Drug-taking publican loses licence after using premises and baby's room to cultivate cannabis

Monday, 18 September 2023

An “irrational, emotionally abusive” publican, who used his premises and his baby’s room to cultivate cannabis, has lost his liqour licence.

Blair Wallace’s Springfield Hotel has been stripped of its licence after a hearing found a litany of non-compliance issues, slack paperwork and drug convictions from the owner.

In less than a month Wallace will no longer be allowed to serve liquor at the 120-year-old rural Canterbury pub.

His application to renew a bar managers’ certificate was also rejected by the Selwyn District Licensing Committee last Friday.

It followed a protracted hearing that began in November 2021 but was often delayed by Wallace, and by Covid-19.

The Committee’s report outlined Wallace’s cannabis operation, drug use and irrational behaviour towards employees who described him as “toxic”.

Wallace’s company, Alpine 182 Limited, of which he is a sole director, bought the Springfield Hotel for $685,000 on a lease to own contract in March 2019.

A month later, he says he found a cannabis cultivation room in the old town hall building on the same site as the hotel.

After a police raid, Wallace was arrested in July 2021 when police found six cannabis plants in a large concealed grow room, cannabis residue all over his home, methamphetamine, MDMA, two glass pipes and ammunition.

Wallace claimed the cannabis was for his own use, but at the licensing hearing Senior Constable Hamish Caird described the operation as “large-scale and sophisticated”.

Caird said there was “a lot” of equipment, including a watering system, lighting and extractor fans at the hotel site.

“There was evidence of cannabis plants that had been tied up and secured in the building, but had obviously recently been harvested. There were six large cannabis plants still present, but it was quite apparent that there had been a considerable number recently growing that had been harvested.”

Caird said the equipment suggested anywhere upwards of 100 plants could be grown in the room.

When asked how long he thought it would take Wallace – who said he smoked one to two cigarettes a day – to get through the amount of cannabis able to be grown, Caird said: “He would need Willie Nelson and Snoop Dogg with him to make any sort of dent in that amount of cannabis.”

A yearly planner in the grow room listed dates and instructions relating to cultivating cannabis.

Wallace admitted he used his baby’s room to dry cannabis when his partner was in Australia, while police found a fan and a duct on a cot in the room.

Senior Constable Geneieve Craddock said as soon as she opened the house door she could smell cannabis.

Cannabis remnants were also found all over the garage floor and Caird said it appeared to be used as a drying and cut-up area.

In March last year, Wallace pleaded guilty and was convicted of possessing methamphetamine, ecstasy, ammunition without a licence, cultivation of cannabis and possession of cannabis. Police withdrew two charges for supplying cannabis.

Judge Gilbert sentenced him to six months supervision and ordered him to take an alcohol and drug-related intervention. He was also fined $1250.

Several ex-employees also gave evidence to the committee, including Joel Innes who alleged Wallace hinted to him on a number of occasions that the business would have failed “several times over” if he was not selling drugs.

He claimed on one evening when he was working past midnight, Wallace told him “you need to go now”. Soon after he saw a white van pull up outside the pub with its lights out.

On another occasion, Innes told the committee that he saw Wallace take out a bag of white powder and put it back in his pocket when he thought no-one was looking.

“He was nervous, quite pale and sweating,” Innes said. “He eagerly bragged about past drug use such as coke and ketamine. Blair admitted to me that if the police had found a device they overlooked in the drug raid, he would be going away for years as it had the data for the lights in the growing room.”

In response, Wallace said Innes had an overactive imagination and he did not recall any such conversation.

In February 2021 a licensing administrator received an anonymous phone call alleging there was illegal drug-taking happening on Monday evenings at the hotel.

Two other employees, Tracy Tahuhu and Abi Aitkins, told employment resolution consultant Maryline Suchley they saw illicit drugs being used at the hotel and said there was “questionable characters coming in and out of the premises”, including one person who frightened them.

Tahuhu gave evidence that she would leave the bar clean and tidy at night, only to come in the next morning and find it trashed.

“There were cigarette butts everywhere, there were roaches, ends of joints and green matter on the floor.”

She also alleged both Wallace and his partner Shelley, who sometimes acted as a duty bar manager, drank a lot of alcohol while they were working.

“Blair would become aggressive, he would drink a lot, ramble and not make sense.”

Ex-head bar manager Kathleen Roche said Wallace’s behaviour was erratic, intimidating and he could be threatening. She believed someone was going to get “seriously hurt or die”, as Wallace would “throw things” when angry.

She also claimed staff that told her people had paid money to go upstairs to do lines.

The Employment Relations Authority (ERA) has ruled against the company three times in favour of ex-employees Atkins, Tahuhu and Anton Pearce.The penalties total more than $60,000 for humiliation, wage arrears and breaching the Employment Act.

Wallace is yet to pay the fines.

The hearing also summarised numerous breaches, including operating the bar without a licence, having no duty manager present, no evacuation plan and no building warrant of fitness.

Stuff has repeatedly sought comment from Wallace, but has not received a response.