A Ballyhaunis publican was fined €250 at Ballyhaunis District Court (sitting in Castlebar ) this week after four people were found on the premises before the legal opening time.
Superintendent Joe Doherty told the court that at 11.30am on June 16 2013 gardai called to Nicholson’s pub, Bridge Street, Ballyhaunis. They found four people on the premises who had alcoholic drinks in front of them. He told the court that the legal opening time for a public house on a Sunday was 12.30pm.
Solicitor for the licensee Christopher Nicholson, Mr Evan O’Dwyer, told the court his client was not in the pub that morning he had someone else working for him who no longer worked for him. He went on to say his client had been operating the pub for 20 years, and the people who would have been regular customers who stopped in for a pint on their way to the 12 nooon Mass in Ballyhaunis. Judge Mary Devins convicted and fined Nicholson €250.
