How strict are bars in New Zealand Re: Drinking Age & ID?

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zee_prime

The drinking age here in NZ is 18, and having been brought up in Britain I think it's enforced very strictly. It's only a few years since it was reduced from 20. When I first arrived here in 1968 I was under age, but it was easy to get a drink because hardly anybody had photo ID. Now, some wowsers are asking for the drinking age to be raised again. You might get away with showing somebody else's birth certificate, but usually they want photo ID like a passport, drivers or firearms licence. But as a matter of principle if an underage drinker asks me to buy booze for them, I oblige, and so do many other people. NZ has a bad record for heavy-handed anti-drinking laws and it shows. As a direct result of teetotallers, young people here don't learn civilised drinking habits until they're quite old. The only countries I've ever visited with similar attitudes are the US and a few Moslem countries.

Princesspea

Interesting what the other person has said above. I live in Wellington and am 28 and have found that while bars and clubs no longer ID check me (though they did up until very recently) supermarkets still do.

So you know, there are 3 types of legal ID - an 18+ card (issued locally), a NZ Drivers Licence, and an NZ or Overseas passport.

Now, in reality you probably could simply show your overseas driving licence as ID. However, security are not required to accept it. Which means that you can be refused entry to a bar. This is annoying but logical - a friend of mine has a driving licence from the United Arab Emirates and I would bet that very few people could identify what that licence should look like - eg how does anyone know it hasn't been photoshopped.

Best thing to do is to take your passport with you but keep in a secure place. Show your DL for ID and if that doesnt work then bring out your passport.

HTH

bmwdriver11

Heck, I admit, it was now 17 years ago that I lived in New Zealand, but I was there when I was 16. And I never, ever, ever had any problem at all buying alcohol while I was there. I went to one small glacier town to visit (which has since, when i went 3 years ago, become a very touristy, much larger glacier town), and the local police officer there took me and my other 16 year old friend out drinking at the pub while we were there. In Queenstown, we drank in a pub overlooking the lake. For my going away party, I went to the liquor store and bought a huge lot of alcohol in the town in which I was living, and even managed to bring a whole lot of it through US Customs on my way to the US (didnt realize at the time it was actually illegal for me to be carrying it into the US undersage). I was a junior member at the local golf club, and would always finish at the 19th hole with a few beers afterwards. NZ must have really changed a lot in the time Ive been gone if they cut that off. I never went to a high school party where we werent totally pissed on Whiskey or beer.

Dana B

in central auckland city they don't care, in places with liquor bans, like takapuna, they are very very strict.

Hayden M

There allgood! Bro.

Driver T

In general, they should be strict. The courts each week are fining the bar managers and hoteliers sums of up to $5000 for allowing underage drinkers. Some areas (Queenstown/Wanaka) they are extremely strict.

Be aware that the a driver's licence is not permitted by law to be used as an ID. The best IDs are those available through the Student Associations, or a passport. (It is not yet mandatory to hold a driver's licence, but is is a requirement to show some form of ID when entering licensed premises if asked to do so)

Altering or using a forged ID or someone else's will land you in a cell.

Pagrus

went drinking last night and had no problems and im 16

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