Gallery, Ravens Pub get licence suspensions

Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Apr 27/01) - The doors of two Yellowknife bars were slammed shut and another bar was fined, all for allowing minors onto their premises.

The NWT Liquor Licensing Board yesterday suspended the liquor licence of the Gallery Neighbourhood Pub for a week, the Ravens' Pub for three days and fined After 8 Billiards $500.

Board chairman Eric Malmsten cited the board's "serious concerns" with repeated Liquor Act offenses at the Gallery in handing down the week-long suspension.

The bar did not contest that a 16-year-old was on the premises Oct. 14 and an 18-year-old on Jan. 14.

The Gallery committed the same infraction last year, Malmsten said.

The Ravens' suspension flowed from an RCMP officer finding a 16-year-old drinking there Dec. 10.

Malmsten said Gallery owner Sam Yurkiw did not help his case by asking for two adjournments and then not attending the hearing.

After 8 Billiard's was fined for allowing in an 18-year-old in. The board noted it was the bar's first such infraction in handing down the fine.

As the owners of the Industry did at the hearing for that infraction, Gallery manager Lisa Tesar said minors or their parents should be called to account for their actions.

"There seems to be no deterrent for the teenagers," Tesar said. "All the onus is on the bars."

Tesar said 12 people will be laid off for the week as a result of the suspension.

The Gallery suspension runs from 10 a.m. April 26 to 10 a.m. May 3. The Raven will be closed from 11 a.m. May 10 to 11 a.m. May 13.