Some restrictions on Good Friday and Easter Sunday alcohol sales could be gone as soon as this long weekend.
A member’s bill from Labour MP Kieran McAnulty would amend the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act to allow premises that are already open on Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Anzac Day morning, and Christmas Day to sell alcohol under normal licence conditions.
Epic Hospitality CEO Greig Wilson says these laws are 'archaic' and they're difficult to enforce on public holidays.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
You're listening to a podcast from News Talks'd be follow
this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
So we are talking about easter trading laws. They're going
to be reformed and it may even pass before Good Friday.
That means if you go to a restaurant you want
some booze, you don't need to even order food.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Why not appease everyone, says Eshley by having total and
utter closure on Good Friday and then fully open it
up to everyone to do whatever they want on Sunday.
I like you, thanking, esh So you you guy that
a guy or gal that looks for a looks for
a compromise.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yeah, fifty to fifty shut it all down on Friday,
open everything up now. Greg Wilson has been listening. He
is part of Epic Hospitality. Greg good to chat with
you. You get a guy, so, mate, you you run five
hospital businesses in Wellington. I take it you'd be pretty
happy with this reform coming through.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Oh. Absolutely, This is a harle luja moment for hospitality,
you know, right across New Zealand. If we've had these
okaic laws that no one even can remember. Why I
even came up with the first place, and just the
enforcement around it. It's just been ridiculous. Like, you know,
people have to come in and eat food and then
has to be a substantial amount of food on good Friday,
(01:25):
and then what's a substantial meal? And then that's not
you know, how long is a piece of string?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
How did you how did you how did you sort
of quantify that as a substantial meal? Did you have
any anything in place in your mind?
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Yeah, we did. Was basically a mains meal would qualify.
I mean, look, just to tell you how ridiculous it was,
Like one year one of our pubs, we had a
whole bunch of cops coming at about eleven and a
half hours nineteen o'clock on the Friday, a bunch of guys.
That was five guys, and they had four pizzas on
the table. The police came over to our drea and
(01:59):
then if I said, look, sorry and look that's not
substantial enough, and they had a big debate about it,
and that's about forty minutes. Can you believe it, Peter, Yeah,
that's right, that's right. So I had a big debate
about this, and so we had to give them an
extra a bottle of fries because that they policed. I
don't know, you're going to have to get a little
(02:20):
bit more.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
So that's crazy that that kind of they're kind of
that kind of gray area is problem matter. What do
you think about the wider thing having rules like that?
As you say, how long is a piece of string?
Speaker 4 (02:32):
Rules?
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Just never it's never a.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
We ever drafted that. I just gave substantial meal. That's enough,
We'll put that on the lord. Everyone will know what
that means.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
Not ye, that'll be fine, you know. And that's and
they left us with it years and it's carried on
for years and years. It's just almost like they've forgotten
to deal with it, like someone's finally got round to
sorting the stupid law out.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Hey, from it from a hospitality perspective, because someone was
ringing before and saying, you know that it's the pubs
just great for them because food whatever, But food is
often not a big money spinner for a lot of hospitality.
Would that be true, greet, Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
So it's it's a lot harder to make money out
of food than what the alcohol, because you know, you're
basically a petrol station pouring liquid. So it's a lot
easier to sell liquid in the glass and prepare meal
because a whole lot more to go wrong. But yeah,
that's generally right, especially for pubs. Yeah yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
And do you would you are you against any day
being restrictions on hospital and any day of the year.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (03:30):
Percent, I mean it should. We're not asking for like
a relaxation of liquor laws. All we're asking for is
to be treated like every other day of the year.
Because we're talking about illegal you know, alcohols, the drug,
it's legal products, the legal drug. We're just asking for
it to be treated like every other day of the year.
And for individuals in this country to be able to
have an individual choice and make up their own mind.
And for those people that you know that don't support it, well,
(03:51):
they don't come out, sit at home, sit at home,
you know, don't come out.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Well, what's the rule on Christmas Day?
Speaker 4 (03:57):
Greg?
Speaker 3 (03:57):
I'm just trying to think. Now, I went out for
Christmas dinner last year, I believe in on the day before,
isn't it there was certainly meal maybe there was.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
Pretty much the same rules, pretty much the same rules
of Christmas Day. So they'll be dealt with us with
this bill as well, yeah, so my sort of sweeping change.
Nicely tired yet, but you know nights, you've heard your
head tourists, you know from over seas and the here,
and the pub's nice and busy. On Easter Thursday, the
next thing, you know, ding ding stroke midnight hits. Well,
that's everyone out and all the tourists like, oh what's
going on? This is weird. You know, we've come from
(04:30):
the other side of the planet and we're here for
the weekend in Wellington. No sorry, no, no you Jesus
died about two thousand years ago and we've we closed
having down here.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
And you know, the interesting thing is the interesting thing
is is Christianity. Isn't the teetotaling religion. I mean in
Jesus famous the wedding with his mum. Yeah, his first
America first miracle, the red wine was making the wine.
That's right, it was his first one. Hey, what what's
hospitality like down in Wellington? Because I feel in the
(05:02):
news there's a lot of doom and gloom about Wellington.
But I was down there a couple of about a
month ago, and I went out and everything seemed to
be rammed and was going off.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
It's been good. It's been good. We just said, keeper Dooper.
The town was just buzzing all weekend. We had a record,
Keeper Dooper. We've had a good trading, really good trading
in February. The last six months, it feels like we've
come out of the come out of the hole.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
You know.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
Hospitality, especially Wilson just got hammered with COVID and then
the recession and there was a number of bars or
restaurants that were closing, and but you know, some of
those media just sort of jump on some of those stories.
Some of those businesses were at the least was coming
to an end, or the owner was retiring a little
bit deeper.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Sometimes they are a rubbish industry and business. Sometimes the
owners just taking a lot of cash out of there,
not covering tax. But it all gets tied up as
as you know, the economy's fault.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
Yeah, yeah, hard we said all the government's fault and
dream and so yeah, the left wing and the media
in this country just jump on there any opportunity, especially
at Wellington being a sort of political left landing city.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Well, thank you for for you called Greg, and good luck,
good luck very much, go well on Friday.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
That is Greg Wilson, the owner of Ipper Hospitality. He
runs five Wellington hospital businesses, and he says Hallelujah.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
For more from News Talk st B, listen live on
air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
you go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio
You're listening to a podcast from News Talks'd be follow
this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
So we are talking about easter trading laws. They're going
to be reformed and it may even pass before Good Friday.
That means if you go to a restaurant you want
some booze, you don't need to even order food.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Why not appease everyone, says Eshley by having total and
utter closure on Good Friday and then fully open it
up to everyone to do whatever they want on Sunday.
I like you, thanking, esh So you you guy that
a guy or gal that looks for a looks for
a compromise.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yeah, fifty to fifty shut it all down on Friday,
open everything up now. Greg Wilson has been listening. He
is part of Epic Hospitality. Greg good to chat with
you. You get a guy, so, mate, you you run five
hospital businesses in Wellington. I take it you'd be pretty
happy with this reform coming through.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Oh. Absolutely, This is a harle luja moment for hospitality,
you know, right across New Zealand. If we've had these
okaic laws that no one even can remember. Why I
even came up with the first place, and just the
enforcement around it. It's just been ridiculous. Like, you know,
people have to come in and eat food and then
has to be a substantial amount of food on good Friday,
(01:25):
and then what's a substantial meal? And then that's not
you know, how long is a piece of string?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
How did you how did you how did you sort
of quantify that as a substantial meal? Did you have
any anything in place in your mind?
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Yeah, we did. Was basically a mains meal would qualify.
I mean, look, just to tell you how ridiculous it was,
Like one year one of our pubs, we had a
whole bunch of cops coming at about eleven and a
half hours nineteen o'clock on the Friday, a bunch of guys.
That was five guys, and they had four pizzas on
the table. The police came over to our drea and
(01:59):
then if I said, look, sorry and look that's not
substantial enough, and they had a big debate about it,
and that's about forty minutes. Can you believe it, Peter, Yeah,
that's right, that's right. So I had a big debate
about this, and so we had to give them an
extra a bottle of fries because that they policed. I
don't know, you're going to have to get a little
(02:20):
bit more.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
So that's crazy that that kind of they're kind of
that kind of gray area is problem matter. What do
you think about the wider thing having rules like that?
As you say, how long is a piece of string?
Speaker 4 (02:32):
Rules?
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Just never it's never a.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
We ever drafted that. I just gave substantial meal. That's enough,
We'll put that on the lord. Everyone will know what
that means.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
Not ye, that'll be fine, you know. And that's and
they left us with it years and it's carried on
for years and years. It's just almost like they've forgotten
to deal with it, like someone's finally got round to
sorting the stupid law out.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Hey, from it from a hospitality perspective, because someone was
ringing before and saying, you know that it's the pubs
just great for them because food whatever, But food is
often not a big money spinner for a lot of hospitality.
Would that be true, greet, Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
So it's it's a lot harder to make money out
of food than what the alcohol, because you know, you're
basically a petrol station pouring liquid. So it's a lot
easier to sell liquid in the glass and prepare meal
because a whole lot more to go wrong. But yeah,
that's generally right, especially for pubs. Yeah yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
And do you would you are you against any day
being restrictions on hospital and any day of the year.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (03:30):
Percent, I mean it should. We're not asking for like
a relaxation of liquor laws. All we're asking for is
to be treated like every other day of the year.
Because we're talking about illegal you know, alcohols, the drug,
it's legal products, the legal drug. We're just asking for
it to be treated like every other day of the year.
And for individuals in this country to be able to
have an individual choice and make up their own mind.
And for those people that you know that don't support it, well,
(03:51):
they don't come out, sit at home, sit at home,
you know, don't come out.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Well, what's the rule on Christmas Day?
Speaker 4 (03:57):
Greg?
Speaker 3 (03:57):
I'm just trying to think. Now, I went out for
Christmas dinner last year, I believe in on the day before,
isn't it there was certainly meal maybe there was.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
Pretty much the same rules, pretty much the same rules
of Christmas Day. So they'll be dealt with us with
this bill as well, yeah, so my sort of sweeping change.
Nicely tired yet, but you know nights, you've heard your
head tourists, you know from over seas and the here,
and the pub's nice and busy. On Easter Thursday, the
next thing, you know, ding ding stroke midnight hits. Well,
that's everyone out and all the tourists like, oh what's
going on? This is weird. You know, we've come from
(04:30):
the other side of the planet and we're here for
the weekend in Wellington. No sorry, no, no you Jesus
died about two thousand years ago and we've we closed
having down here.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
And you know, the interesting thing is the interesting thing
is is Christianity. Isn't the teetotaling religion. I mean in
Jesus famous the wedding with his mum. Yeah, his first
America first miracle, the red wine was making the wine.
That's right, it was his first one. Hey, what what's
hospitality like down in Wellington? Because I feel in the
(05:02):
news there's a lot of doom and gloom about Wellington.
But I was down there a couple of about a
month ago, and I went out and everything seemed to
be rammed and was going off.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
It's been good. It's been good. We just said, keeper Dooper.
The town was just buzzing all weekend. We had a record,
Keeper Dooper. We've had a good trading, really good trading
in February. The last six months, it feels like we've
come out of the come out of the hole.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
You know.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
Hospitality, especially Wilson just got hammered with COVID and then
the recession and there was a number of bars or
restaurants that were closing, and but you know, some of
those media just sort of jump on some of those stories.
Some of those businesses were at the least was coming
to an end, or the owner was retiring a little
bit deeper.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Sometimes they are a rubbish industry and business. Sometimes the
owners just taking a lot of cash out of there,
not covering tax. But it all gets tied up as
as you know, the economy's fault.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
Yeah, yeah, hard we said all the government's fault and
dream and so yeah, the left wing and the media
in this country just jump on there any opportunity, especially
at Wellington being a sort of political left landing city.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Well, thank you for for you called Greg, and good luck,
good luck very much, go well on Friday.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
That is Greg Wilson, the owner of Ipper Hospitality. He
runs five Wellington hospital businesses, and he says Hallelujah.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
For more from News Talk st B, listen live on
air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
you go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio
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