THE licensee of the Royal Hotel at Temora has been suspended for three months following a series of liquor law breaches, including selling take-away alcohol during a 28-day forced closure order for selling alcohol to minors.
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The suspension was revealed on Friday in a statement released by Liquor and Gaming NSW.
The suspension took effect on Friday and goes to September 30.
Liquor and Gaming said the hotel last year was the first in NSW to have its trading suspended under the state government’s new Minor Sanctions Scheme, which imposes tough penalties on venues caught serving alcohol to minors.
It said that on June 14 last year – midway through the 28-day trading suspension – police caught the hotel’s owner, Vojislav Krstic, and his son, Goran Krstic, selling three take-away longneck bottles of beer at the hotel.
Six months later, Liquor and Gaming lodged disciplinary action against the pair, alleging Vojislav Krstic was not a fit and proper person to hold a liquor licence and Goran Krstic was not a fit and proper person to be a close associate of a licensee.
The statement said the NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Board this week accepted a three-month voluntary suspension of both men from holding a liquor licence or being the approved manager of any licensed venue in the state.
“The Royal Hotel has a long history of poor practice and serial breaches,” the statement said.
“During their tenure at the venue, Mr Vojislav Krstic and his son have breached the Liquor Act 30 times for offences including permitting violent and quarrelsome behaviour, multiple liquor sales to minors and sales during restricted trading days.”
Liquor and Gaming said that during the June 14 breach there was a deliberate attempt to flout the law, with the customer “required to exit through the back of the venue, presumably to avoid detection”.
It said the men had not taken action to rectify management issues. The Royal Hotel has been ordered to pay Liquor and Gaming $7332 for its investigation costs.
The Daily Advertiser could not contact the suspended men for comment.