Nine NSW venues found selling alcohol to underage drinkers

Nine licensed venues have been named and shamed for serving booze to teens, including a drive-through that sold 20 cans of mixed spirits to a 15-year-old. See the list.

Nine licensed venues have been named and shamed for serving booze to teens, including a drive-through that sold 20 cans of mixed spirits to a 15-year-old in a taxi.

In some cases, the teenagers have become visibly drunk or played the pokies without staff checking for identification.

NSW Liquor and Gaming imposed licence conditions on each of the nine venues, which range from bars and hotels to bottle shops and restaurants, with a further six receiving demerit points and the individual licensees and staff being fined.

With school formal season under way, the liquor watchdog has warned venue managers to properly check IDs or risk being prosecuted.

The venues include Bondi restaurant Tipica, where a group of 10 teenage girls managed to order eight alcoholic drinks in January last year without having IDs checked. The girls were only found out after two police officers walking past the venue, noticed their young appearance and asked for verification.

Underage girls (not pictured) ordered alcohol at Bondi restaurant Tipica.

Other underage girls ordered drinks at Country Club Hotel, Shoal Bay.

Police found two teenage boys sitting at Murwillumbah’s Imperial Hotel.

In December, two underage girls managed to buy two jugs of vodka and orange plus 13 other alcoholic drinks over four hours at Shoal Bay’s Country Club Hotel, despite having shown their digital IDs to security.

The girls had entered the venue with three other older friends.

Mudgee’s Federal Hotel has had licence conditions imposed after a 15-year-old bought alcohol at its drive-through.

Police found three boys drinking schooners at Dubbo’s Milestone Hotel.

Mudgee’s Federal Hotel has also had licence conditions imposed, after a 15-year-old boy in a taxi bought 10 cans of premixed spirits at the drive-through in August last year, only to return less than 40 minutes later to buy 10 more cans.

Dubbo’s Milestone Hotel was also busted for serving alcohol to minors, after police discovered three underage males enjoying multiple schooners on the premises in July last year — one being “noticeably affected by alcohol”.

Licence conditions were also imposed on the Imperial Hotel in Murwillumbah after police found two teenage boys sitting at the bar, where they admitted to buying drinks.

CCTV not only confirmed what the boys told police, but it also revealed that one of them had helped ­security to restrain and remove a patron from the hotel.

South Tweed Tavern did not check the ID of a 17-year-old male, who drank and played pokies there.

BWS stores at Gosford and Canterbury both served under-18-year-olds.

In South Tweed Tavern, a 17-year-old male was able to buy two schooners of beer, exchange cash at the bar and play the pokies after hotel staff failed to check his ID.

BWS at Gosford was also reprimanded after letting a 15-year-old boy buy a carton of Vodka Cruisers.

CCTV footage showed the staff member appeared to be on her phone when she was serving the young teen.

Sixteen people aged 16 and 17 were found in Replay Karaoke Lounge and Bar in Bankstown. Picture: Facebook

Replay Karaoke in Bankstown also made the list after police busted 16 people in a room, nine aged 17 and five aged 16 — with the teenagers admitting they had altered their birth dates on the screenshots of their digital driver’s licences.

Over at BWS Canterbury, a group of teenagers bought a case of beer and a 10-pack of cider after showing staff their digital Covid vaccination certificates as a form of ID.

Hospitality and Racing acting chief executive officer James Hebron said it was critical for staff to property check IDs.

Selling or supplying alcohol to a minor is one of the most serious offences under NSW liquor laws, attracting double demerit points for licensees as part of tough new liquor regulations introduced in January last year.

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