Two double rums at 10.41pm ended 16 years of trading for O’Sheas

One patron, one night, one suspension

O’Sheas Public House on Marshland Rd in Shirley, Christchurch, will have its on-licence suspended for two weeks from the end of August, after the Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority (ARLA) found the bar served alcohol to an intoxicated patron and let him stay on the premises. The bar is owned by former All White Alan Stroud.

The patron was Ian “Booga” Robbins, 53, a regular. On 22 February 2025 he had been drinking at O’Sheas from around 5pm, starting on beer before switching to rum and cokes. His last order, two double rum-and-cokes at roughly 10.40pm, came shortly before the 11pm close. CCTV caught him staggering along Marshland Rd minutes later. He fell in a nearby Burger King car park and hit his head. Ambulance officers declared him dead at the scene.

An autopsy found positional asphyxia, contributed to by an elevated blood alcohol level and a cervical spine fracture. Toxicology put his blood alcohol at 284mg per 100mL, more than three and a half times the criminal driving limit.

Why the suspension stuck

ARLA was blunt about the final round. The authority found Robbins was intoxicated when he bought those last drinks, and that the duty manager “either must not have been paying sufficient attention or he must have turned a ‘blind eye'”. Those two drinks, it said, lifted an already intoxicated man to grossly intoxicated.

Notably, ARLA could not prove staff had allowed Robbins to become intoxicated at the venue, partly because police failed to secure the bar’s CCTV, and partly because of uncertainty over a period when Robbins left earlier in the evening. The authority said the outcome might have been harsher had that footage been available. The gap in evidence helped the bar, not hurt it.

The owner made it worse

Stroud’s conduct at the hearing is the part every operator should sit with. He described Robbins’ unsteady walking on CCTV as “a wee bit of a wobble”, a characterisation ARLA rejected, saying the footage “cried out that this was a man who was grossly affected by alcohol.” The authority paused evidence mid-hearing to let Stroud take legal advice.

Its written judgment did not hold back, saying Stroud “did not impress us at all” and raising “a serious concern at his respect for the provisions of the Act and his licence.” Stroud argued 16 years of clean operation. ARLA’s answer was that this counts for little, because bars in major centres are rarely inspected. Arguments that the licensee was not responsible for a manager’s actions were also dismissed.

A pattern, not a one-off

This is the second Canterbury venue in as many years to be hit. In March 2024, The Platform in Mandeville had its on-licence suspended for a week after a patron died in a 2022 crash. That man had consumed three pints, two rum and cokes and three shots in under two hours, blowing 158mg per 100mL, more than three times the driving limit. In 2024, Canterbury rural area commander Inspector Peter Cooper called the suspensions “significant penalties of themselves” that sent a clear signal to licensees.

What it means for your bottom line

A two-week suspension is not a slap on the wrist. For a venue trading hardest Thursday to Sunday, a fortnight offline at peak rates can wipe out a serious chunk of monthly revenue, on top of staff disruption, reputational damage and heightened scrutiny at the next renewal.

The industry knows the framework is tight. In a March 2025 submission on Christchurch’s Local Alcohol Policy, Hospitality NZ argued that “well-managed on-premise environments are the safest place to consume alcohol”, noting one member faced potential losses of $300,000 a year from reduced hours. The Restaurant Association made a similar point in March 2025, that staff “must monitor intake and determine when to stop service”, and that much alcohol harm traces to off-licence sales. Christchurch is a dense market, with 1,064 current alcohol licences as of September 2024 and almost two-thirds of them on-licences.

The O’Sheas case carries a compounding warning. ARLA’s language about Stroud’s suitability to hold a licence signals that a future breach, or even a renewal hearing, could bring cancellation rather than suspension. The Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 is unambiguous, and it does not care about tenure or reputation. The obligation is simple, stop serving an intoxicated patron, and the cost of a single lapse just went on public record.

Sources

• Ex-All White’s bar hit with suspension after drunk patron served double rums before fatal fall (2026-08-08)
• The Platform has liquor licence suspended after drunk patron dies in crash (2024-03-05)
• North Canterbury pub licence suspended after serving drinks to a man who later died in a crash (2024-03-05)
• Local Alcohol Policy Research Report – Christchurch City Council (2025-01)
• Christchurch City Council Local Alcohol Policy questions – Restaurant Association of New Zealand (2025-03-07)
• Hospitality NZ Letter on CCC Local Alcohol Policy Development (2025-03-09)