SUBURBAN HOTEL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25800, 22 March 1945, Page 4

SUBURBAN HOTEL

INVERCARGILL PROJECT

“SIT-DOWN” DRINKING A permit has been granted to the Invercargill Licensing Trust to erect an hotel in South Invercargill. This will be the first major building undertaken by the trust. Temporary bars which were erected in the city for the opening day, July 1 last, were erected by the Works Department. The hotel will be a two-storeyed concrete building of modern design, containing 12 guest bedrooms. All the walls and ceilings will be soundproofed. A feature of the design is the way in which the public bar has been cut off from the rest of the building. There will be no direct public communication between the bar and the rest of the hotel. People staying in the hotel will be able to obtain drinks In the lounge through a servery with a slide opening on to the bar. There will he n-> bar counter In the public bar, provision being made for “ sit-down ” drinking only. This is in line with the trust’s policy of discouraging “ perpendicular ” drinking, which is said to lead to excessive consumption df liquor. It is expected that work on the building will be commenced shortly. Other projected trust buildings for which plans have been prepared are a tavern in North Invercargill and an hotel at Avenal. Permits are awaited for both these buildings, but it is understood that the authorities do not view favourably the erection at the present time of the tavern, which will not provide accommodation for the travelling public. The hotel at Avenal will be about three times as large as the hotel at South Invercargill, and because of the shortages of labour and materials it may be a considerable time before a permit is granted. The chairman of the trust, Mr H. Ritchie, said that the hotel at South Invercargill would not do much to relieve the accommodation problem in the city. He also claimed that the tavern at North Invercargill was necessary to relieve congestion at the trust’s temporary bars. “"Overcrowding in our temporary bars is the only undesirable feature at the present time,” he said. “ Crowded bars lead to more noisy drinking, and, perhaps, to excesssive drinking.”