Sydney hospitality businesses call on Lord Mayor Clover Moore to revive night-life
Flatlining hospitality business have made desperate calls to newly re-elected City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore to dramatically overhaul plans to revive Sydney’s night-life.
Central Sydney
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Flatlining hospitality business have made desperate calls to newly re-elected City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore to dramatically overhaul plans to revive Sydney’s night-life.
ArtHouse Hotel general manager Brian Sarkis said almost two decades of lockout laws, Covid lockdowns and the cost of living crisis had “devastated” hospitality businesses in the Harbour City.
In its heyday, Mr Sarkis said the hotel would be bustling until 5am on a Saturday night.
“These days I can’t get a nightclub to stay full past 2.30am,” he said.
Mr Sarkis said the ArtHouse, which has been operating for about 25 years, used to be packed with more than 500 people on a busy night.
But for the past 18 months, he’s struggled to get more than 250 people in the door.
“We tried everything – we tried opening earlier, we tried drinks specials and nothing worked well,” he said.
Mr Sarkis, who recently took over the East Village Hotel in Darlinghurst, said skyrocketing costs of living and low customer numbers meant businesses were struggling to retain vital staff.
A survey of Sydney City businesses, revealed exclusively by the Saturday Telegraph, showed 39 per cent of retailers, restaurants, and cafes were on the brink of collapse, forecasting major staffing cuts to stay afloat.
“Sydney’s night-life was almost the best in the world,” Mr Sarkis said. “And I definitely think we’ve slipped away from that.
“I don’t think the councils or the governments have done enough and we need as much support to survive as possible because hospitality is always the first thing that people cut out of their budgets when things get tough.
“Our businesses are always on a knife edge in terms of where people want to spend their money. So we need all the help we can get.”
Night Time Industries Association boss Michael Gibb said businesses were struggling with the cost of living crisis.
Pathzz mobility data between 8pm and 5am for the June to August period shows unique visitations to Oxford St declined by 42 per cent.
Meanwhile, Enmore Rd recorded a 21 per cent drop during the winter months.
“Businesses right across the night time economy are hurting right now thanks to cost of living pressures keeping people at home,” Mr Gibb said.
Mr Gibb said the key to revitalising the CBD’s night-life would be to make it more affordable.
One of Sydney’s night-time economy success stories are the Special Entertainment Precincts rolling out across the inner west.
Enmore Rd, the state’s first permanent Special Entertainment Precinct, was dubbed one of the best night-life hubs in the world according to Time Out’s annual top 20 list.
Former inner west mayor Darcy Byrnes said the city had signed off on six new precincts after Enmore “went gangbusters”.
Mr Byrnes said the true success of the entertainment precinct was that it incentivised businesses to rely on more creative and artistic ventures rather than the pokies.
“Arguably, Enmore Rd is now quickly supplanting Sydney as the most vibrant and interesting hub for night-life,” Mr Byrnes said.
“But for this to really work in Sydney City, they need more than one precinct because it’s not just the later trading hours, it’s the fact that businesses can invest in theatre and live music without a development application.”
Another six precincts are in the pipeline for the inner west including Darling St in Balmain, Marrickville Rd and New Canterbury Rd in Dulwich Hill, Norton St and Parramatta Rd in Leichhardt, Victoria and Addison roads in Marrickville North, Railway Pde, Marrickville Rd and Illawarra Rd in Marrickville Town Centre, as well as Darling St and Victoria Rd in Rozelle.
Despite a “quieter” winter, businesses within the Enmore precinct say the biggest strength of a night time economy was the diversity of services on offer.
“It’s a really authentic strip … it feels different to just being out in like a nightclub precinct,” the Odd Culture Group CEO and licensee of The Duke of Enmore, James Thorpe, said.
“There’s something for everyone. There’s obviously lots of restaurants and there’s plenty of bars.”
And despite the extended trading hours, Mr Thorpe said Enmore Rd was safer.
“We’re dealing with far fewer serious incidents or any incidents at all,” he said.
“We talk to each other about compliance issues, so people misbehaving. There’s a chat between all venues so we can identify problem groups and not let them in.”
Enmore Hotel general manager Anton Young said people were also “happier” to browse and spend, especially on live music despite higher costs of living.
“People are more selective with what they go out to do,” Mr Young said.
“So if you put on a good band, you’ll get more people than you would have before, even though there are less people going out overall.”
In the lead up to the NSW Local Government election, City of Sydney Labor candidate Zann Maxwell took aim at the city’s declining night-life, saying Ms Moore has had years to revive it.
Mr Maxwell said the Lord Mayor had instead promised multimillion-dollar cloud arches – with the 2014 project shelved to be “revisited” as part of the Town Hall Square project after extensive delays and budget blowouts.
Last year, Ms Moore announced $70m had been budgeted for a network of traffic crippling bike paths with 20 hectares of the 45 hectare Moore Park Golf Course now slated to be “repurposed” as a park.
“Her administration has failed to declare even a single special entertainment precinct … meanwhile, in (the) Inner West, they ran a successful trial on Enmore Rd,” he told The Saturday Telegraph.
However the Lord Mayor said while proposed precincts were still in the works, it would rely on extensive community consultation first “to get it right”.
“I have directed the City to prepare a proposal that we can consult on this year,” she said.
“Special entertainment precincts are not a panacea for our night-life – don’t believe any candidate who tells you they are – but they’re likely a useful step and that’s why we’re pursuing them and they’re well in train.”
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