Liquor laws to changenext?

Press, 6 December 1989, Page 3

Liquor laws to changenext?

PA Auckland Sunday shopping will increase pressure for a change in liquor laws to allow hotels to open on Sundays, says the Minister of Sport and Recreation, Mr Tapsell. While the rest of society gets on with life and shopping at the week-end, Mr Tapsell believes the fact that hotels remain closed will stick out as increasingly ridiculous. When the anomaly becomes apparent, pressure for change will increase, he said. And it seems the decision to allow shops and supermarkets to open on Sundays has already produced the first irregularity. Supermarkets which can sell wine during the week and on Saturdays will not be able to sell wine on Sundays. They will either have to lock off the wine sales area or be forced to cover wine, bringing a situation similar to that faced by Foodtown in Auckland recently when it had to cover items banned from sale when it opened for a trial run on Sundays. Mr Tapsell said he would prefer a system similar to the English liquor laws, with hotels open about lunchtime and dinnertime, closing for a period during the afternoon. But before Sunday hotel opening came about in New Zealand the style of “booze barns” would have to change to be more like the English family hotel, he said.