Pipi Patch, a bar on Paihia’s Kings Rd, has closed after it was refused an on-licence. Photo / Peter de Graaf
A Paihia bar has been refused a liquor licence and ordered to close down in a decision by the Far North’s District Licensing Committee.
Pipi Patch, a bar on Kings Rd, had applied for an on-licence to operate from 11am-1am daily and 11am-10pm on the outside deck.
The bar had been open only on Fridays and Saturdays plus the occasional Thursday. It has been operating on temporary permits since January 2022.
The 22 units on the rest of the property are rented out as short- to medium-term accommodation, including to vulnerable families.
The bar was ordered to shut down this today but a post on the Pipi Patch Facebook page stated June 17 was the final night.
“Since Covid we’ve been on a very challenging and steep uphill battle like many in the hospitality sector ... Congratulations to all our neighbouring oldies for this ending,” the post said.
The application was lodged by Castle Management Paihia, which is owned by two Auckland businessmen.
They also own liquor stores in Auckland and Coromandel and accommodation in Auckland, Taupō, Queenstown and Rotorua, as well as the Kings Rd backpacker lodge Bay Adventurer.
A record 31 objections were received to the on-licence application, of which 28 were from nearby residents and the others from Focus Paihia, Business Paihia and the local community board.
According to the licensing committee’s report, the bar at Pipi Patch measures 4x7m with an outside deck of 2x7m and maximum occupancy of 75.
Committee chairman Murray Clearwater said Kings Rd had “vastly changed” since hostels started taking in social housing clients, replacing tourists who had been unable to visit during the pandemic.
One of the owners of Castle Management Paihia, who did not want to be named, told the committee the bar’s clientele used to be backpackers staying in the adjoining units, but these days they were young locals and out-of-towners who came to Kings Rd to socialise.
The problems on Kings Rd were caused not by bar patrons but by social housing clients living in nearby hostels, he said.
Pipi Patch’s owner conceded he owned one of those hostels but said he rented it out, despite the tenants’ troubled backgrounds, due to his “social conscience”.
Committee members asked the owner how a cocktail on the menu containing five different spirits for $16 could be considered a responsible promotion.
He said it wasn’t irresponsible because only 10ml of each spirit was used, then topped up with non-alcoholic mixers.
The committee gave him credit, however, for implementing a “no fights policy” and a dress code, despite the loss of patronage that caused, and his moves to reduce noise escaping from the bar.
They also acknowledged his plans to renovate the “dark and dingy” bar if the licence was granted.
The owner’s lawyer argued the situation on Kings Rd had improved significantly since he took over a year ago, though Clearwater said just because the current situation was better than the previous two years, that didn’t mean it was acceptable.
A number of Kings Rd residents made oral submissions.
One said the former backpacker bar now attracted anti-social behaviour by people from outside the area.
Once Kings Rd bars closed, patrons would return to their cars and party in the street, sometimes until 4am, knowing there were no police in the area to move them on.
The next morning, locals would be left to clean up the mess.
Business Paihia chairman Charles Parker said media reports of bad behaviour on Kings Rd “cast a bad light on the destination” and harmed the hospitality industry.
It also wasn’t appropriate to have a late-night dance bar in a complex housing vulnerable families.
Business Paihia had “great difficulty” contacting previous Pipi Patch operators and saw no chance of improvement with an absentee owner, he said.
Dr Ankus Mittal, a witness for the Ministry of Health, also opposed the licence, saying there was “considerable vulnerability” to alcohol-related harm in the area, and the bar appeared to be promoting high-strength beverages at accessible prices to a young audience.
Clearwater said the owner was an experienced businessman and operator of licensed premises.
The committee was, however, concerned about his “seemingly cavalier attitude” in keeping social housing clients in the Kings Rd area for so long.
“We understand the effects on businesses caused by the pandemic and the ongoing loss of the tourist and backpacker trade. Businesses are entitled to try and make money and keep afloat ... [but] the imposition of social and emergency housing clientele, and seasonal workers for that matter, on this village and its residents appears to us to be incompatible,” he said.
Those concerns were compounded by Paihia’s isolation and the fact the owner was an absentee licensee with multiple business interests around the country.
The owner told the Advocate that without the bar at Pipi Patch he had no incentive to remove existing tenants from the property, or to turn away future housing clients if they approached him looking for somewhere to live.
He said the decision didn’t make sense because there was already emergency housing on Kings Rd in 2021 when the bar’s previous owner was granted a licence, and it wasn’t regarded as an issue at that time.
“It’s disappointing. It’s quite a harsh decision to close a running business down.”
The owner said he would not appeal the decision but might apply for a new licence in the future.
Clearwater said once Kings Rd reverted to tourist accommodation, the area might blossom again as an entertainment precinct and more late-night clubs and taverns could be permitted.
A lack of police resourcing or follow-ups with bar owners after problems on Kings Rd were also highlighted as concerns by the District Licensing Committee.
Chairman Murray Clearwater said it was well known that alcohol was involved in many incidents police attended.
“We encourage the police and the inspectorate to conduct regular compliance inspections of the Paihia late-night bars. Clearly there is evidence of intoxication and drinking on the streets. Licensees need to be held accountable if they are breaching the act,” he said.
“We understand that police resources are stretched, and staff may not be able, or feel safe, to make arrests at the time of attending disorder incidents. However, this should not prevent them operating a thorough reporting system and effective follow-up on the next day/s to identify and apprehend offenders. If there is evidence, from the extensive CCTV facility on Kings Rd, that offenders have been tipped out of licensed premises, be it Pipi Patch or any of the others, there should be a firm follow-up with the bar operators to instil accountability and consequences on licence holders,” he said.
The committee was barred from taking a lack of police resources into account when making its decisions.
That did, however, increase the onus on licensees to make sure their patrons didn’t add to violence and disorder on the streets.
People are calling for free testing so people would drive safely.