Michael Cherote has managed The Coast Hotel in Coffs Harbour for 12 years and says for the first ten-and-a-half, there were no problems at his pub.

This week, his hotel was listed as the most violent in regional NSW.

It is one of 12 on the NSW Government's violent venues list — a list compiled using data from reported incidents.

He said his team worked hard to make the pub a beautiful venue and it was upsetting to see the list come out.

"It is disappointing to think that a coastal town like Coffs Harbour has the second-worst hotel in NSW," Mr Cherote said.

"I don't believe it's correct."

Not calling police

Mr Cherote believed that some venues had stopped calling the police, limiting the number of reported incidents to avoid being placed on the list.

"I can see why there would be a lot of venues in NSW that try not to call the police and deal with it house or brush it under the carpet," Mr Cherote said.

He felt that he had been penalised for doing the right thing.

A NSW Department of Liquor and Gaming spokesperson said incidents recorded under the violent venues scheme were taken from data collected by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research.

"In many cases, violent incidents at venues are reported by victims, other patrons or police themselves."

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The Coast Hotel had 19 incidents in the last six-months, behind Sydney's The Argyle Hotel with 25.

Mr Cherote said there were a range of incidents reported, including the verbal abuse of a security guard.

He said many of the people involved in incidents had arrived late at night, were already drunk and had taken drugs.

There's always a scuffle or two and things go wrong but we're not a church and you do come here to drink and enjoy yourself," he said.

Trouble after midnight

Mr Cherote said his hotel was just one of two venues in town that were still open after midnight, when most incidents happened.

Despite his hours putting him more at risk of being on the list, Mr Cherote did not want to close earlier.

"People have to have somewhere to go and I love the young people coming out and having a great time," he said.

"Ninety-nine per cent of the time they are well behaved and it's that 1 per cent ruining it for the rest of them."

The Coast Hotel is one of the few open after midnight in town. ( ABC Coffs Coast: Liz Keen )

Venues taking the heat

Mr Cherote believed the big costs the venues were paying should land on the people who behaved badly.

We need to put more responsibility on the individual, I think everybody is just getting a slap on the wrist."

He said while it was easy to close a venue down, it was not the best solution because of the impact on the industry and society.

"Look at Sydney, that's an international city and there's no place you can really go out and enjoy yourself anymore."

He said being second on the list was not going to change how he operated his venue.

"We work very closely with the police, we've got a plan of management in place and we follow that to the letter of the law," Mr Cherote said.

"There's only so many cameras you can have, only so many things you can do."

This included spending $20,000 on new CCTV cameras in the last year.

A spokesperson from The Department of Liquor and Gaming said the scheme had led to an 86 per cent reduction in incidents in listed venues.

"The violent venues scheme has been effective in encouraging venues to improve their safety record and prevent violence on their premises."

Michael Cherote says they have spent thousands renovating the hotel. ( ABC Coffs Coast: Liz Keen )

Mr Cherote loved working in the hospitality industry, but the regulations that came in with the violent venues scheme had made it stressful.

"If you get three strikes, you're out and that's your livelihood — that's food on the table for the family and everything else that goes with it.