A personable nature and the history of nightclub Sammy's appear to have helped earn owner Sam Chin a reprieve.
He now has 28 days to convince a district licensing committee he should continue running the venue.
That was despite Mr Chin, who also manages the venue, still being unsure, when asked at a hearing yesterday, what patrons can legally use to provide proof of identity.
Gaps in Mr Chin's knowledge became clear as he was grilled by representatives of the police, a Dunedin City Council licensing inspector and Public Health South.
However, all seemed to agree Mr Chin should be given a last chance.
Authorities had opposed the renewal of Sammy's Entertainment Venue's liquor licence because of the owner's attitude to host responsibility.
The three authorities listed issues in respective reports to the hearing.
Alcohol harm prevention officer Sergeant Ian Paulin had described Mr Chin's answers to police questions at a recent meeting as unacceptable. For example, Mr Chin had said he did not abide by the under-25 policy for identification, instead only asking for ID if someone did not look 18.
Mr Chin told the hearing he had been running licensed premises since 1978, when he finished working at the Tai Ping takeaway shop of his late father, Eddie, a Dunedin businessman and nightclub owner.
Sammy's, the former His Majesty's Theatre in Crawford St, was on the market, and there had been plans to turn it into a restaurant for Asian tours to the city, but potential buyers had pulled out, Mr Chin told the hearing.
Mr Chin said he got on well with everybody, from former mayor Sir Clifford Skeggs to gang members, all of whom were ‘‘God's people''.
Artists from Gary Glitter to Jimmy Barnes had played at his venues, and when patrons left, they said: ‘‘Great show, Sammy''.
‘‘I think I'm still capable of doing this for many years.''
He said he had been stressed at the time of the recent meeting, and unwell.
Asked yesterday by Sgt Paulin what could be used for identification in a licensed premises, Mr Chin said a firearms licence was one option.
Sgt Paulin replied nowhere in the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 was a firearms licence mentioned as acceptable ID.
‘‘You are responsible for instructing staff, but you yourself don't know what's acceptable?'' Sgt Paulin asked.
Mr Chin replied his door staff knew the rules.
Concerns were also raised about a policy Mr Chin had said he would put in place to stop people leaving the venue and drinking in nearby cars, and an incident when a woman was found by a neighbour almost unconscious and vomiting in nearby Jetty St.
Council licensing inspector Tony Mole asked about a policy that was to have been in place whereby patrons, once inside, were not allowed a pass out to leave the venue.
Mr Chin said the policy had been introduced, but people wanted to leave to go to bars in the Octagon.
Several times, he promised the breaches of the Act would not happen again.
Sgt Paulin, in his evidence, said warnings in the past should have served notice for Mr Chin to become familiar with the Act, but he still had not.
Sgt Paulin and Mr Mole told hearing chairman Colin Weatherall and members Crs Andrew Noone and David Benson-Pope that Mr Chin was a good man, despite not having been a suitable manager.
In closing, Mr Chin again said he would make himself familiar with the rules of the Act.
He accepted as true everything Sgt Paulin, Mr Mole and Public Health South's Toni Paterson had told the hearing.
After discussion about Mr Chin employing a manager and taking a training course in bar management, Mr Weatherall adjourned the meeting for 28 days.
Mr Weatherall said after the meeting the adjournment gave Mr Chin time to present a management plan to the committee. That left the matter in Mr Chin's hands.
Outside the hearing, Mr Chin said he was happy with the outcome.
He still hoped to sell the building, but did not know when that might happen.
The hearing process was ‘‘a kick up the bum'', he said.‘‘I've been a bit slack over the last few years.''david.loughrey@odt.co.nz
