Popular Dunedin student bar loses liquor licence

A notorious Dunedin venue aimed at the student market has lost its liquor licence after authorities opposed a renewal application.

Eleven Bar and Club in Dunedin’s Octagon has failed in a bid to have its liquor licence renewed following a District Licensing Committee hearing which began in February.

The business applied for a renewal of its on-licence, but all three reporting agencies – police, the medical officer of health, and licensing inspector – opposed it.

After weighing up the evidence, the Dunedin District has found the venue unsuitable to hold an alcohol licence and cancelled its existing licence effective immediately.

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Amongst the factors informing the Committees’ decision included evidence of intoxicated patrons, repeated breaches of alcohol licensing laws and issues with the suitability of the business’ directors.

The bar made national headlines in February last year, when Stuff showed footage of revellers flouting rules during the Government’s Covid-19 red setting, while inside Eleven Bar and Club.

While the Committee acknowledged it was not “the arbiter for breaches of Covid-19 law”, any unlawful behaviour was relevant to a business or individual’s suitability for holding an alcohol licence.

In its decision, the Committee acknowledged the bar was also awaiting the results of five applications to the Alcohol and Regulatory Licensing Authority to suspend or cancel its licence.

During an Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority hearing in March, Dunedin police officer Sergeant Stephen Jones said he had ‘’no confidence’’ in those running Eleven Bar, after intoxicated people were found at the bar, as well as the breach of Covid regulations.

One incident mentioned in the Licensing Committee’s decision involved two female teenage patrons who said they were invited to a closed outdoor section by the bar’s directors, Naveen Malhotra and Nikesh Singh, where they received unwanted sexual advances from a group of men.

“The patrons were told that they needed to hand over their cell phones before entering the upstairs bar. Once in the bar the witnesses described that there was a group of middle-aged men that made them feel uncomfortable and there were unwanted sexual advances,” the decision read.

The teenage patrons were given free drinks despite being already intoxicated, and were only able to leave once an employee opened the locked door of the outdoor bar section.

A public objection from Students for Sensible Drug Policy Dunedin – affiliated with the Otago University Students’ Association (OUSA) – which noted the bar was popular amongst Dunedin’s large student population, was also considered in the Committee’s decision.