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Pointe-Claire sports bar Le Manoir has been slapped with a ten-day suspension of its liquor license after the bar was caught making sangria with spirits, when the bar only had a license to serve beer and wine.
Global News first reported the suspension from Quebec’s Régie des alcools des courses et des jeux. The bar is owned by Montreal bar magnate Peter Sergakis, who owns establishments like the Station des Sports mini-chain and multi-level Village bar-club Complexe Sky.
The issue dates back to 2014 when Sergakis entered a dispute with the City of Pointe-Claire over the types of alcohol served at the restaurant-bar, and over questions of expansion and what was permitted under the venue’s licensing.
The Gazette followed up on the suspension noting that a small quantity of spirits was seized from Le Manoir back in 2014 — Sergakis told the newspaper that the hard liquor was on the premises for the sole purpose of making sangria, and that hard liquor wasn’t being sold in any other form. Given the suspension for breaking its liquor license, the Régie appears to have not accepted that explanation.
It’s not Sergakis’ first run-in with the Régie: about a year ago, one level of Complexe Sky was forced to close for three weeks for several issues from insects in liquor bottles to minors hanging around the bar entrance. Then in 2015, a municipal court fined the businessman $18,000 for alcohol tampering because staff at Sky had transferred liquor between bottles.
Le Manoir has since obtained a permit for hard liquor, and its suspension ends Friday (February 2) in the afternoon — the Manoir in Lasalle is not affected.