The New Hampshire State liquor commission has ordered Murphy's restaurant on Main Street to pay a $1,000 fine for serving beer to four people who were 20 years old. Half the penalty will be waived if there are no additional violations this year.
Murphy's owner, Nigel Leeming, said the restaurant was deceived by customers who used faked identification cards to show they were old enough to legally purchase alcohol. He said "several" of the customers were Dartmouth students.
Leeming said he is "going to take stronger action" in response to this incident.
"We are already confident in our ability to check and monitor IDs, and now we will be looking even harder," he said. "This is a college town. There are fake IDs. We know it."
Leeming said he is upset and that it is annoying that someone would "jeopardize a business" for their own personal pleasure.
"It's a tough situation," he said. "I respect 99.5 percent of all our customers, and it is that little half percent that ends up destroying [business] or ruining [business] for the other 99.5 percent."
"We got caught for doing our job because we let something slip that we couldn't detect," Leeming said.
He added that people should be more responsible when patronizing Hanover businesses.
"We don't need that kind of interference," Lemming said. "We work very hard to keep them going and it's just not fair."
In a separate case, The Seven Barrel Brewery in West Lebanon was fined $250 for allowing the possession and consumption of beer by a 19 year-old.
