Tavern proprietor Wayne Purcell said the group of about 20 men and women sat on the grassed area in front of his premises drinking alcohol throughout the day.

It wasn’t until around 9.30pm that the drunk and disorderly group began directing insults and abuse at patrons.

“This group of people were not customers of ours, they were drunk and wanted to start a fight with my customers,” Mr Purcell said.

“After they started the verbal altercation with patrons they then came up on the verandah and starting smashing doors, windows and pool cues.

“They smashed the doors and windows with an iron tyre lever,” Mr Purcell said.

“One of my patrons, who is here on holidays, got his head cut open and the ambulance had to treat him on the spot.”

Police arrived at the hotel at around 10pm to disperse the crowd, arresting one member of the group.

This one incident blemised an otherwise spotless holiday record for the tavern.

“We have had such a good holiday season up until this happened, all of our patrons have been great,” Mr Purcell said.

“We’ve had absoloutely no problems at all, even New Year’s Eve was incident-free.”

Mr Purcell said his staff did an excellent job during the melee until police arrived, ensuring the safety of patrons.

Nambucca Heads Police Inspector Mark Rowney said that one person had been charged with intent to commit an indectable offence.

“We are continuing investigations today (27th), it is likely that more charges will be laid against the offender arrested,” Inspector Rowney said.

“Once we have checked the CCTV footage, more arrests on other individuals from the group will be made.”