After a multi-month investigation and a hearing before the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board, the Dome – a popular Halifax nightclub – will have its liquor licence suspended for four days sometime in the next month.
The Review Board ordered the suspension for Grafton Street Restaurant Limited, which operates as The Attic Lounge at 1741 Grafton Street. The business admitted to allowing multiple intoxicated patrons back into the Dome after they’d been escorted through a different exit in May 2023.
The Alcohol, Gaming, Fuel and Tobacco (AGFT) division, which completed its final investigation report in January 2024 and met with the business in late March, said the club should serve a four-day consecutive licence suspension (Wednesday to Saturday) within 30 days of its decision, which would have been in May.
Gary Hurst, president of Grafton Street Restaurant, did not dispute the final investigation report, but he disagreed on when the four-day suspension should be served.
“Mr. Hurst testified that he advised (Andrew) MacLean (AGFT director of investigation and enforcement) that the Licensee had suffered significant financial losses during the COVID-19 pandemic and was still struggling to recover,” the written decision by the Review Board reads. “Mr. Hurst advised Mr. MacLean that the Licensee could not afford to serve the penalty in the peak of its business season due to financial issues and asked that the penalty be served in January 2025, when its business is typically very slow. The AGFT offered to extend the time for service of the license suspension to within 60 days from the date of an executed settlement agreement, but the Licensee refused.”
In May 2024, the AGFT requested a disciplinary hearing with the Review Board to resolve the issue. It was held on Nov. 1.
According to the investigation, security staff removed a patron from the Dome via the Argyle Street entrance on the night of May 13, 2023. Fifteen minutes later, the patron re-entered the building via the Grafton Street entrance. They were found unconscious on a bench 18 minutes after they were last seen on video surveillance, requiring help from emergency services.
The investigation report says that same night two patrons tried to get back into the Dome via the side door off Argyle Street after they had been removed for intoxication. Before they were escorted off the premises for a second time, a bartender poured each of them a drink.
Police arrested both patrons and took them to a “personal care facility,” where one became unconscious and needed assistance from EHS.
The report says a blond female was seen having four double drinks and four shooters within an hour and 10 minutes at the Dome that night. Security escorted the woman out of the building three minutes after she had a shot.
“Staff are allowing individuals who were escorted out of The Dome to reenter,” the report reads. “Security staff on Grafton St. are not aware of the patrons being escorted out of the establishment on Argyle St.”
The Review Board decision noted Grafton Street Restaurant developed steps to prevent similar incidents in the future by photographing ejected patrons and sending the picture to security at other entrances via an app.
“In his testimony, Mr. Hurst acknowledged that the incidents should not have occurred, but explained new challenges are always presenting themselves and new corrective actions must be taken,” the decision reads. “Mr. Hurst described the situation where an intoxicated patron is ejected from the premises only to then re-enter the premises by a different entrance as ‘a new one.’
“He said that these corrective measures were in place by June 2023, many months before the AGFT completed its investigation and commenced discussions for possible settlement. Further, he said that the AGFT was satisfied with these corrective measures.”
The Review Board noted the core issue was that both parties could not agree on when the suspension should be served. Hurst noted it will take years for the business to recover from COVID-19, which is why he sought the suspension in the slow month of January 2025.
“The Board commends the AGFT’s actions in this matter to propose a penalty that considered the Licensee’s financial circumstances,” the decision reads. “The AGFT originally proposed the four-day suspension take place from Thursday to Sunday, but modified this to Wednesday to Saturday, after the Licensee identified the harm that could occur to its Sunday brunch business. The AGFT also deviated from its 30-day policy for serving the license suspension and offered to extend this to 60 days to respond to the Licensee’s concern about losing income in a busy business time.
“Ultimately, though, the AGFT found allowing the Licensee to postpone serving the license suspension by seven months would send the wrong message to the industry and compromise the statute’s important goal of deterrence to the Licensee and others.”
The Review Board ruled the four-day consecutive suspension was “reasonable and appropriate in the circumstances.” It ordered Grafton Street Restaurant’s liquor licence to be suspended from a Wednesday to a Saturday within 30 days of its decision, which happened on Tuesday.
“This does not prevent the business from providing the sale of food or other non-liquor related services,” the decision reads.
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