Strict liquor store licence test confirmed
The strict legislative test that an applicant for a liquor store licence must satisfy to obtain a licence was recently applied in the context of the Perth CBD.
On May 31 the Liquor Licensing Court handed down its decision in the application for a liquor store licence at 868-870 Hay Street, Perth to be known as City Provisions.
The proposal was for a packaged liquor service to be provided on the first floor of the existing City Provisions mini-mart.
The application was opposed by two existing licensed premises with dedicated packaged liquor services in the Hay Street Mall.
Despite the applicant having presented various forms of evidence including expert reports from two town planners and a market researcher, the court refused the application.
The applicant attempted to rely largely on its town planning evidence to persuade the court that people working and living in the west-end precinct of the CBD cannot be expected to walk more than 400 metres (that is out of that precinct) to obtain packaged liquor.
The applicant also sought to persuade the court that William Street, particularly between the Murray and Hay street intersections, was a barrier for people to the packaged liquor services and facilities on the east side of William Street.
All of this evidence was challenged by the objectors through another expert town planner.
The court found, among other things, that the evidence did not establish there were any barriers preventing the public in the west-end from walking to the existing packaged liquor outlets.
The applicant did not pass the strict test for the grant of a liquor store licence because the evidence did not establish on the balance of probabilities that the public in the west-end of the CBD currently experience substantial difficulty or inconvenience in obtaining packaged liquor.
Jessica Patterson, solicitor
9288 6946
Joshua Preston, senior associate
9288 6949