The battle brewing over Wellington liquor licences

Saturday, 9 August 2025

Jose Ubiaga never had an objection to his liquor licence in the first 17 years of owning bars but in the past four years, he has had four.

Recently, the Wellington bar owner had his licence suspended for two days after promoting 2-for-1 happy hour drinks outside his venue The Residence on a chalkboard visible from the street.

His case was submitted to the Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority (ARLA), which found him in breach of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act and forced him to shut his doors in July.

It was not his first time promoting his bar this way, with the council raising the issue of advertising 2-for-1s on Facebook during a hearing last year during which police opposed his liquor licence.

Ubiaga believes his relationship with council has changed over the years, and where inspectors used to have personal relationships with bar owners, they now take a more formal approach.

“If they were really focussed on trying to improve, it should be more about making sure everyone lifts to the right level as opposed to trying to fine people and close places down.”

All licence applications are determined on a case-by-case basis by the District Licensing Committee based on the criteria in the Act.

This includes safe and responsible supplying of alcohol, minimising harm, the suitability of the applicant and any relevant local alcohol policy.

Last year, police opposed Ubiaga’s liquor licence for The Residence in an attempt to reduce his hours from 4am to 2am.

The hearing for The Residence has been obtained by The Post. In it, police note that there had been 12 assaults, 1 fight and 4 disorderly behaviour incidents outside the bar in the three years since Ubiaga renewed his licence.

With up to 700 through his doors on a single night, Ubiaga did not believe this justified the objection.

“We run a good business. We make sure our staff are safe, we keep everybody safe within the venue, we’ve got good security, experienced staff. I think all in all we do a pretty good job.”

Ubiaga said the police should be working with security and bars to make sure Courtenay Place is safe, not “us against them.”

The current attitude towards drinking made operating challenging, and when party-goers showed up at midnight, it meant four hours of intense work for staff.

“Booze in the supermarkets and in the bottle store are going to be cheaper than it is in a bar, so it’s not surprising that people are drinking at home before coming out, especially in a market where cost of living is really tough.”

He believed Wellington was the strictest city in terms of its licensing.

“In Auckland they do bottomless brunches all over the place,.Here they’re just like no you can’t do it.”

While Ubiaga understood police and Te Whatu Ora’s role in reducing alcohol harm, he did not understand council’s position, which he said was not business-friendly.

“They look for things to find to say no.”

Before the council took the 2-for-1 case to the licensing authority , a meeting between council and Ubiaga was arranged to discuss his promotion tactics, but Ubiaga said the meeting went downhill after the council raised a range of issues with no prior notice, which he said caused him to walk out early, saying he felt “blindsided”.

In an email chain seen by The Post, the inspectorate said it believed advertising 2-for-1 within the premises was inappropriate, due to the high discount and the two hour window to drink.

Ubiaga has had four hearings opposing his liquor licence to The Residence, Rubix and SugarWoods in the past four years - The Residence had two.

He won all but had to reduce his opening hours at SugarWoods to 2am on a Friday and Saturday night, which he blames as a key reason for the bar’s closure, losing $2000 to $4000 revenue on weekend nights.

Courtenay Place has the highest number of licences in Wellington, with 99 licences as of November 2024, with Dixon Street East close behind with 95 licences.

Eight of the 14 liquor licences Te Whatu Ora had opposed across Wellington in the past two years had been in Courtenay Place.

At the hearing for The Residence last year, acting Senior Sergeant Buchanan explained police’s position.

He said a significant amount of Wellington’s inner city alcohol-related harm occurred on Courtenay Place and in close proximity to The Residence, with police attending an increasing number of incidents around Ubiaga’s bar.

The street experienced “considerable” overcrowding at busy times after 11pm, peaking at 4am, especially during closing times where people would spill over onto the road.

At midnight on Friday and Saturday nights police and other emergency services are required to deal with more drunk people, violent and disorderly behaviour, and sometimes more serious offending such as grievous assaults and sexual crimes.

“Many fights break out on the streets and overcrowding mixed with intoxication contributes towards innocent people being victimised,” the report stated.

Police were constantly working with ambulance staff to help people who were completely intoxicated and needing hospitalisation. Police also relied on bar owners and bar security to assist with managing the crowds and monitoring intoxication.

Buchanan said since his time working on the Policing Support Unit (PSU), the focus had shifted from the Cambridge Tce to Tory St end of Courtenay Place to between Taranaki and Tory Street, which he attributed to the 2am closing times.

Dealing with behaviour on a Friday and Saturday night on Courtenay Place was a full-time job, he said, and the PSU were having to decline calls from police in other parts of the city.

Buchanan attributed the worsening of alcohol-related harm to a cultural shift around how people acted when drinking.

“There is more street violence, the way people interact is generally more negative, and people are getting more intoxicated than they were previously,” he said in the hearing statement.

In the years 2020 to 2023, 45% of alcohol-related violence incidents recorded by the police in Wellington were within 1km of the corner of Taranaki St and Courtenay Place.

In response to Ubiaga, Wellington Area Commander Inspector Dean Silvester said police remained committed to the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act, while also working with the public and alcohol providers to balance enforcement with education.

“Police will continue working with partners to foster a culture of responsible drinking to reduce alcohol-related incidents and social harm.”

Council spokesperson Richard MacLean said council enjoyed a good working relationship with hospitality operators in Wellington.

“However, we are statutorily responsible for issuing and enforcing alcohol licences and we cannot look the other way when the law is being broken, and in this instance Mr Ubiaga was warned several times by our staff about his 2:1 deals.”

The total number of applications in the past year in Wellington is 293 (population, 209,900), while in Christchurch it was 528 (population, 410,000) and Auckland 1437 (population 1,656,486).

The council has had to scale up its city safety by investing $40 million over the next 10 years to tackle crime and antisocial behaviour in response to growing public safety concerns.

Alcohol remains a key area of concern, with police facing incidents such as Siale Siale, who had been drinking alcohol since 5pm the previous day before he punched Luke Smith, who died the following day in hospital, unprovoked on Courtenay Place.

Wellington Central MP Tamatha Paul said while there were ways the council could make the process more streamlined, licensing was a tool to reduce alcohol-related harm.

Paul had heard of businesses that had licences opposed on Courtenay Place due to the increasing level of foot traffic on the streets, which was causing issues for police.

'We don't want the city to be boring, and we want people to have fun …But in New Zealand, we have an excessive binge drinking culture that can spill out on our city streets and that's what we need to get under control.'

Sweet Axe Throwing Co co-owner Lloyd Bombell has tried three times for a liquor licence at his Wellington venue that lets him serve two drinks while customers throw axes, but in Auckland, the same offering was approved first attempt.

Bombell has found the different interpretations of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 “frustrating,” and had soured his opinions of the city.

He said his business in Auckland was earning six times the amount of trade of his Wellington venue since it obtained its licence.

“We really want to have the liquor licence, not so that we could turn our axe throwing venue into a boozer, but to make it accessible to those larger groups.”

His first application was declined, with Police, Te Whatu Ora and the Wellington City Council all in opposition. It took nine months before he was able to present his case to the district licensing committee, and by the time the hearing date rolled around, the lease for his Kent Tce venue was up and the business was moving across the road to Cambridge Tce.

Bombell described the ruling from his second application as “outrageous overreach,” with a condition on his licence that no axes were able to be out while alcohol was served, meaning groups could finish throwing but not be able to be served if other customers were still participating.

In the third hearing, the committee admitted the ruling was “overly restrictive,” and adjusted his condition to restrict the sale, supply, and consumption of alcohol until after the participant in axe throwing has stopped throwing for the day.

But Bombell had already been operating his venue in Auckland for six months by the time he applied the third time, and believed matching the two venues’ conditions would be a “no brainer”.

“It’s baby steps definitely in the right direction, but it’s certainly not where we want to be.”

While he understood axe throwing and alcohol did not sound like a good mix at first glance, the way it was monitored by staff through health and safety processes meant it posed little danger.

“We are within arm's reach of every single person in our venue holding an axe, teaching people how to throw. We're watching their throwing technique.

“It's basically doing an old school sobriety test every single second that we're running our events.”

The Auckland branch operates on a wristband system for staff to mark after each drink purchase. Signed waivers and correspondence from the moment a booking was made to inform customers of the two-drink limit.

Hospitality New Zealand head of communications and advocacy Sam MacKinnon said licensing had a strong set of parameters around who should be seen as fit to hold one but the primary difficulty was the inconsistencies of rulings around the country.

“There’s a high degree of subjectivity in how District Licensing Committees (DLCs) and licensing inspectors read the act, understand it, object and choose to apply it,” he said.

While they had heard consistently about challenges obtaining and retaining liquor licences in Wellington, liquor licensing anywhere in the country is difficult , he said.

“If Wellington, and other councils around the country, are serious about supporting hospitality and safer consumption of alcohol, ensuring licensing processes are run fairly and consistently would go a long way to fostering the ongoing development of the city’s hospitality offering.'

MacKinnon said there was a growing frustration from Wellington members on the cost of fees, with a comparable difference between cities.

While liquor licences for very high risk establishments in Christchurch and Auckland cost $1207.50, and annual fees are $1437.50, Wellington bar owners are forking out nearly four times the amount, paying $4399 for the same application and the annual fee coming to $4771.

Fees were meant to be charged on a cost recovery basis but struggled to identify why high risk venues increase administration costs this substantially and how other centres can run their processes much cheaper.

MacLean said the alcohol fees bylaw was reviewed last year.

But further investigation found the fees have since increased again in the annual plan, with applications for very high risk venues increasing another $805 while very low risk businesses were paying $109 more.

Christchurch and Auckland’s fees have not increased since the act came into effect in 2013 and are national default fees set by the Ministry of Justice.

One of the newest arrivals to the Courtenay Place party strip is B13, a relaxed British inspired rooftop pub.

As long as the rules are followed and the aim is to keep people safe to have a good time in a safe environment, owner Cody Halton believed there should not be problems.

With years of experience managing high-energy venues like Dakota and Rubix, Halton set out to create something different - a laid-back pub that offers a safe, comfortable space where people can enjoy a drink, whether it is 2pm or 10pm.

With Halton’s club background and its location on the high-risk street, he said licensing inspectors came with slight concerns but he had no issues and found the experience “quite pleasant”.

“Inspectors saw that it was couches and booths and food and a sit down place and not a million people crammed into a tight space.”

“People will come back and you'll make money if you make them feel good.”

Whether it is a beer and wine with dinner operation or a bottle shop, councillor Ben McNulty has heard across the board that Wellington is a hard place to operate.

“We certainly make it hard for licensed venues in comparison to other parts of the country, just culturally, we seem to be less enabling,” he said.

Feedback he had heard from bar owners was that the process was not collaborative. Instead of asking “how can I guide you through this?”, it often felt like unless everything was done perfectly, a licence was not granted.

Restaurants offering beer and wine were not high-risk venues that caused problem drinking, it was the sale of single cans where the negative impacts started, he said.

“We don’t have a focus proportionate to where the risk is.”

It meant those with the enthusiasm and energy to create vibrancy downtown were going elsewhere, directly altering Wellington’s night-time economy, he said.

McNulty had spoken to one Wellington restaurant owner who had trouble obtaining a licence and was planning to invest in Lower Hutt as a result.

Fellow councillor Diane Calvert campaigned on changes to make liquor licensing easier with less red tape, and the majority of council are standing behind her, bar one.

Calvert is now updating her letter to the council and mayor to include the price differences, saying the current process is “inefficient”.

“Every extra hour, day, week in processing applications, the businesses have to hold on.”

Greig Wilson, who has been outspoken in the past about the licence process, believed council’s enforcement to be excessive.

Wilson has recently been in the middle of a stoush with council to keep his parklet outside Shady Lady and Vinyl Bar on Courtenay Place, with council sending him a surprise email to remove the $30,000 outdoor seating in June.

Parklets are a council initiative where car parks are converted to seating areas outside businesses, usually hospitality.

All complaints have since been dropped, but official documents revealed the licensing Inspector made a complaint on New Year’s Day that there were too many people queuing, which meant they were forced to walk on the road in order to pass the crowd.

Wilson believed the complaint highlighted the “heavy-handed approach” taken with licensing.

Only able to serve alcohol on his parklet until 10pm, he now wishes he never built it, saying the restrictions lessen the vibrancy on the street, and meant people can’t “have a good time under the stars”.