TWO Sydney pubs named hotel of the year over the past 3 years have also topped a police list of the 100 most violent pubs and clubs in the state. The Mean Fiddler Hotel at Rouse Hill and The Coogee Bay Hotel are ranked one and two on a list of assaults on licensed premises for 2007 – the same year the NSW branch of the Australian Hotels Association awarded The Mean Fiddler its top award for the second year in a row, after it shared that award with the Coogee Bay in 2006. The Herald has obtained the figures after a year-long freedom-of-information battle to obtain more comprehensive data held by police. They rank the Mean Fiddler with 51 assaults, followed by the Coogee Bay, 41, the Commercial Hotel in Dubbo, 38, the Steyne Hotel in Manly, 36, with three premises all on 28 – the Campbelltown Catholic Club, Fanny’s of Newcastle and the Standard Hotel in Orange. At the same time the Election Funding Authority reveals the Coogee Bay Hotel donated $70,000 to the Labor Party in the two years before the last NSW election. A search reveals interests associated with the hotel and its owner, Christopher Cheung, used six different companies to make the donations. NSW Police and the Australian Hotels Association are fighting to stop the release under freedom-of-information laws of data. Police say it would cause “an unreasonable adverse effect” on the hotels to release the data and would undermine the program that is designed to reduce the number of alcohol-related incidents by discussing the data with the licensees. Spokeswomen from the Mean Fiddler and the Coogee Bay hotels declined to comment on why their hotels were at the top of the list.
dailybydaily 
Leave a comment