John Lawrenson: House on Hood Owner on the bar's return to being a 20+ establishment on Saturdays

A Hamilton bar is cutting off patrons under 20. 

House on Hood announced last month it would return to being a "20+ bar" on Saturdays after 10pm. 

It had dealt with five figure damages after lowering the age limit to 18+ for a year. 

Owner John Lawrenson told Mike Hosking there’s a notable difference in the way 18 year olds drink, versus those over the age of 20. 

He says that when someone’s 18, they’re still learning their limits and what is acceptable behaviour, and older demographics don’t necessarily want to be around people discovering alcohol for the first time.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Seeing a bit of a trend in hospital. Too many
young people are causing too much trouble. So instead some
pubs are going from the R eighteen to an R twenty.
Are the House on Hood and Hamilton's one such place,
and the owner, as Johnlawrenson is, well this John, very
good morning to you.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Well Mike, pleasy to be here with you.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
And pleasure to have you on the program. I've got
a son who is twenty five going on twenty six,
and he hangs out. I think there's an hour twenty
three and you know that sort of thing in Auckland,
So even older, is this going to be a thing?

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Do you think I wouldn't surprise me. We've sort of
seen other bars deb belot it in the past. We
actually have with a couple of venues as well. And
in this far I've previously been twenty plus, dropped it
back to eighteen for a while just to give the
eighteen year olds a few more options than Hamilton, but
unfortunately they really blow up for themselves, and going back

(00:47):
to twenty seems like the only really logical approach.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
Is there a noticeable difference? Obviously there is in an
eighteen year old versus a twenty year old.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
I think when it comes to the way that they
drink himsolutely, I've sort of is the example. If you
were a thirty year old drinking with a twenty eight
year old, you probably wouldn't really notice the difference because
you know, there's still a fair bit of experience there.
But when someone's eighteen, that's really just the very first
time sort of out in that environment. They're just learning
how much alcohol they can drink, what's acceptable behavior, what

(01:19):
other people in the bar will put up with, what
the security will put up with. By the time your twenty,
you've been doing it for two or three years, And
I mean you're also talking about people at twenty one,
twenty two to twenty three, you know, the five years
into their social life. They really don't want to be
around people that are just discovering alcohol for the first time.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
Are you getting pushed back on this or is everyone
happy with it?

Speaker 2 (01:40):
Surprisingly, incredibly little pushback. We knew when we made the
post that there might be a bit of arguing between
the eighteen and twenty year olds, but what ended up
happening was just an overwhelming outflow of support and gratitude
from the people that were over twenty plus, that they
could go back to a bar that they enjoy. The

(02:00):
eighteen year olds have said very little. I wonder if
they probably accept down that there's a lot of truth
of what's being said.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
Give us a quick snapshop of HOSPO and you're part
of the world. Are we're going well or not?

Speaker 2 (02:11):
It's pretty tough out there. I mean, I think especially
Auckland Hamilton, we took a lot more heat during COVID
with those extra lockdowns when we were all in the
red setting for a lot longer than the rest of
the country was. And you know, I mean, the economy
is definitely not bouncing back as we would hope it would.
The intrust rates coming down out making the difference. Ye,

(02:32):
it's tough out then, like, but you know, this should
be a better year. Let's hope with these mortgages Rey folcts,
we get a bit more of extra money in the economy.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
Good stuff. I hope. That's good to talk to you,
John appreciated John Lawrenson, who's the House of Hood owner
in that particular part of the world.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
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