Applications from a dozen Dunedin bars for special licences to trade on Good Friday and Easter Sunday have been declined by the Dunedin District Licensing Agency.
Licensees say they are disappointed by the decision, but not surprised.
The agency hearings committee of Dunedin city councillors Colin Weatherall, Andrew Noone and Paul Hudson, heard the applications from licensees last week.
The council is one of the last authorities in the country to have the relatively liberal policy, until now, of granting special licences for trading on the sacrosanct days - Christmas Day, Good Friday and Easter Sunday - and up to 1pm on Anzac Day.
Mr Weatherall said yesterday licensees were warned last year special licences granted for trading to 1.30am on Christmas Day were a one-off.
He said the council policy was a guideline for the agency, and to date Dunedin had been more flexible than most, but the committee had taken into consideration community feeling, a national tendency towards respecting the sacrosanct days and opposition from police and Public Health South.
Phil Ellis, who runs Craft Bar, 10 Bar and Ratbags in the Octagon, said the news was a "bummer".
He said the authorities would have to deal with large groups of people on the streets at midnight those nights.
"That is of their own making."
He said he was not really surprised at the decision, as it seemed to be the national direction.
Beth O'Connor, from the Ra Cafe and Bar, said the decision took Dunedin "back to the dark ages".
"I can understand restrictions on Good Friday, but Easter Sunday? ... It is behind the times."
She said the licensees would have to talk to each other before making a decision on whether they would lodge an appeal with the Liquor Licensing Authority.
The bars involved are Craft Bar, 10 Bar, Ratbags, Pop, Carousel, Ra Cafe and Bar, The Craic, Crofters, Valley Lodge Hotel, Metro and the Monkey Bar.
An application from the Southern Break nightclub for a special licence to hold a fundraiser for earthquake-affected Christchurch between 12.01am and 3am on Easter Sunday was also declined.
