Liquor licencing, heavy-handed police destroying Sydney’s nightlife

Police dogs cruising through packed restaurants, three year waits for liquor licences and overzealous bouncers – these are the masses of red tape and obscure and outdated regulations which are choking Sydney’s night-life.

Police dogs cruising through packed restaurants, three year waits for liquor licences and overzealous bouncers – these are the masses of red tape and obscure and outdated regulations which are choking Sydney’s night-life.

New figures obtained by The Daily Telegraph show the average time taken for NSW Liquor and Gaming to reach a decision on liquor licence applications for small bars routinely stretches to more than 100 days, with the average amount of time for a decision in 2022-23 93 days.

For a full hotel licence it took an average of 175 days for 12 decisions to be made last year.

Industry figures say after-dark business is “groaning under the weight of overregulation” and Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) rules which are the strictest in the country, calling for an overhaul of the laws.

Acclaimed hospitality company, Odd Culture Group, was one which had to fight Liquor and Gaming for three years to simply get a licence for an adjoined small bar and bottle shop at Newtown, called Spon.

Venues like Spon are littered around Melbourne because in Victoria, a standard liquor licence allows you to sell alcohol.

Heidi Pavlic and Danny Webster-Clamp enjoying a wine at Spon. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

However in NSW, the only venue you can do that is either a bottle shop or a pub. It means for Spon’s 20-seat bar there are 12 different liquor signs which establish the separate boundaries of the licence.

A lack of a streamlined approvals process in NSW also means a venue can be forced to consult the same stakeholders, from police to council, three separate times for approvals.

Restaurateur Chris Lucas, who manages major restaurants in Melbourne and Sydney including Surry Hills’ Chin Chin, said the southern state was far ahead of NSW when it comes to regulation after-dark.

“Does NSW have the strictest liquor licensing laws in the nation? The answer to that is yes.”

He highlighted key factors where NSW was worse than Victoria including the speed of decisions on applications for liquor licences, and the small number of liquor licence types that exist in Victoria compared to NSW’s swathe of different licences.

“The experience in Victoria is that the state government and local council acknowledge the late night economy is really important to the redevelopment of our city since lockdown,” he said.

Chris Lucas says Victoria is a dream to operate in compared to NSW. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

“In NSW they acknowledge that as well – and they say they’re committed to doing the same – but the legislative framework hasn’t changed.”

“(In Victoria) the approval process is only a few months and costs $1800.

“In Sydney … to be able to open a new liquor licence venue is very challenging, very lengthy, and costly.”

Mr Lucas even recounted instances where police dogs had been brought through his packed Sydney restaurant, saying “I think that’s pretty common place in NSW”.

Odd Culture Group CEO James Thorpe agreed current rules were hobbling NSW businesses.

Part of Odd Culture’s three-year battle was also spent getting a 4am trading licence for a new Newtown bar the group is set to open, The Pleasure Club, the first such licence granted in 99 years.

“We do need to protect our planning controls. They are important. But if something’s permissible under the planning control, let’s not hold it back for no good reason,” he said.

“The application of The Pleasure Club was completely uncontroversial. It had no submissions from neighbours, had the support of the police and it still took sixteen months of silence.“

CEO of Odd Culture Group James Thrope at Spon in Newton. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

Mr Thorpe also said that heavy-handed fines for being intoxicated on premises had led to overzealous bouncers trying to protect venues.

“The amount of tourists we get coming through, particularly from the UK and we say, ‘sorry, you’re intoxicated on premise. You have to leave now. They are like, ‘I’m at a pub! Why do you think I’m here?’” he says.

Long-time Inner West door person Saxon Wilson, who started working events in 1989, pointed the finger at local councils with their own complex permit system for eroding night-time events.

“We want permits, we apply for permits, and the council makes it almost impossible for people on a small budget to get them. Or they take so long that by the time we get them, the event is over,” they said.

Saxon Wilson has been an Inner West door person since the 80s and 90s. Saxon says gentrification is strangling any culture and nightlife out of the area. Picture: Richard Dobson

The Daily Telegraph talked to revellers waiting to get into venues on Friday who voiced their thoughts on the city’s night-time offering.

Coogee local Ciara Wall voiced concerns over bouncers.

“The security here are really angry and some of them don’t really care (your state), they will just be like ‘get out’ even when you’re not really drunk.

“They’re really strict. Girls get in a lot more easily.”

Tayla O’Sullivan, going out in The Rocks, said Sydney’s night-life “kind of sucks”.

“No-one is ripping the lid off it,” she said.

“I have been to other places overseas and there’s much better night-life.”

Tayla O’Sullican and Alfie Clark outside the Coach and Horses Hotel Randwick.

Minister for Gaming and Racing David Harris said the government’s Vibrancy Reform package would look to tackle some of those issues.

The package is likely to be introduced to NSW Parliament next week and includes proposed reforms such as making it more difficult for noise complaints from neighbours to result in a venue being closed, while the government has also pledged to streamline planning and licensing processes.

“We know people want more options to enjoy a night out … Under this package, community consultation requirements are being streamlined, to remove the requirements to consult the same stakeholders at multiple times in the process,” he said.

“We are taking a commonsense approach in liquor regulation, removing outdated rules and starting to streamline planning and licensing process to make it easier for venues to offer diverse options.

“There is still more reform to come, reviewing the liquor licensing framework in particular to ensure that it meets the needs of modern day businesses.”