Gap View Hotel banned from serving alcohol for 48 hours

A popular Alice Springs pub has been banned from serving alcohol for 48 hours. Find out why.

The Gap View Hotel was barred from trading for 48 hours. Picture: Supplied

A popular Alice Springs watering hole has been barred from serving alcohol for the next 48 hours.

NT Police served a liquor licence suspension to the Gap View Hotel – owned by Iris Capital – on Friday.

Acting Commander Mark Grieve said police were satisfied the Gap View’s actions breached the Liquor Act and posed “a threat to public safety both on premises and in the vicinity of the licensed premises”.

The Gap View will be permitted to trade again after the 48-hour period, but police investigations will continue.

“NT Police are at the coalface of alcohol related harm within our community,” Mr Grieve said.

“No agency has done more to respond to these issues and we will continue to do so across the whole of the NT.

“The responsible service of alcohol is a legal requirement and police will hold businesses to account.”

Gap View Hotel supervisor Michael Perris posts a closed notice after Northern Territory Police served a notice of suspension on the Alice Springs establishment, Friday, February 3, 2023. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Iris Group Alice Springs chief operating officer Craig Jervis believed the reasons for the suspension were “very cloudy”.

“They’re a series of allegations on different days where I believe they’re lacking detail, so we’re investigating further,” he said.

“There’s no action that we can take in relation to this, we just have to accept it.”

The Gap View Hotel is the second licensee to be temporarily closed by police in 2023.

The Todd Tavern – also owned by Iris Capital – was barred from trading for a 48-hour period on January 20.

NT Police closed the tavern for alleged “ongoing threat to public safety”.

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