Tavern And First Extended Hotel Licences Sought

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30975, 3 February 1966, Page 9

Tavern And First Extended Hotel Licences Sought

1 avern licences for the Woolston, White Swan and Islington Arms hotels were sought by Ballins Industries Ltd., and for the Club Hotel, Sydenham, when the Licensing Control Commission continued its sitting yesterday.

Bal I ins Industries also asked for extended hotel premises licences for Shirley Lodge in respect of the Bower Hotel, for the Clarendon in respect of the Southern Cross, and for the Papanui in respect of the Phoenix. The company also gave evidence to counter proposals for transfer of town licences to new suburban taverns.

An extended licence p permits the premises with the licence to provide guest accom- : modation. and to operate the bars at the n two hotels. The subsidiary hotels are, in effect, reduced to tav- ; ern status, with no ■ guest accommodation. Provision for this type of i licence is made in the 1965 amendment to the Sale of 1 cmor Act, and the applicat.jns are the first of this] kind. In submissions made by ■ counsel for Ballins Industries ! Ltd. (Mr R. E. Wylie), he said the Woolston Hotel, would be near the proposed new motor hotel in Page’s road. The White Swan Hotel, al-' most next to the Royal, also owned by the company, would be used to house Royal Hotel staff, and the existing staff rooms at the Royal used to provide more medium- i grade guest accommodation. The company recognised that the Islington Arms was' now a de facto tavern Mr Wylie said the commis->

sion would have no difficulty | in accepting the Shirley i Lodge extended licence pro-1 posal in view of the accom-1 modation provided at Shirley! Lodge The same applied to the Clarendon, which was now providing more accommodation. The Papanui was to be re-built to give new accommodation of a good standard. The Bower, Southern Cross and Phoenix met little demand for accommodation. The company sought hotel licences for the Albion, Belfast. Black Horse, Crown, Esplanade, Lyttelton Mitre, New Railway, Racecourse and I Royal hotels. Mr Wylie said that Ballins owned 17 hotels, all but the Pier at Kaiapoi being subject to the review. The company also leased and operated two : hotels, owned a half-share in i and operated jointly with ' New Zealand Breweries, Ltd., ; as co-owners the Blenheim road motor hotel, and owned and leased to tenants another j four hotels. Plans For Future Since 1957. said Mr Wylie, his company had spent i £648.11l on top-grade hotels I in Christchurch, and in the I same period, New Zealand Breweries, Ltd., had spent

£547,927, with £500,000 from other sources on the White Heron. Projected expenditure by Ballins was £225,000 on the new Page’s road hotel, and, from other sources, £440.000 on a new hotel in Colombo street, and £400,000 on a new Carlton Hotel. This was a grand total of £2,797,038 since 1957. Mr B. J. N. Wilkes, managing director of Ballins Industries, Ltd., said there had been a downward trend in city accommodation demands in the three months ended December 31. He believed this might be due to the opening of the Russley and White Heron Hotels. The city was amply served with good accommodation.

Shirley Lodge, in the year ended December 31, had shown a net trading loss of £5433 on the accommodation side.

Tavern Costs

A minimum of six acres would be needed for a tavern site and its car park, said Mr Wilkes. The land cost would be no less than £20.000. The costs would be at least £50,000 for a 10,000 square foot building, and the whole project would not cost less than £lOO,OOO.

No Policy Yet

“Our information is that a tavern venture is not regarded as a trustee investment, and it might be that there would be a loading on finance,” he said. Bishopdale, said Mr Wilkes, was served by the Russley Hotel and those at Papanui. “But we have evidence that it will be a satellite city of 20,000 or 30,000 people. Do you want them all converging on the other hotels?” asked the chairman (Mr S. T. Barnett).

“In five years’ time, if that development took place, there would be a need for the facility,” said Mr Wilkes. I “Do you think the Sandj ridge is good enough to serve I the whole of Cashmere?" I asked Mr Barnett. Mr Wilkes said the Black Horse would be as near. There might be need of facilities at Avonhead, but Burwood and Aranui were adequately served. The proposed tavern could have a drastic effect on nearby hotels. The new Hornby Trust hotel and the new Hornby Working Men’s Club had had this ef-

feet on the Racecourse Hotel, said Mr Wilkes. To Mr G. S. Orr, counsel for the commission, Mr Wilkes said his company had lately provided more beds at Shirley Lodge, chiefly for peak demands. It was providing 30 more beds at the Clarendon, 40 at Page’s road, and more I at the United Service, as well las up-grading Papanui. “The commission may infer that your company has anticipated the need for more accommodation," said Mr Orr. Mr Wilkes: It may be correct to say on a leng-term. not an immediate, view.

He agreed that it would be a help to move some town licences to the suburbs. Those licences retained in town should be for hotels with reasonable accommodation.

The hotel licences sought were all for premises providing medium-grade accommodation, said Mr Wilkes. Mr Barnett said the commission would like to see more of Mr Wilkes’s “empire,’ 'and after inspections would have him recalled.

To Mr Barnett, Mr Wylie said that the Racecourse Hotel would qualify as a tavern, though a hotel licence was sought as a service to the racing community. Application for a tavern licence was made for the Club Hotel, Sydenham. Evidence was given that the hotel had little or no accommodation demands

The commission made an immediate ‘ grant of a hotel licence to Shirley Lodge, and held over the application for an extended premises licence.

Mr Barnett said that the commission had not before had applications for extended licences, and had, therefore, no policy. He asked questions as to the distances of the subsidiary hotels from the main ones, and asked for financial details to be supplied. Mr Barnett also questioned the extent to which Papanui Hotel re-buildteg plans were tied to the extended licence proposal for the Phoenix.

Applications were also made for hotel premises licences for the Forresters, United Service. Bush Inn, Caledonian, Dominion, Bonner’s Tourist, Coker’s, Riccarton and Central hotels.

Mr D. L. Marra (Mr R. Godfrey) applied for a hotel or tavern licence at the Bishopdale shopping centre. He said the Lands and Survey Department had provided a site for a hotel. The commission adjourned to this morning-