Alibi Bar and Restaurant is set to close its doors on April 9th, causing the loss of 18 jobs. It is one of the many bars situated in the Octagon, which is well known for its nightlife, and sees thousands of people dance away into the small hours.
Alibi’s owner, James Arnott, blames the Dunedin City Council for their hard crackdown on alcohol regulation, which he believes has forced the bar’s closure. The bar had been looking for a new duty manager since January, but had not received any applicants with a duty manager certificate as yet. In the meantime, temporary duty managers had been appointed but, according to the council’s licensing inspector, Arnott was not providing the bar with experienced staff at the high risk times of day.
The rule regarding appointing temporary managers changed recently, so that a company cannot appoint a manager unless they have at least six months experience.
There seems to be a general consensus among bar owners that officials interpret the alcohol laws in Dunedin too harshly, and that many businesses in the hospitality industry are struggling to find qualified staff.
Alibi is not the first bar to have closed. In recent years Dunedin has seen the closure of Ra-Bar, Urban Factory, and student favourites Capone and Boogie Nites; more than 50 people in total lost their jobs. It has been postulated that being too hard on bar-owners has instead led to students buying alcohol and drinking at home.
Pre-loading is becoming an ever increasing concern for the Dunedin police. In the last three years, the majority of people arrested while drunk had been drinking alcohol at home. The closure of student bars has been a contributing factor, with police officers noting that there has also been a rise in uncontrollable house parties, leading to more alcohol-related violence occurring.
Before the manager of Capone and Boogie Nites shut down his premises, he claimed that bars had now become just a babysitting service for students who came in drunk after preloading with alcohol from liquor stores. You could expect around 1,500 people or more to descend on a club on a busy night, yet these people would spend less than $4 a head, which was a hit to the bar’s business.
While the changes to the city’s local alcohol policy and the tougher approach to liquor licensing is trying to reduce the crowded city centre and the occasional violent outbreaks, instead it seems to have pushed people to party uncontrollably at home while getting drunk on supermarket liquor, serving a damaging blow to the city’s nightlife.