The owner of a hookah bar and restaurant in Auckland has come under scrutiny from licensing inspectors who questioned whether they were really a restaurant.<\/p>\n
Dilruba Lounge, on High Street in central Auckland, is applying for a renewal of its on-licence, allowing it to sell alcohol on a restaurant licence.<\/p>\n
Owner Parminder Shergill faced the Auckland District Licensing Committee (DLC) in a hearing last week, and was questioned why he wanted to continue as a restaurant, even though he sold more shisha – tobacco, often flavoured, and smoked through a water pipe called a hookah – than food.<\/p>\n
Shergill’s application was strongly opposed by two alcohol licensing inspectors, who were concerned about the primary operation of the business.<\/p>\n
Alcohol licensing inspector Anita Marsh said after a site visit last year, she questioned whether the premises was operating as it should, according to its licence.<\/p>\n
“I saw only two people out of 17 were eating food,” Marsh said.<\/p>\n
Since September 2024, inspectors have visited the premises five times, noting alcohol being served to customers after licensed hours, incorrect signage and more customers having shisha than food.<\/p>\n
A food menu available at the bar only had four main items, four snack items and two desserts.<\/p>\n
Marsh said she also reviewed advertisements from the applicant’s Instagram page, which only promoted the business as a shisha lounge, not a restaurant.<\/p>\n
“If the applicant knew that they were going to run the premises as something other than a low-risk restaurant, they should have been upfront about their intentions for the business from the beginning.”<\/p>\n
In her report, she said, “they appear to have knowingly operated the premises in a manner that is inconsistent with their licence, which is conditioned to sell alcohol when operating as a restaurant”.<\/p>\n
Another inspector, Scott Evans, said he raised his concerns with the applicant when they first applied for an on-licence in 2023.<\/p>\n
He observed the premises traded more like a shisha bar, and lacked a credible restaurant.<\/p>\n
Evans said he was later provided a new menu which seemed on par with a restaurant business, but the applicant reverted to operating as a shisha bar with a minimal menu, once an on-licence was granted.<\/p>\n
“Because the premises is not used in the course of business principally for supplying meals to the public for eating on the premises, I do not believe the applicant is eligible to hold a restaurant-style licence.”<\/p>\n
When questioned by the DLC, Shergill said he believed he was running a restaurant.<\/p>\n
His intention when he opened the premises was to primarily run a restaurant, serve food with alcohol, and a shisha area outside.<\/p>\n
Shergill defended the food on his menu, described by inspectors as more ‘tavern-styled food’, and justified why food sales were low.<\/p>\n
“Maybe other restaurants make better food than me … maybe people prefer other restaurant’s foods,” Shergill said.<\/p>\n
He said he had invested a lot of money on the business, including the restaurant inside, and the kitchen.<\/p>\n
“I chose a small menu, which I can change frequently … the portion is very big.”<\/p>\n
Evans told the DLC he didn’t think Shergill’s intention for Dilruba Lounge’s on-licence restaurant application was malicious.<\/p>\n
He said Shergill could apply for an on-licence premises – not otherwise specified, which would enable him to operate primarily as a shisha bar, while being able to serve alcohol.<\/p>\n
DLC chairperson Michael Goudie said Dilruba Lounge’s application was a good example for other shisha bars in the region who wished to operate as a bar as well.<\/p>\n
“No one is debating your activity in terms of, you can operate as a shisha lounge in the CBD and it’s very appropriate to do so, but you are stuck now with the set of conditions that you had from the get go, in terms of your original application.<\/p>\n
“For us, we need to look at whether you’re meeting those conditions.”<\/p>\n
The inspectors recommended the DLC decline Dilruba Lounge’s current application, and allow Shergill three months to apply for a new on-licence, suitable to their business.<\/p>\n
Goudie said they would consider this when they deliberate on their decision.<\/p>\n
Source: RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The owner of a hookah bar and restaurant in Auckland has come under scrutiny from licensing inspectors who questioned whether they were really a restaurant. Dilruba Lounge, on High Street in central Auckland, is applying for a renewal of its on-licence, allowing it to sell alcohol on a restaurant licence. Owner Parminder Shergill faced the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":16898,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[174],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nz-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16897"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16899,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16897\/revisions\/16899"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}