John MacDonald: I'm not normally anti-bottle store, but...

I’ve surprised myself with my reaction to this plan to open a bottle store right across the road from the bus interchange, in central Christchurch.

But I think it’s a terrible idea. And it’s a gut thing.

Seeing all the stuff that goes on in the central city, my gut tells me that that’s probably the last place you’d want a bottle store.

I’m surprised by the way that I feel about it because, normally, I’d probably look at this proposal and think that if people are going to buy booze, they'll buy booze.

And, normally, I’d probably say that there’s already booze available in town, so why have a problem with a bottle store?

But I’m different on this one. And I’m not alone. The police. Health bosses. They're all against it.

So is Liz Gordon, who is with the Communities Against Alcohol Harm group.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Mornings podcast with John McDonald
from News Talk ZB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
You know, I have surprised myself. I've surprised myself with
my reaction to this plan or how I feel about
this plan to open a bottle store right across the
road from the bus interchange in central christ Church, you
know where I'm talking about. And maybe it's got something
to do with the fact that I'm spending more time

(00:34):
in the central city these days, more than I might
have done in the past. But I think this bottle
store idea is terrible, appalling idea and it's a gut
thing for me anyway, you know, seeing all the stuff
that goes on in the central city, my gut tells
me that it's probably the last place you'd want to

(00:57):
stick a bottle store. And the reason I'm surprised by
the way that I feel about it is it normally,
you know, normally, I'd probably look at the proposal and thinking, well,
if people are going to buy booze, they'll buy booze
wherever it is. And normally I'd probably say, oh, there's
already booze available in town, so what's your problem having

(01:17):
another bottle store or another outlet. But I'm different than
this one. I'm dead against it and I'm not alone either.
The police are against it, health bosses, they're all against it.
So is Liz Gordon. Now she's with a group called
Communities Against Alcohol Harm and she says the bus interchange

(01:43):
is one of the most crime ridden areas in the
country and that it's not an appropriate location for a
bottle store. Now, I don't know about it, that claim
about the interchange being one of the worst places in
the country for crime. Nevertheless, I agree with her that
it's not the place to have a bottle store. She's
also opposing another bottle store planned for just down the

(02:05):
road on the ground floor of an apartment block. This
is on the corner of Manchester and Casual Streets, and
I'm with her on that one as well. And I'm
with her and her opposition to this plan for a
bottle store right across the street from the bus interchange.
It is so wrong. So where it's come from is

(02:28):
that the owners of the Fresh Choice supermarket in the Crossings,
you know, the Central City Fresh Choice supermarket, and they've
applied for a license to set up a bottle store
right next door similar to the you know, the set
of a pack and Save on Morehouse Avenue, the bottle
store next door owned by the supermarket. So the Fresh
Choice people in the central city they want to do
the same and they want to open a Bottle OH shop,

(02:52):
a Bottle Oh bottle shop next to their existing business.
And I know that people who pro the bottle store
will say, look, there's an alcohol band in the center
of town. So it's not as if people were be
able to buy alcohol at the grog shop and start
guzzling it outside, ay, and that's not going to happen.

(03:13):
And my response to that would be, Yep, there is
an alcohol band, but there's also a ban on people
having their dog in town with no lead. People still
do that. All sorts of things are banned, people still
do them. And it's not as if there is a
dire shortage of places to buy alcohol in the center
of town. Were one of the people opposed to the

(03:33):
proposal as Medical Officer of Health, doctor Sheryl Brunton, and
she's saying that there are already ten other off license
locations within one kilometer of this proposed site, including the
Fresh Choice supermarket, and there are another nineteen locations in
close proximity where you can get a drink over the bar. Now,

(03:55):
the argument in favor of the bottle store, or the
argument in favor of the location, I suppose, is that
there are way more people living in the central said
these days, and so it makes sense to be able
to buy the type of alcohol that you can't get
at the supermarket. So these are your spirits and your RTDs,

(04:16):
And look, I hear that argument, but I'm sorry that
there is enough going on, particularly in that part of
the central city without adding a bottle shop into the mix.
The people behind it, these are the people who are
in the supermarket. They're not saying much publicly other than
the cities thriving and tourism booming. So yeah, that's a great,

(04:36):
great argument for a bottle store. But as it's been
reported today, in their license application, they say that they
don't anticipate any alcohol related problems from the bottle store
if they get approval to open it. But then, of
course they say that they're hardly going to say in
that write their application, and they're hardly going to say

(04:56):
all that. All the interchange has been a bit of
a cluster at times, it's been so much of a
cluster that they've started playing classical music outside to keep
the riff raffer waying. I mean, they're hardly going to
say that, aren't they. And they want their bottlest wall
to be open from ten in the morning until nine
at night.

Speaker 1 (05:16):
For more from Category Mornings with John McDonald, listen live
to news talks at be Christchurch from nine am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.