Quiz night bar tab prize puts Dakota Bar’s licence on the line

Monday, 24 November 2025

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A Wellington pub risks having its alcohol licence stripped over a quiz night advertisement that promised a bar tab as a prize.

Dakota Bar on Courtenay Place will appear before the Alcohol Regulatory & Licensing Authority (ARLA) for an alleged breach of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act, with Wellington City Council chief licensing inspector Judith Austin calling for the suspension and cancellation of the venue’s licence.

However, owner Jose Ubiaga is claiming unfair treatment by the capital’s regulatory authorities after a string of run-ins.

Dakota’s weekly quiz night advertisement offered prizes such as $150 bar tabs to be won by participants. Licensing laws prohibit promotions that encourage excessive drinking or offer free alcohol.

In her submission to ARLA, Austin said multiple emails were exchanged with Ubiaga warning him the language used appeared to be offering free alcohol and promoting excessive consumption.

Ubiaga was forced to close another of his bars, The Residence, for two nights in July after promoting two-for-one drinks during happy hour on a chalkboard outside.

Austin said the bar had already failed two controlled purchase operations (CPOs), during which alcohol was sold to a minor. This had landed it in “negative holdings”, she said.

Ubiaga told The Post the bar tab payment method advertised was exclusively used for food and he provided multiple receipts as supporting evidence.

Customers would be refused free alcohol on the tab if they tried to order at the bar, he said.

Ubiaga acknowledged failing the two CPOs, but said the operation didn’t appear to be actively working to reduce alcohol-related harm, instead just focusing on the bar owners.

“In a time when bars are already closing down businesses, it’s really tough that you have these agencies that are just creating mountains out of molehills,” he said.

For the first nine years since opening in 2015, Dakota had never received an objection to any of its licensing applications, he said. However, there had been four separate ARLA applications in the past 12 months.

One bar Ubiaga knew of had to engage a lawyer to defend its licence renewal, costing more than $60,000.

“For someone who's been in the game a really long time, I am treated like I'm a really bad operator. Most of the time when people go to ARLA and they look to cancel the licence, we’re talking serious breaches, not using the term ‘bar tab’.”

ARLA case manager Robert Smith said the authority was unable to comment on any matters awaiting determination.

A Wellington City Council spokesperson said the council had provided advice to Ubiaga numerous times regarding the phrasing of ‘bar tab’, as the terminology was a breach of the act. It recommended “food and beverage voucher” instead.

“Despite this, and a formal warning, they continued to use the bar tab terminology, hence the referral to ARLA.”

The law required authorities to seek suspension or cancellation of a licence on a third offence, the spokesperson said.