Seven-day closure to cost Hotel Steyne more than $100,000

THE new licensee of Manly’s Hotel Steyne has hit out over the suspension of his liquor licence which was triggered by the non-payment of a fine by a staff member for a breach before took ownership.

Hotel Steyne general manager and licensee Dave Ward.

THE new licensee of Manly’s Hotel Steyne says the suspension of his liquor licence and the forced closure of the hotel for seven days from this Monday to the following Sunday is unfair treatment of him and the hotel.

The seven-day suspension arises from an incident in September in which four girls under 18 entered the hotel, remained there for several hours and bought alcohol over the bar.

The Hotel Steyne at Manly.

The hotel’s licensee at the time, Stephen O’Sullivan, was charged with seven offences.

He was found guilty in February of four counts of allowing the girls to remain in the hotel for more than three hours and three counts of allowing them to buy alcohol.

But the magistrate did not proceed to a conviction and placed Mr O’Sullivan on a 12-month good-behaviour bond.

Hotel Steyne co-owner Arthur Laundy.

The two bar staff who served the girls were each fined $1100 but the non-payment of the fine by one of the bar staff has triggered the seven-day suspension of the licence by the Office of Liquor and Gaming.

The hotel’s new licensee, Dave Ward, who took over in December, said the decision to suspend his licence and close the hotel “is completely ridiculous and is penalising more than the business”.

“This decision is also penalising all the sporting teams the hotel sponsors, the 120 staff the hotel employs, all the university students who work here to help pay off their university fees, all the locals who socialise and drink here and all our suppliers, who deliver fresh produce three or four times a week,” he said.

“I acknowledge there was a systems failure on the day, the first one in close to seven years.

“One incident in seven years for a venue of this size and with a large capacity is just about perfection in most people’s eyes. We all learn from mistakes and mistakes make better venues, at the end of the day.

“But the NSW Justice Department (of which the Office of Liquor and Gaming is part) has gone about this in completely the wrong way and without compassion to anyone involved.”

Hotel co-owner Arthur Laundy said the suspension would cost the hotel more than $100,000 and the casual staff who made up 94 per cent of the hotel’s 120-strong workforce would be out of work for that week.