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Christchurch Tri-Agency Newsletter
Summer 2025/26 

With summer on the way, we're getting in touch with alcohol licence holders with information and advice from Christchurch City Council, NZ Police and Health NZ.

Special licence applications for summer events 2025/26

We are now entering our busiest part of the year for special licences. 

If you’re planning a special event for Christmas or over the summer and require an alcohol special licence, we encourage you to get your application in early. 

All applications must be made at least 20 working days (four weeks) before the event is held, otherwise the District Licensing Committee may not consider them.

Applications made at short notice (less than 20 working days before the event date) must be accompanied by a letter explaining the reason for lateness. You need to have a good reason, as the Act refers to the reason for lateness as, “could not reasonably have been foreseen”. 

It’s important to note that a working day does not include weekends or statutory holidays (including Canterbury Show Day on 14 November). We also have a non-working day period each year from 20 December to 15 January 2026.

Due to the non-working days over Christmas and New Year you will need to apply at least two months in advance of your event to allow for the minimum 20 working days to process it. This is also our busiest period for processing applications. If you want the security of knowing whether your special licence will be granted before you start advertising, you should apply even earlier.   

As a guide, if your event is between 19 December 2025 and 15 January 2026 (during our non-working day period), please apply for a special licence by Monday 24 November 2025, or carefully check you have at least 20 working days.

No ID, No service – No exceptions

This should be your staff’s mantra. The tri-agencies conduct regular controlled purchase operations in Christchurch district. Make sure your premises is one that passes.

STOP! Take a moment to look at your licence and/or manager’s certificate.

Note the expiry date and put a system in place to ensure you get your renewal application lodged before that date. It can avoid a lot of problems further down the track.

Although it’s ultimately your responsibility to make sure you lodge your renewal on time, we do send out reminders. Now’s a good time to make sure your contact details are up to date, so that any notifications we send out can reach you.

Hospitality staff take note: Altered driver licences 

We’re still seeing people using altered driver licences to buy alcohol or gain entry into a licensed premises.

Sixteen and seventeen year-olds are altering their official driver licence by removing the date of birth and placing a thin film with a new date of birth over the top.

People are also carefully scratching out part of the last digit of their date of birth, for example to turn an 8 into a 6.

To check if an ID has been altered, firmly scratch the body and top corner of the driver licence to see if anything rips or peels. 

If this happens, take a photo of both sides of the licence and forward the photo through to Christchurch City Council’s licensing team. Because the licence is an official document you do not have the right to take the licence off the person producing it.

Expiry of alcohol licences

It’s the licensee’s responsibility to renew their alcohol licence. The Alcohol Licensing Team is under no obligation to remind businesses that a licence is going to expire.

Unfortunately, Christchurch City Council’s current alcohol licensing systems don’t give us the ability to email out invoices or reminders. They are currently mailed out to the last known postal address provided. We aim to have new systems available early in 2026.

In the meantime, we recommend that licensees have reminders set up advising them when their respective licenses (including alcohol) are due to expire.

Christchurch’s new Local Alcohol Policy

Councillors approved the new Local Alcohol Policy earlier this year. It includes three main rules designed to address alcohol-related harm:

• All off-licence retailers must stop selling alcohol at 9pm daily. This includes bottle stores and supermarkets.
• A freeze on new off-licences in high-deprivation communities.
• Restricting new bottle stores from setting up near addiction treatment/rehabilitation centres, primary and secondary schools, the University of Canterbury and the Christchurch Bus Interchange. 

You can find the full policy and a useful map here.

Fire and Emergency NZ
Summer activities and events reminders 

Some summer events may require you to apply to FENZ for a special licence application. You may also need an evacuation scheme for larger events. You have to apply 30 days prior to the event. Visit fireandemergency.nz

You don’t need a permit for fun summer cooking fires, but just remember to keep safe by having a water supply present and testing gas systems. To check for fire restrictions, especially if you plan on cooking on public land and beaches, visit checkitsalright.nz

Evacuations: FENZ could object to a liquor licence application for your summer party if your venue requires an evacuation scheme and does not have one, or if the venue has an evacuation scheme in place, but it isn’t being maintained through a training programme or trial evacuation. 

All buildings at a minimum require an evacuation procedure that outlines how people are to be notified of an emergency and how to get to a place of safety to meet and call the fire service. Find out more about procedures and schemes here and apply for an evacuation scheme approval here.

Remember, well trained staff can make the key difference in an emergency, especially in late night events or where intoxicated patrons are present.

Any questions? Contact the Canterbury Risk Reduction Team. 

Tips for managing your premises and staffing over the summer period

With summer approaching, you may have a lot of new or temporary staff working for you. Your staff are key to managing the sale and supply of alcohol safely and responsibly.

• Do you have enough staff to cover all shifts?
• Enough rostered certificated managers?
• Enough experienced staff on each shift?

It’s also important that all new and temporary staff have all the training they need to understand the systems you have in place for managing your premises and licence conditions. To help ensure your staff all work together as a team over this business period, now’s a good time to double-check that all your staff are familiar with some key points:

• Your licence conditions.
• Areas of the premises are covered by the licence.
• Managing your outside areas.
• Your host responsibility policy.
• Your Alcohol Management Plan.
• Using an incident book.
• Managing noise.
• The signs of intoxication and how to respond.
• The Duty Manager’s role and responsibilities.
• Managing shift handovers.

Shhhhh...

Warmer nights bring an increase in vibrant outdoor activities, and it’s timely to consider how we control noise at night.

Licensed premises can have a big effect on the order and amenity of a neighbourhood, and one factor is noise made by patrons. We want to make sure you have well-tested systems in place to minimise noise issues.

Simple steps to avoid complaints include:

• Closing doors and windows.
• Reduce the volume of the sound system appropriately, and turn off any outside speakers at a reasonable hour.
• Monitor the level of bass, which carries easily and is often the source of complaints.
• Ask particularly noisy patrons to reduce their noise in outside areas, and to not linger outside when leaving.
• Ensure all staff are fully aware of the need to control noise levels, and what they can do.
• Spend time outside your premises to monitor noise.

Outside areas

If you have an outside area, now’s the time to double-check that all your staff know what areas are covered under your alcohol licence and that patrons know where they can sit and enjoy their drink in the sunshine.

Some licensees have their areas roped off or marked with planter boxes, and others choose to use hosting staff to let customers know where they can sit. You may like to update your host responsibility policy to tell your staff, customers and the agencies how you manage your licensed area boundaries. If you do, please email us a copy.

Bottomless brunches

We regularly receive questions about alcohol promotions, including bottomless brunches. 

Advertising a bottomless brunch promotion could breach section 237 (Irresponsible promotion of alcohol) of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012. The Health Promotion Agency has helpful information about promotions.

We assess each promotion idea on a case-by-case basis. We consider:

• Timeframe (e.g. limited to two hours).
• Quantity of food (e.g. buffet, two or more courses).
• Drinks available (alcoholic, low-alcohol and non-alcohol).
• Percentage of alcohol in the drinks.
• Management of consumption of alcohol (e.g. one drink at a time).
• Manner and wording of advertising (e.g. does alcohol appear to be the main focus, and is it encouraging excessive consumption?)

If you’re planning a ‘bottomless’ promotion, we encourage you to talk with us before you advertise. Please contact the Alcohol Licensing Team if you have any questions.

Your responsibilities
Acceptable promotions must be suitably monitored, managed and controlled to ensure they don’t excessive consumption of alcohol. 

Ask yourself: will my promotion make people drink faster, or more, than they normally would? If the answer is yes, reconsider your promotion.

Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora offers national guidance on alcohol promotions, including acceptable and unacceptable promotions inside and outside on-licence premises.

Christmas Day trading hours restrictions

There are three and a half days of the year when premises holding an on- or off-licence cannot trade in their usual manner. 

These are commonly referred to as the sacrosanct days and are: 

• Good Friday
• Easter Sunday
• Christmas Day
• Before 1pm on Anzac Day

This year Christmas Day falls on a Thursday. 

As a reminder: if you hold an off-licence you cannot sell alcohol. No exceptions.

If you hold an on-licence you can only sell alcohol to:

• persons currently living on the premises; or 
• people present on the premises to dine.

You cannot sell alcohol to people who just want a drink. They must be intending to dine or have just finished a meal. 

The timeframes for diners drinking alcohol are specific:

• no more than an hour before they start eating a meal; and 
• an hour after they have finished their meal.

Casual drinking is not permitted. This includes restaurants.

For these purposes, a meal is defined as undertaken at a table with knife and fork and at the traditional mealtimes – breakfast, lunch and dinner. 

The three monitoring agencies – Christchurch City Council, New Zealand Police and Health New Zealand – are required to enforce the provisions of the Act and will be monitoring premises for compliance. 

If you have an event or function planned to occur on the sacrosanct days, we recommend you apply for a special licence. Refer to our information above on the timelines for summer events, and if you have any questions please get in touch.

Irresponsible alcohol promotions on Facebook

Facebook is a public forum and alcohol advertising can pop up at any time on individual user’s news feed.

It is not an offence to:

• Promote or advertise discounts on alcohol of less than 25%.
• Let people know how to go in the draw to win a prize.

It is an offence to:

• Promote or advertise discounts on alcohol of 25% or more.
• Promote or advertise free alcohol.
• Promote alcohol in a way that is aimed at or likely to have special appeal to minors. 
• Offer goods, services or prizes on the condition that alcohol is purchased. For example, you can’t say, “Purchase any Woodstock product and go in the draw to win a Woodstock fridge,” but you can say, “Head in store to find out how you can get in the draw to win a Woodstock fridge.”

Happy holidays!

The three agencies wish you and your staff a very happy holiday period and we look forward to working with you in 2026.

If you have any questions about an aspect of your licence, the Act or in general, please call a member of the agencies.

This newsletter is jointly produced by the Christchurch City Council Alcohol Licensing Team, the New Zealand Police Alcohol Harm Reduction Unit, and the National Public Health Service’s Alcohol Licensing Compliance Team.