Empire keeps licence, loses hours
By Joel Maxwell
Empire?s hours sliced but still allowed to trade as licencing councillors overrule cops and booze inspector. Jackson Street?s Empire Hotel has kept its temporary licence to sell booze ? but it?s lost three trading hours from every day. Hutt City Council?s licencing subcommittee baulked at shutting down the historic pub after police and the district licencing inspector recommended they refuse the temporary licence. Instead the committee cut the hotel?s closing time from 3am daily to 12pm. But the hotel?s future is still in limbo as the temporary licence only allows the pub to keep selling booze until owner Sharda Nana has her hearing to gain a full licence on November 17. The push to deny the temporary licence comes after a major brawl erupted outside the hotel in May and a string of complaints from neighbours and police about the behaviour of its patrons. Licencing inspector Paul Schuchmann ? who recommended the subcommittee deny a temporary licence - said he was still pleased with the decision. ?Although my recommendation was for it not to be allowed, I do believe that the councillors have done the prudent thing by recommending it to 12 midnight. ?It sends the message that what they?ve done was not taken lightly.? The full licence hearing this month comes after Ms Nana applied for her first temporary in February this year as the new owner. The temporary licence allowed the hotel to sell booze while she applied for the full licence. She subsequently applied for renewals of the temporary licence in May and August. Mr Schuchmann and police opposed the renewal of the August application.
