BY TEINO EVANS, Staff Reporter
CLUB OWNERS ARE still upset over the actions taken close to New Year's Eve, on Friday, where the police closed three of the prominent party spots, Escape 24/7, The Village Café and The Deck in the Corporate Area.
The reason given was that these clubs and others where the owners were warned, were operating without spirit licences, despite the signs present in all clubs stating 'It is my intention to apply at the next court sitting for a spirit licence'.
According to one club owner who wanted to remain anonymous, the action was bias as, "there are hundreds of rum bars in Jamaica with similar signs and it was one of the biggest revenue-earning days of the year".
However, while Robert Collins, managing director of the Village Café admitted to operating without a spirit licence, he said that the sign was up and the paper work was already in progress.
"We have our fire permit and our amusement and attraction permit, issued by the KSAC and that allows us to open the place as a place of attraction. Our spirit licence, because we were taking care of the other permits, we missed the date. We however, had up the necessary paper work, which proved that it was in progress, and we showed the police who said that the notice that we had up stating, 'It is my intention...' has no baring and that I am operating illegally," Collins said.
Despite having to close for the entire weekend, Collins said they used the time wisely to satisfy the necessary requirements.
"The following day we went to the tax office and made the necessary payments for the spirit licence and registration fees, filed the papers to the court who in turn issued copies to the police. We haven't been informed as to how we can get back our liquor, but I have heard that others have had theirs returned via their lawyers," Collins said.
Collins, however, said that the police and the court had been very helpful in assisting him through the process.
"Superintendent Wright in charge of St. Andrew Central and the court clerk were all very helpful, so I just want to encourage other bar owners who may be afraid of going through the process to do so," Collins said.
Richard Spence, owner of The Deck, says up until now, he has not been able to completely understand the actions taken and the manner in which they were carried out.
"They say the sign is not relevant, I don't understand all of that, so I was just told that I did not have a spirit licence in place and as such they took the action that they did", Spence said.
Spence, like other owners, felt that they were specially targeted.
"They were sent to me directly...it looks like they want to set an example, because I know 99.9 per cent of the persons operating don't have a licence and with the mayor coming down with their KSAC permit, everybody was focused on that and even in previous years, we use to see them advertise in the papers when the next session for spirit licences will be and nobody can recall when last they have seen such an advertisement, so in that regard I think it was a little unfair," Spence said.
Spence said that they were scheduled to have a Merritone Party on New Year's night, but he took the decision to cancel.
"I could have opened and not sell spirits, but that wouldn't go down well with patrons. It left a bad taste in one's mouth, just because of the timing," Spence said.
All three clubs are reportedly back to some amount of normality now, as the managers have said that they are now open once more to the public.
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