Bell Block is facing a battle with the bottle as a grocer seeks permission to sell alcohol. Sellmex Group Ltd, which operates the Big Basket grocery store in Pohutukawa Place, has made an off-licence application through the District Licensing Agency to sell alcohol from 7am to 10pm, seven days a week. Big Basket director Kulvinder Singh has said it had only put in its application to meet demand after the Bell Block Four Square stopped selling alcohol in May 2013. The Bell Block Four Square was twice caught selling alcohol to minors in 2012, and had its licence renewal refused by the Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority. The New Zealand Institute of Liquor Licensing Inspectors president Murray Clearwater said there had been no objections to the application since it appeared in Thursday’s 25th July 2013 newspaper. So to sum it up, this is not another extra shop to sell alcohol, if their license is granted, it will bring the numbers up to the levels they were in May 2013, before Bell Block’s 4 Square were banned from selling Alcohol. It would seem that their hours 7am to 10pm, 7 days a week that they are seeking to sell Alcohol are a little excessive.
