Rules for Special Days: Easter, ANZAC & Christmas

News

8 Aug

In New Zealand there are restrictions on buying and consuming alcohol at licensed premises, including ‘The Heke’:
On Easter Weekend, Christmas & ANZAC Day.

By law, there are three and a half days during the year that trade is restricted: Christmas Day, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, and until 1pm on Anzac Day. In 2016, central government passed the responsibility for Easter trading hours to councils, so it is Auckland Council who oversees this here on Waiheke Island.

These rules are under review and reflect earlier times when many families went to church or came together to celebrate, and the law decided that it would enforce behaviour on these occasions. These days we still like to come together as friends and families but we might like to do this at a restaurant. However, as responsible business owners we must observe these restrictions and we do.

On a practical level this means:

On these three and a half days, you can’t come here just for the purposes of ‘having a drink’
You can’t hold an event that goes for longer than an hour before or after eating
You and all of your guests need to east a ’substantial meal’; Snacks only, for example a bowl of fries and a pizza stared between 4 people, is not a meal.
By our reckoning, if everyone orders a lunch item, or two people are sharing a pizza, that is a meal.

The intention of the dining provision is to allow people who really do need to consume a meal (e.g. tourists, hotel guests, those away from home) to be able to do so with an alcoholic drink as an accompaniment.

‘This is not a situation where food is eaten just to justify drinking alcohol’.

The law allows alcohol to be drunk while the customer is waiting for their meal to be cooked and served and for a short time after they have finished their meal, which is where the ‘one hour’ rule comes in.

Auckland Council advice to restaurants state: “Please don’t take risks; only serve alcohol to customers eating a substantial meal, and adhere to the conditions of your licence.”

If you would like to take beer, or spirits away with you from our distillery and brewery, this is also restricted on these days.

We’ve copied the law here for you to review too.

Hope to see you soon!

Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012

Section 47 Sale and supply on Anzac Day morning, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, and Christmas Day restricted: on-licences

(1) The holder of an on-licence must ensure that no alcohol is sold or supplied on the premises on Good Friday, Easter Sunday, or Christmas Day, or before 1 pm on Anzac Day, unless—

(a) it is sold or supplied while the holder also holds a special licence for the premises; or

(b) the buyer is a person of a kind described in subsection (2).

(2) The kinds of person referred to in subsection (1) are—

(a) people residing or lodging on the premises:

(b) people who are present on the premises to dine.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (2),—

(a) a person resides or lodges on licensed premises if he or she resides or lodges in the building in which the premises are situated as the guest, lodger, tenant, or employee of the licensee:

(b) a person is not present on licensed premises to dine if he or she is there at a time—

(i) more than an hour before he or she starts (or is due to start) eating a meal; or

(ii) more than an hour after he or she finishes eating a meal.

Section 48 Concerning Off License:

The holder of an off-licence must ensure that—

(a) no alcohol is sold on or delivered from the premises on Good Friday, or Christmas Day, or before 1 pm on Anzac Day; and

(b) no alcohol is sold on or delivered from the premises at any time on Easter Sunday unless it is grape wine or fruit or vegetable wine.
N.B. Online sales under a ‘remote license’ are available at any time on any day.