Owner of 'high risk' Wellington bar The Establishment sells up
Monday, 31 May 2021
The owner of a central city bar deemed the “highest risk” on-licence in Wellington has sold up amid a battle for a renewal of the bar’s licence.
The Establishment, on the corner of Courtenay Place and Blair Street, has been sold by former owner Andrew Gibson to Jose Ubiaga, owner of The Residence and Dakota Bar, both also on Courtenay Place.
In April, The Establishment faced a hearing before Wellington City Council's district licensing committee, where the council's licensing inspector, police, regional public health and a third party opposed a renewal of the bar’s licence.
A decision on the renewal is yet to be made by the committee. The bar's current licence is still valid, and it is able to operate normally.
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However, Ubiaga said if the committee decides against granting the licence, the bar will be forced to close, and he will be required to apply for a new licence, a process he says could take up to three months.
The move comes amid ongoing concerns about safety, crime and disorder in the city’s entertainment district.
Police have acknowledged the capital is “over-represented” in incidents of assault and disorder and the suburb of Te Aro remained “the area of greatest concern”.
Hundreds attended a rally in March against sexual violence and a public meeting was held last month to address safety concerns.
Last Thursday, city councillors voted to approve $7.7m in funding over three years for Pōneke Promise, a joint safety initiative between the council, Greater Wellington Regional Council, the city’s hospitality industry, retailers and police.
Authorities objected to the renewal of The Establishment’s licence on a number of grounds including the level of alcohol-related harm, inadequate training and systems of staff, suitability of the applicant, the price of drink specials and their promotion, particularly to a younger student audience.
At the hearing, licensing inspector Lewis Howells, said he believed the bar was the “highest risk” on-licence in Wellington.
Police submitted a list of 104 reported incidents they said had occurred since the bar’s licence was last renewed, in August 2016. This included multiple accounts of serious intoxication, assault and sexual assault.
However, Gibson’s lawyer, Alastair Sherriff, argued there had been no prosecutions against the bar or any of its employees since the last licence renewal, and no enforcement applications against the licensee or any manager.
Ubiaga says The Establishment will operate as is until the end of the year and then be rebranded.
He hopes to transform the bar’s image and make it safer for patrons, including introducing Patronscan, a machine used by bouncers to scan IDs.
The technology, which is used by bars and clubs around New Zealand and internationally, takes a picture of the patron and scans their ID.
Bars can use the data to put alerts against people’s names, letting staff know when someone has been banned.
Ubiaga said he is still working through guidelines for what bans could look like, but this could include a 24-hour ban for intoxication and bans from three to six months if a serious incident takes place.
Other bars which have the machines can also decide if they want to share the data, meaning a ban could see a patron denied from multiple bars.
“If people receive bans for starting fights, causing damage to property, bringing in alcohol, being overly intoxicated, it might make them think twice about their behaviour,” Ubiaga said.
“It sets clear guidelines for what behaviour is acceptable.”
Patronscan technical and security risk manager Michael Giannak said the technology is “privacy focused” and complies with New Zealand’s privacy laws. All data is deleted after 30 days, unless someone received a ban.
A spokesman for the Privacy Commission, Charles Mabbett, said it is vital a business collecting any personal information has an understanding of its Privacy Act obligations.
“For instance, are its customers being told why the scanner is being used, what personal information is being collected, how long the details are being stored for and at what point will it be safely deleted,” he said.
Gibson was approached for comment.