Officials of the Excise Department and the Central Crime Branch (CCB) who had conducted a raid on The Sugar Factory pub in Le Meridien on Sankey Road on October 28 issued them a notice for remaining open until 4 am and serving customers while the stipulated closing hour was 1 am.
Le Meridien’s management replied to the notice on Friday, confirmed Shivanna Gowda, Deputy Commissioner Excise (West Division).
According to excise officials, The Sugar Factory, a nightclub in the city’s premium hotel Le Meridien has a 6-A licence which allows it to remain open only till 1 am serving liquor and food. Both the police and the excise department received a tip-off that the pub was operating until the wee hours of the day. “The pub comes under the Le Meridien management, under its chairman, MAC Charles India Ltd,” said Gowda to DH.
As of now, the excise officials have temporarily closed down the pub till the excise department goes through the reply that has been submitted and suitable legal action has been taken against them. “We are yet to go through their reply and we will penalise them for the violations. Later, based on the licence conditions, we may look into allowing them to re-open,” Gowda added.
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