Police to cut liquor sale hours at Tekka Food Centre from Aug 1

SINGAPORE — For the first time since alcohol sale and consumption laws kicked in from April last year, further curbs have been imposed on trading hours at one location: Tekka Food Centre, which falls within the Liquor Control Zone (LCZ) at Little India, can serve booze only until 6pm on Sundays, a six-hour cutback. Drinking at the hawker centre must also stop at that time.

The new rule, which will be implemented from Aug 1, arose from feedback on the congregation of alcohol drinkers at the hawker centre on Sunday evenings, said the police, in response to queries. A spokesperson added: “The large congregation of drinkers within confined areas poses law-and-order risks. This will also impact other patrons who visit the centre for dinner.”

There are 10 stalls with liquor licences in Tekka Food Centre. Some of these licensees have written in about the new rule while one official appeal has been lodged with the Liquor Appeal Board, added the police.

The decision to shorten liquor licensing hours at the hawker centre to 6am to 6pm on Sundays — down from 6am to midnight currently — was taken after it consulted residents, grassroots, business owners and other agencies, said a police spokesperson.

Affected stallholders said they got wind of a possible curb sometime last month although official notice came last Friday (July 22). According to them, the grouses stemmed from some diners who found it difficult to get seats on Sunday evenings. There have also been fights sporadically.

Notices of the impending restriction were already stuck on dining tables at the hawker centre when TODAY visited on Wednesday night (July 27).

Under the Liquor Control (Supply and Consumption) Act, the Home Affairs Minister may vary the liquor licensing hours. Anyone who supplies or allows the consumption of liquor outside the window faces a maximum fine of S$10,000.

The statute prohibits boozing in public places and retail sales of alcohol islandwide between 10.30pm and 7am daily. It was enacted following concerns raised in recent years over alcohol-induced disamenities, such as urinating in public and littering.

Two areas — Little India and parts of Geylang — come under stricter alcohol restrictions and are governed as LCZs. Retail sale of take-away liquor must stop after 7pm on Saturdays, Sundays, public holidays and eves of public holidays, instead of 10.30pm. Those selling drinks at Tekka hawker centre said the rule change will hit them hard, given that business is as much as 600 per cent better on Sundays.

A drinks stall owner, who wanted to be known as Mr Ng L B, estimates that his business could drop by 70 per cent with the shortened liquor licensing hours. 

Questioning the 6pm cutoff, the 62-year-old said some of the foreign workers who patronise his stall only knock off around that time and will not be able to buy the alcohol after that. 

Seven drinks stall owners will be making a joint appeal to the police, added Mr Ng, who has been running his stall at Tekka Food Centre for seven years.

Ms Doris Ho, who helps out at another drinks stall at the hawker centre, said the bulk of their business comes from the sale of alcohol on Sundays. Her stall sees six times more business on Sundays, compared to the other days of the week. 

The 45-year-old said stepping up security in the area, rather than restricting trading hours, was a better way to prevent drinkers from turning rowdy. “They never considered our views, these few hours in the evening would affect our business,” she added in Mandarin.

Ms Ho said stalls there have been cooperative with the authorities, such as by not selling alcohol in glass bottles in the wake of the Little India riot. Her stall also avoids using glass mugs when people buy alcohol from them on Sundays. A regular patron of the food centre also felt that the blanket ban for the consumption of alcohol after 6pm on Sunday was unfair.

Estate officer Kenny Ganesh, 52, who goes to the food centre every two weeks to drink with his family and friends, said the regulations should not affect those who genuinely just want to have a drink peacefully. 

The latest curtailment came after Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam revealed earlier this month that additional measures will be put in place in the Littla India LCZ. In a written reply to a parliamentary question, he said that another 50 CCTV cameras could be installed in the Liquor Control Zone by the end of this year, adding to the 34 that have already been put up there.

He also said that as of end of May, more than 1,800 individuals have been caught drinking in public during restricted hours since the Liquor Control (Supply and Consumption) Act came into effect. Of these, about 230 individuals had committed the offence within the Little India LCZ.