THE Oxford licensee Ash Lyons has defended the hotel’s inclusion on the latest list of the state’s most violent pubs, while taking a swipe at the method used to compile it.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mr Lyons said 15 violent incidents in a 12-month period was negligible when there were between 300,000 and 400,000 people walking through the door of The Oxford.
The William Street hotel was the only licensed premises in Bathurst to make the latest list of the state’s most violent pubs, released by the Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing.
Mr Lyons said the venue was meticulous about its security, but when dealing with such large numbers of people over the course of a year there were always going to be incidents.
He added that, in many cases, altercations had nothing to do with alcohol consumption but could be traced back to family feuds, a history of animosity or domestic violence – which was not taken into account when venues were being named on the list.
“We go over every incident and if an assault is related to alcohol we take it on the chin,” Mr Lyons said.
“However, in more than 50 per cent of cases alcohol is not a factor.
“Unfortunately, it still goes on our record.”
Mr Lyons said there are also a lot of violent incidents in shopping centres.
“Is there going to be a review into shopping centre violence?” he asked.
“Is there a process for road rage?
“Of course, there has to be a process in place that monitors licensed premises, but the system was designed to identify key areas where excessive alcohol leads to violence.
“It was not designed to take into account those with a history of domestic violence who cross paths at a licensed premises.
“That is not what the system was designed for, but these allegations are not getting taken off our numbers.
“In the last review, of 17 alleged assaults, eight were identified to be directly related to a history of violence. They should have all been taken off the list, but none were.”
However, Mr Lyons said he no longer loses sleep over it because his conscience is clear.
“I know we are doing the right thing and at the end of the day we have a fantastic relationship with the local and state police,” he said.
“In 10 years we have taken crime from a major issue to a minor one.”