Council waits on hearing date for tavern licence

Press, 10 January 1984, Page 7

Council waits on hearing date for tavern licence

The Heathcote County Council is stil waiting to be told when the Licencing Commission will hear its application to have the Hillsborough Tavern’s entertainment licence revoked.

The council first approached the commission in June in an attempt to have the licence revoked after complaints that there had been overcrowding and excess noise while rock bands were playing at the tavern.

A concert in the tavern’s car park on Saturday led to many residents complaining about the noise. A Christchurch City Council noise officer recorded noise at twice the permitted level during the concert, which

was given by two Auckland bands, D. D. Smash and Auckland Walk.

Cr M. J. Taylor said yesterday that the council still did not know whether a hearing date had been set. When the date was known the council would prepare its case, which would be based on “instances of overcrowding and noise complaints." The hearing had originally been set for October, but because it could not go ahead then it was postponed. The council wrote to the commission again last month to ask if a new hearing date had been arranged.

The council first took ac-

tion against the tavern in 1981, when it asked that the premises be sound-proofed. Cr Taylor said Saturday’s concert had highlighted the problem at the tavern. She said that although the management had said they would stop being host to “big bands” and visiting groups, the tavern was still being run as a “concert venue.”

“They had made a very real effort to keep that noise level down, but it is the style of concert they hold,” she said. “I think if they had stuck to their word and changed the style of the entertainment we wouldn’t have been worried about it at all.”