Yellowknife (Apr 11/03) - The NWT Liquor Licensing Board has ordered the Raven Pub to shut down for one day because of overcrowding.

The bar's owner, Jim Sturge, and territorial justice department lawyer Brad Patzer submitted an agreed statement of facts to the NWT Liquor Licensing Board at a hearing on Wednesday at the Yellowknife Inn.

After the hearing, Sturge told Yellowknifer Patzer led him to believe he would be fined, not shut down.

Bars typically prefer a fine to closure because it costs them less.

"Nobody wants to get shut down for a night," said Sturge.

He said he would never have signed the agreed statement of facts if he thought the board was going to shut him down.

"I would have had my lawyer there and he would have argued that," he said. "It's just the fact that it was misleading."

Patzer said he did tell Sturge he was planning to recommend a one-to two-day closure or a fine of $1,500 to $3,500.

In any case, the board isn't bound by any conversations between the two parties, said board chair Eric Malmsten.

Generally, he said, the board doesn't hand out fines because bar owners just consider fines the cost of doing business. In this case, Malmstem said he thought a $3,500 fine would have been a harsher penalty than closure.

According to the agreed statement of facts, inspector Darrel Ouellette conducted an inspection of the pub on Jan. 23.

He counted the number of patrons three times. He came up with 188, 181 and 174.

The maximum number of people allowed is 170 under the Liquor Act.

The liquor board took into consideration that Sturge pleaded guilty and accepted responsibility.

They ordered him to shut down for a one-day licence suspension April 17.

The board could have fined Sturge up to $5,000.

Sturge asked Malmsten if he could close on a different day because that Thursday falls just before Easter Friday -- making it a popular night at the bar. The request was denied.