxter, the Heagneys said Shapeshifters' management had failed to meet the objectives of the Health and Safety in Employment Act.
A department spokesman was unable to comment because it was under police investigation.
- The Marlborough Express
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