Special night-time zone to become permanent despite residents’ concerns

Inner West Council will push ahead with plans to make Enmore Road a permanent night-time entertainment precinct, with special rules around live music and noise complaints, despite the objections of immediate neighbours.

For the past six months, venues on the road have been allowed to trade 30 minutes later if they program live music or performance, and footpath dining is permitted until 11pm. There are also relaxed rules about noise, and residents are expected to make concessions instead of complaints.

An area along Enmore Road will be one of the state’s first special entertainment precincts.Credit: Steven Siewert

Feedback from the trial, which began in September, found 91 per cent of surveyed visitors wanted the special entertainment zone to become permanent. Residents’ views, however, were mixed.

A quarter of those living immediately adjacent to Enmore Road supported the late night precinct, but among those living a block or more away, it rose to three-quarters.

For residents who complained about the precinct, their common gripes were its impact on street parking, noise and so-called “anti-social behaviour”. One neighbour attached 10 photographs of people congregating in the laneways near the Enmore Theatre and lamented they seemed to have been “given license to do whatever they please”.

Enmore Road is widely praised as one of Sydney’s livelier night-time precincts, and it has enjoyed a strong post-pandemic recovery, buttressed by the Enmore Theatre and surrounding pubs, bars and restaurants. It offers a variety of experiences and a mix of price points.

Fortunate Son bar is within the Enmore Road special entertainment precinct.Credit: Flaviio Brancaleone

But the extent to which the modest changes involved in the special entertainment precinct have been used, and have contributed to the area’s vibrancy, is difficult to assess.

Only eight businesses responded to the council’s survey and, of those, just one said it had used the extra 30 minutes’ trading time and one said it programmed live music for the first time.

However, other venues that are taking advantage of the relaxed rules did not participate in the survey.

James Thorpe, whose Odd Culture Group owns The Duke of Enmore hotel, told the Herald that trade had increased dramatically since the pilot started.

Live music at the Duke of Enmore.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone

“Anecdotally, it has been really successful,” he said. “We’ve definitely put on more live music since it was announced, we are definitely trading half an hour later. I know there are four or five other venues that are also taking advantage of it.”

Following unanimous agreement at Tuesday’s meeting, the council will lodge a planning proposal with the state government to make the entertainment precinct permanent. In an unusually frank summary, it warned that Enmore – like other inner-city suburbs – was under threat from gentrification.

“The live music and entertainment offerings that attracted people to the area often start to be considered a nuisance when residents’ circumstances change resulting in noise complaints against venues,” the council said in its proposal.

In a concession to residents, councillors agreed to expedite a parking review from 2026 to this year, and implement a “good neighbour” management strategy.

Mayor Darcy Byrne said: “We know that there’s big public support for what we’re trying to achieve, but we want to make sure that’s maintained and that the success of the precinct’s not undermined by neglecting issues that could be dealt with now.”

The survey collected 215 comments from visitors, most of which were supportive of the precinct.

“Sydney desperately needs more urban life – and more culture and vibrancy,” one person wrote. “Having spent time in European cities, Sydney is embarresingly [sic] short of exciting interesting arty and cultural things to do at night. We need more small, quirky places doing interesting things.”

Residents were less enthused, with one complaining that Enmore Road was being “targeted” for night-time activities instead of King Street in Newtown.

“The noise has increased,” someone else wrote. “Graffiti has exploded around the area. I am tired of cleaning it off my walls. Rubbish has increased. More hoodlums latee [sic] at night and drunk.”

Labor has said it wants the special entertainment precincts to be used more widely if it wins the state election. Enmore Road is the only pilot to have taken place so far.

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