Takahe liquor permit opposed

Press, 22 August 1978, Page 6

Takahe liquor permit opposed

| Plans to turn the Sign of [the Takahe into a licensed;' restaurant by Christmas [‘ (came under fire at a hearing;, '[of the Licensing Control:! (Commission in Christchurch ;< ! yesterday, I ■ Questions vere also raised (about the legalit of a[i I Christchurch Citv Council; I (undertaking to amend the;! lease of the Sign of the; I Takahe if a restaurant liquor! ’(licence can be obtained. [! The commission was hear-; ‘ ing an application from Hill-; : top Holdings, Ltd (Mr R. J.’ IMcMurtrie). the company! which now provides morning : ’(and afternoon teas and! (luncheons at the historic roadhouse. ■ The Heathcote County Council and 28 residents objected to the application. The commission reserved (its decision. The members of the commission are Judge J.; R. P. Horn (chairman) and (Messrs R. S. Austin and F.j W. Pringle. The sign of the Takahe is owned by the Christchurch City Council and is leased to Hillhop Holdings. The manager of the company, Mr C. ‘W. Ryan, gave evidence that Ihe joined the company as a ichef and was now its manlager as well as being a 20 Iper cent shareholder.

As well as the teas and luncheons, the company; [catered to about seven pri-i ivate functions a month, at) (which ' liquor was usually; ■ served but provided by the: organisation holding the function, he said. The company had hoped ■ to open a licensed restaurant; 'before Christmas and reduce the number of private functions. Public access to the' Sign of the Takahe would remain between the hours of 30 a.m. to 5 p.m. as at pre-; ■ sent, and the liquor licence (would be used for meals be-; 'tween noon and 2 p.m. and again between 7 p.m. and: 10 p.m. A quality restaurant was; envisaged and the reduction; of private functions should, lessen the disturbance 10l neighbours from noise and should also lessen parking; problems. To Mr R. A. Young, for the (Heathcote County Council,. I Mr Rvan said he had been often asked by tourists if a' licensed restaurant was available and had a.so rei reived telephone calls from Christchurch people wanting . to know the same thing. He . considered there would oe i “quite a demand said Mr ) 'Mr Ryan agreed that rhe present lease expressly for-,

bad the sale of liquor at the ( Sign of the Takahe, but said: ; that an accommodation had; (been agreed to by the Christ-1 I church Citv Council. To Dr A. N. Mathias, a; . local resident and one of the ‘ objectors, Mr Ryan said that; only piano background music [ , was envisaged, although am-; (plified music might still be re-1 quired by some private func-| tions. Mr Ryan agreed that : on hot nights the windows of the building had to be opened ’ ; to allow adequate ventilation; : and that this could aggravate la noise problem. Mr K. R. McNeill, director ; of housing and property tor I the Christchurch City Council, said that the council had (agreed bv resolution that, if I a liquor licence was obtained :for a restaurant, the lease to (Hilltop Holdings would be ‘varied to allow its sale. The (change to the lease would I also result in an increased (rental to the council. To Mr Young, Mr McNeill said that a verbal opinion I from the Citv Solicitor’s office was that the council did have the power to vary ■ the lease and that the proi posed restaurant was not outside the intended uses of the ~ building. i Cr R. H. T. Thompson,

(deputy chairman of the I Heathcote County Council, (said that the council’s objec- | tion was the result of a meetI ing with residents last Wednesday. Noise and parking problems were the main con- ) cern of the residents, but the i character of the Sign of the j 1 akahe — as a roadside resthouse open to all — should 1 also be protected. ( He agreed that a restaurant! i would be likely to create less ) : noise at any single time than [ (private functions, but said! that it would be more spread [ out and occurring on six nights a week. Dr Mathias gave evidence on behalf of himself and 25 : other residents. Turning the Sign of the Takahe into a ' restaurant would “detract ' from the amenity of the area ' I and result in loss of quiet ’[enjoyment.” The grant of a 'I licence would prevent many 'l— especially young people walking the hills — from) I enjoying the architecture.) 1 embellishments, and resting > place the building now pro--1 vided. he said. ’ When envisaged and built, - the building was not con- . ceived as a “place of sophis- , ticated entertainment as an end in itself.” he said. I Messrs C. M. A. Thompson .land G. M. Jones, also local

residents, gave similar evidence with particular empha-l sis on the problem of noise.! The commission also reserved its decision on an application from the Christ-; church Media Club for a club charter. Judge Horn' said the commission wished to get an inspector’s report on architect’s plans for proposed alterations to the; ;club’s premises and consider! I the club’s constitution fur-' I ther. ' “I think it fair to say, how-' ever, that we view this appli-i cation favourably. We were; sorry we couldn't give youi an ancillary licence last! year.’’ he said. (The club applied unsuc-f cessfuily for an ancillary liquor licence last year.) The commission granted a! restaurant liquor licence for Dymand Steakhouse. Ltd, for new premises opposite the existing Dymand Steakhouse in Colombo Street, and granted a caterer’s licence to Mr and Mrs D. F. Ward, of Rangiora, who have the catering contract for Mona Vale. An application by Summerton Enterprises, Ltd. to convert the hotel premises (licence for the Marine Hotel, i Sumner, to a tavern licence. I •was reserved.