Petition launched to save the Sly Fox
In one week more than 6,500 people have joined the Save The Sly Fox fight as the Enmore nightclub faces closure
Inner West
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More than 6,500 people have joined the fight to save the Sly Fox after the Enmore live music favourite reached out to the community to help keep it open.
“It is with heavy hearts we have to inform everyone that the Sly Fox will soon be forced to close its doors forever due to the Inner West Council,” a post on the Sly Fox Facebook page says.
“If you are a supporter of our venue, live music, DJ’s, good times and late nights at the Sly Fox ... we desperately need your help to save the Sly Fox from closing forever.”
Sky Fox publican Brett Strauss has launched a petition that encourages Sydneysiders to join the fight to “Save the Sly Fox”.
Mr Strauss said Sly Fox had been operating with a 24-hour venue for 21 years but in 2016 with the introduction of Sydney’s lock out laws the NSW licensing authorities found the original 24-hour consent had lapsed.
Even though the Sly Fox sits outside the area cover by the Sydney’s controversial lockout laws their 24-hour licence was under threat until Inner West Council stepped in. But the venue was told to stop playing amplified music after 3am and silent disco headphones were introduced.
“The council wrote a letter stating that due to the venue’s history that the 24-hours development consent remained on foot,” Mr Strauss said.
Mr Strauss said the venue operators then spent more than $100,000 on sound-proofing with the aim of applying to council to allow live music after 3am again.
But when they went back to Inner West Council to ask for a modification to their operating conditions to allow live music Mr Strauss said they were informed their development application was not valid and, with council retracting their 2016 letter of consent, the venue was forced to reapply to keep trading 24-hours.
He said council promised to guide them through this process but now he has been informed the council will be recommending a “12am midnight license”.
Mr Strauss is asking the community to join the Save the Sly Fox fight by signing the petition on their Facebook page and at change.org.
Mr Strauss was adamant the midnight closing would be “totally the end of the Sly Fox” that has been operating until 6am on Fridays and Saturdays.
Sly Fox, nestled on the corner of Enmore and Edgeware Rds, has been a landmark in Enmore/Newtown for more than 30 years, operating as a live music venue with a big focus on local and international DJs.
Mr Strauss said Inner West Council Mayor Darcy Byrne, a big supporter of live music venues across the inner west, had been an “absolute trooper” but he described the interactions with the council as “difficult”.
Inner West Council issued a statement last week stating it was “strongly supportive of existing and new live music venues and has introduced a range of programs and initiatives to assist venues and the night-time economy”.
“One of the inner west venues council has been closely working with recently is the Sly Fox Hotel in Enmore,” the statement says.
“The licensing police identified that the Sly Fox did not have a valid development consent,
meaning the venue had been trading illegally without a proper approval.
“Since then, council has been assisting the Sly Fox who have been preparing a development
application for extended trading hours.
“The Sly Fox application will be considered by the independent Inner West Local Planning Panel, probably in early December.”
JOIN THE FIGHT
You can join the Save The Sly Fox fight by signing the petition on their Facebook page or via their change.org page
Or you can fill in the Save The Sly Fox council submission form at here
LIVE MUSIC ACTION PLAN
As part of Inner West Council’s on-going support for live music venues and creative industries in the inner west, council has developed a Live Music Action Plan. Some of the initiatives to emerge from this plan include:
• Live Music Grants, for venue capacity building and musician development
• Live Music/Cultural Planning Liaison Officer to assist live music venues with development
applications
• Good Neighbour policy requiring all noise and amenity complaints about pubs, clubs and
small bars to be mitigated not litigated
• Off Broadway plan to activate Parramatta Road by encouraging live music and arts activity
• Launching a new free gig guide, The Lineup, in partnership with FBi Radio