New Zealand's drinking hours are poised for dramatic cuts in a precedent-setting liquor licensing case.

Police are attempting to impose a Sydney-style lock-out policy in central Wellington bars. It would put the capital city in line with Whangarei and Tauranga, which already have one-way door policies.

Wellington would be the first of the three main centres to toughen controls. The move is seen as setting a national precedent: Auckland police are already lobbying for the same policy from 1am while Christchurch police confirmed they are keeping a close eye on Wellington.

STUFF Nightlife in Wellington's Courtenay Place could be reduced under a police move that could have national ramifications.

The case comes as new figures show precisely which bars, in which cities, people visited before being arrested and while senior emergency department doctors call for off-licence hours to be slashed. The Sunday Star-Times and Stuff today reveal the bars topping a list of nearly 1200 licensed premises around New Zealand whose patrons have caused trouble to police.

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NZ POLICE Courtenay Place, Wellington, after dark.

The police released the bars' names under the Official Information Act, a list topped by The Hood in Hamilton whose patrons were apprehended for drunkenness offences 69 times last year. They told police they had consumed their last drink in the bar before being up for offences including drink-driving, drunken disorder and violence.

Police urge some caution in relying on the numbers, pointing out the information is provided by drunks, but say they find the data useful in identifying which bars to target for education and enforcement.

In Wellington, police have had enough. At a District Licensing Committee hearing for Courtenay Place bar Siglo in Wellington, they are pushing for the one-way door policy – meaning nobody new could enter the bar after 3am and anyone leaving could not return – despite Wellington City Council rules saying the doors can stay open till 4am.

NZ POLICE Bar owners worry Courtenay Place could become a lifeless ghost town if a Sydney-style lockout regime was imposed. ﻿

It is understood to be the first Wellington bar on which police have tried to impose a one-way door policy.

Wellington alcohol harm reduction officer Sergeant Damian Rapira-Davies said police around New Zealand were watching the case closely. "It would be reasonable to expect other parts of the country to follow what happens in Wellington."

Publican Nick Mills, along with other bar owners on Wellington's strip, opposes the move and accused police of trying to impose the one-way door policy by stealth by picking off bars one by one, with Siglo the first. They have accused police of unfairly targeting bars in an off-the-books effort to force a change to the city's licensing laws.

But in Sydney, a similar policy has dramatically reduced violence and disorder since it was introduced in 2014 but the hospitality industry has complained of a massive drop in revenue.

Another bar owner, Matt McLaughlin, said supermarkets were the major culprit in fuelling alcohol-related harm, with the power to buy booze in bulk then sell it as a loss leader. "Imagine if we sold $2 bourbons – we'd be crucified. It's madness."

McLaughlin, who owns Wellington's Dirty Little Secret, Four Kings and Electric Avenue, believed the outcome of the Siglo case could usher in the police-backed one-way door policy far more widely.

He supported curbing off-licence sales, where he said much alcohol-related harm originated. And certainly, the police apprehensions list shows that for every person apprehended after consuming their last drink in a bar, another seven were drinking at home, in a public place or elsewhere.

Top emergency department doctors, Anil Nair from Auckland and Paul Quigley from Wellington, agreed police would be better to target off-licences.

Quigley, in sentiments echoed by Nair, argued late-selling off-licences allowed a quiet night to impulsively turn bad as people could continue to buy and drink alcohol at home, away from regulated licensed premises.

Foodstuffs spokeswoman Antoinette Laird said the government had already reduced off-licence trading hours in 2012 to 7am until 11pm. "We think these default hours are reasonable and allow us to adequately meet the needs of our customers, who generally tend to purchase their beer and wine while they are shopping for their other groceries."