Liquor Licensees held hostage

Local businesses have registered their frustration at news the Liquor Licensing Board of Grand Cayman will not consider extended hour applications due to recent crime issues. 

Chairman Mitchell Welds announced the measure at the board’s annual session on Thursday, 22 September.  

“As a result of the spate in violent crime, the Liquor Licensing Board will not be considering any applications for extension in licensing hours,” he said. 

But licensees and their representatives at the meeting pointed out that criminals were no respecters of law and the bar industry was a tightly regulated one. 

Waide Da Costa said he wanted to reassure the public there were no statistics that proved serving alcohol had anything to do with violent crime. 

“It worries me that these individuals are holding us hostage,” Mr. Da Costa said. “It is an indictment of the state of affairs in Cayman. As a citizen it is worrying for me that business on island cannot continue because of a few evil individuals.” 

Economic constraints  

Donna Myrie spoke on behalf of licensee Edward Myrie of Roof Top Lounge who had asked for permission to operate on Fridays until 2am Saturday morning. 

“I respect the board’s decision,” she said. “But patrons are coming out later and later, and everyone is struggling. Businesses are in dire straits and the extra hour makes a difference to the bottom line. I ask the board humbly to reconsider under these economic constraints.” 

In total, there were 14 applications or deferred applications for extended hours on the annual meeting agenda, all of which Mr. Welds said would be kept on file “until a later date when things get better in the community”. 

Applications would be considered at that time, he said, noting individual applications for specific, one-off events could be applied for by letter. However, he reiterated, permanent extensions applied for would not be considered. 

Self-regulating  

According to section 5 (14) of the Liquor Licensing Law (2000 revision), “Where no procedure is laid down by this Law, a Board may regulate its own procedure.”  

Section 5 (4) notes the Liquor Licensing Board of Grand Cayman may, at its discretion, “adjourn any application for a license or any matter relevant thereto to a later date … or to a later session”. 

The open portion meeting lasted about two and a half hours and featured a number of new applications, variations and deferred variations.  

The licensing board then went into closed session, during which they considered all applications plus the renewal of all existing liquor licenses on Grand Cayman.