Police and licensing inspectors have withdrawn their opposition to a renewal of Cambridge Raceway’s liquor licence.
Cambridge Raceway, Christmas Eve 2024. Photo: Angelique Bridson.
Cambridge News 27 February 2025
It means the trotting company can go ahead with its racing season and serve alcohol to patrons – but chief executive Dave Branch revealed the club’s legal costs had reached $50,000.
Ratepayers will also foot a considerable bill because Waipā District Council rented the meeting room for two days, prepared papers for, and administered the hearing before three independent Waipā District Licensing Committee commissioners. They also had staff sitting in on it.
Police senior sergeant David Hall and licensing inspector Glynn Jones both conceded at the end of the hearing last week they no longer considered the trotting company to be an “unsuitable candidate”.
Police senior sergeant David Hall asks questions whole licensing inspector Glynn Jones makes notes. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
They also withdrew their plans this week to oppose chief executive Dave Branch’s manager’s certificate application, which was to have been heard in Cambridge tomorrow (Friday).
A special licence application for the Night of Champions in April, which was to have gone ahead today, will now be resolved through mediation.
Cambridge Raceway can’t recover the $50,000 costs made up of 100 hours of legal time. Branch said he also spent several hours preparing for the hearings and had three key executives sitting in over both days.
He acknowledged the role The News played in covering the hearing.
Cambridge Raceway operations manager Michelle Thomson, right, gives evidence to the Waipā District Licensing Committee with from left Senior Sergeant David Hall, Waipā licensing inspector Glynn Jones, administrator Nola Stannard and Compliance manager Karl Tutty, commissioners Michael Cameron, Tegan McIntyre, Marcus Gower, Raceway chief executive Dave Branch (partially obscured), solicitor Anna Suckling. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
Hall said he no longer opposed Branch’s application for a manager’s certificate because he was satisfied his comments and statements at the hearing deemed it no longer necessary.
Waipā licensing inspector Maddison Berry said she wanted to withdraw her opposition because the police no longer raised any concerns about Cambridge Raceway,
“Given that Mr Branch is the CEO of the Cambridge Raceway Ltd, it is my opinion that this in turn reflects on the suitability of (him).”
Under police cross examination, Branch answered questions confidently and was clear in his requirements under the Sale of Liquor Act, she said.
Cambridge Raceway chief executive Dave Branch. Photo: Supplied
In his closing statements to the hearing last week, Murray Branch – Cambridge Raceway’s lawyer and Dave Branch’s father – said he did not agree with the way police and the licensing inspectors were interpreting the act.
“Just because someone is intoxicated, it doesn’t mean there is a breach of the act,” he said.
When police arrested patrons at the Night of Champions meeting last year, they let them go soon after and there were no prosecutions. But Raceway staff’s reputation was impugned.
“Even though suitability is no longer an issue, there needs to be some recognition about some of the processes, and the integrity of the people trying their absolute best should be acknowledged.”
Branch Snr said Raceway staff felt the way they were treated suggested a “power imbalance.”
Cambridge Raceway, Christmas Eve 2024. Photo: Angelique Bridson.
