A 39-year-old Kiwi from Tauranga spoke to Bay of Plenty Times after being denied entrance from a bar for being too old.

However, the bar and other youth-oriented establishments say they do not discriminate by age, Bay of Plenty Times reports.

Justin Allan, managing director of Transbay Coaches in Whakatane, said he, his girlfriend and four male friends, aged between 29 and 39, agreed to check out the changes in Tauranga's Temple Bar last Saturday after a barbecue and a few drinks.

When they got to the bar, the bouncer told them they won't be allowed in because it was a student bar. But Mr Allan's girlfriend and one of the male friends who reached the door first had been allowed to go inside.

Saying he and the rest of the group were "shocked and embarrassed," Mr Allan pointed out they were all respectably dressed and not even drunk.

"We had had a few drinks at the barbecue, but we certainly weren't in a state where you would not let us in. If we were, as a group, we would have accepted his position a bit better. If we were unruly, but we were not at all. We have never, ever encountered that before anywhere," Mr Allan said.

Speaking to Bay of Plenty Times, Glenn Meikle, owner of Temple Bar, said the bar manager was not aware of the incident.

"It could have happened, and if it did happen we're very disappointed, but it's definitely not a policy to say stuff like that," he said.

"We can't do that (discriminate against age). We do have a target market but the only thing I can think of is these older guys might not have fit the dress code."

Age discrimination in bars have surfaced in the past, and the NZ Human Rights Commission said bars could not deny entrance on the basis of age, gender, sexual orientation, political or religious beliefs.