Witch Hunt? (From LBO)
3 August 2005 19:51 hours

Taps at some of Sri Lanka’s top city night spots, hotels, bars and restaurants have gone dry following lightening raids by inspectors of the Excise Dept, officials said Wednesday.

Over the last two weeks, Excise officials have fined 52 bars, restaurants, five-star hotels and clubs netting in Rs. 5.2 million to the usually parched treasury.

But 19 of those fined, saw their licences suspended for up to two weeks, mostly for selling alcohol to minors and short changing tipplers.

Watch Out

No house owner can stash more than ten bottles of locally distilled spirits each carrying 750 millilitres in their homes.

However, there is no limit to the number of whisky, wine or clear spirits that can sit in the liquor cabinet at home.

Some of the notable violators included the Colombo Hilton’s Blue Elephant night club, the Grand Oriental Hotel’s Blue Leopard night club, upmarket outlets like the Glow bar, Winter Palace, Zanzibar and White Horse bar.

“Licenceholders can’t sell or allow patrons to consume alcohol after the stipulated time, most businesses seem to turn a blind eye,” Parakrama Ekanayake Bandara, Commissioner General of Excise told journalists.

Closing times differ from wine stores to tourist board approved hotels, but most operate beyond 11.00 pm.

“The licence says ’sale or consumption or both’. People can’t consume the drink after hours, though they bought it before 11.00 pm. If we catch them, then the licenceholder not the patron gets fined,” Excise Commissioner, D G M V Hapuarachchi said.

But tipplers who got a raw deal on short quantities have something to cheer about, as the inspectors nosed around bars with a measuring jar.

“They (bars) are required to sell 100 milliliters but in actual fact, they are selling 90 or sometimes 95,” says Hapuarachchi.

Most of the bars were also selling liquor to teens below 18 years of age, he said.

City watering holes have repeatedly hogged headlines over the last few weeks following a murder of a 19 year old Swedish girl.

The Swedish girl was clubbing and bar hopping with her younger sister and friends the night she was strangled by a fellow tippler.

The murder prompted authorities to crackdown on watering holes and night clubs. “We got a lot of public support because of this crackdown. The government also feels that this night clubbing and underage drinking culture is not suitable for our society,” Bandara said.

Despite a clean-up effort, tipplers have generously contributed Rs. 13.5 million to state coffers in 2004 and excise officials are hoping to push revenue up to Rs. 17.5 million this year.

Fines for the first six months of this year have already exceeded Rs. 7.8 million, Bandara said.

Around 2,996 liquor licences have been issued todate, which includes 100 new applications. Most are renewals, which includes 93 licences issued to supermarket owners.

Closed Taps - The 19 liquor licenses that were initially suspended
Sears Restaurant Nawam Mawatha Colombo
White Horse Nawam Mawatha Colombo
Glow Cafe Nawam Mawatha Colombo
Zanzibar Restaurant Nawala Road Rajagiriya
Blue Elephant Hilton Colombo
Blue Leopard Grand Orient Hotel Colombo
Mosh Mosh Japanese Restaurant Galle Road Colombo
Base Entertainment Private Limited Galle Road Colombo
Hotel Vegelands Limited Upathisa Mawatha Colombo
Golden Pub Galle Road Colombo
Chicagong Chinese Restaurant Galle Road Colombo
Precious Restaurant and Pub Havelock Road Colombo
Haesons Restaurant Havelock Road Colombo
Winter Palace Restaurant and Karaoke Union Place Colombo
Wrestling Sports Society T B Jaya Mawatha Colombo
Mayura Restaurant Battaramulla
Kings Park Restaurant High Level Road Nugegoda
Wattala Ranasinghe Rest Wattala
Hunupitiya Sports Club Wattala

Source : Excise Department

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