Neighbours froth over liquor store
It may still be a hole in the ground, but a new Palmerston North bottle store is already riling the neighbours.
A new Black Bull Liquor is slated to open on the corner of College St and Fitzherbert Ave, where Soundworks Music School once stood.
The old building was demolished earlier this year and construction of the new one began after lockdown. Builders are still laying the foundations.
Carol Kimberley and a group of her neighbours in the area are furious the bottle store’s liquor licence application ‘‘flew under the radar’’ before Christmas, before they could object to it going in near three schools.
College St Normal School is the closest, 300 metres down the road, and Palmerston North Intermediate Normal School and Palmerston North Girls’ High Schools are within 600m of the site.
Kimberley said it would be the second bottle store near the intermediate, and with the children walking past their sandwich boards and posters advertising specials every day it would help normalise a heavy drinking culture for them.
‘‘And do we even really need it? The [Big Barrel] over on Princess St and the Super Liquor opposite Pak’n Save are more than enough as far as I’m concerned.’’
Sharma Holdings (Palmy) Ltd, which also operates the Black Bull in Sanson, was granted a liquor licence for the site by the Palmerston North City Council in December.
The company put out the required public notices at the end of November and there were no objections from the public or police during that process.
Kimberley said many in the suburb would have objected, but had no idea the Black Bull store was coming until they heard it through the grapevine much latter.
‘‘They did it under the radar, when nobody was ready for it’’
Even people who normally watched out for new liquor licences would be distracted in the leadup to Christmas.
She said no-one would be watching for a bottle store in a building that didn’t exist.
Sharma Holdings spokesman Sunny Singh said the company has followed all the correct rules and protocols, and the time to raise objections was months ago.
The company would deal with concerns raised when it’s time to get the licence renewed in December, he said.