Coffs Harbour pub defends violent tag
The manager of The Coast Hotel in Coffs Harbour has gone on the defensive after the hotel ranked second on the NSW half yearly violent venues list.
The Coast Hotel had 19 incidents in the last six-months, the most for any Regional NSW venue.
Michael Cherote has managed The Coast Hotel for 12 years and says there were no issues at all for the first ten-and-a-half years, adding that the recent inclusion on the list was not a correct reflection of the hotel.
"It is disappointing to think that a coastal town like Coffs Harbour has the second-worst hotel in NSW," he said.
The hotel is just one of two venues in town that stays open after midnight, when most incidents happened, a factor that has to be taken into account, according to Cherote,
"I can see why there would be a lot of venues in NSW that try not to call the police and deal with it house or brush it under the carpet," he said.
However, a NSW Department of Liquor and Gaming spokesperson said incidents recorded under the violent venues scheme were taken from data collected by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, with violent incidents at venues often reported by victims, other patrons or police themselves.
Cherote claimed that it was only 1 per cent of patrons that were “ruining it for the rest of them”.
"We work very closely with the police, we've got a plan of management in place and we follow that to the letter of the law," he said.
"There's only so many cameras you can have, only so many things you can do."
Sheridan Randall, 29th November 2018
