Lakemba’s popular Ramadan night markets will be drastically scaled back next year and the cost of renting a stall will be significantly increased, the local council has determined.
The word “Ramadan” will be dropped from its name, and instead of operating until 3am seven days a week for a month, the event will run from Thursday to Sunday, until midnight on weekdays and 2am on weekends.
The Lakemba Nights event in 2024.Credit: Wolter Peeters
More than a million people visit Haldon Street in Lakemba during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan each year to join the Muslim community in breaking their fasts after dusk. Dozens of street stalls serve camel burgers, knafeh and murtabak.
But the festival’s success has dramatically changed its vibe. With tens of thousands of people in attendance nightly, residents have complained of traffic congestion, parking problems and noise. And since Canterbury-Bankstown council, citing safety issues, took control of the event three years ago, some Muslim leaders have lamented its commercialisation, complaining the festival had lost its Islamic ethos.
Councillors voted unanimously to approve four recommendations made by council staff to scale back the event at a meeting on Tuesday night.
Stalls will be moved from footpaths to the middle of the road, ending an ad-hoc leasing program in which stall owners paid businesses for use of the space. Rent will increase from a blanket $6000 to $600 per night, which if run for four days a week for a month would total $9600 per stallholder. A stall at the Parramatta Lanes festival costs up to $3000 a night.
Murtaba is made at Desi Paikari Bazar at the event in March 2024.Credit: Wolter Peeters
The event will be officially rebranded from Ramadan Nights, Lakemba, to Lakemba Nights, to “uncouple” the commercial nature of the event from the religious experience, according to the report endorsed by councillors.
In August, the council voted to investigate the feasibility of handing over one night of the festival to public prayers and a street-based iftar dinner.
The event has also hit the cash-strapped council: in March this year, the markets cost Canterbury-Bankstown Council $3 million, with 120 staff and contractors required to work each night of the festival.
Labor Deputy Mayor Khodr Saleh, who led the push to reduce the days, said the changes would significantly reduce cost to the council.
People line up to eat at the Ramadan night markets in Lakemba.Credit: Wolter Peeters
“When I initiated this festival about … in 2009, we [did] it only Thursday, Friday Saturday, Sunday,” he told councillors. “And this actually gives the community [the] opportunity to come and join the night ... and not put more pressure on the residents.”
Lina Daher, from the Al Fayhaa Bakery on Haldon Street, said despite the family shop losing money during the festival because of people going to the stallholders, she appreciated the event.
“I know there’s been issues with noise and things like that, I do respect that it could be a bit of a hassle for the people in the area living there,” she said. “But I do also enjoy that other people outside Lakemba can see how we are very hospitable and open to everyone coming in.
“The diversity that Lakemba Night Markets bring in is amazing. That’s something we strongly believe in ... It’s opening up Lakemba to a diverse atmosphere and people come in and see what Lakemba has to offer.”
The council is inviting public responses to the changes for the next 28 days.
The state government has previously partially funded the markets but the council said it was waiting on an update on a grant application for the March 2025 event.
A spokesperson for the state government said the grants under which the council had previously received state government money would reopen for the coming year soon.
The spokesperson said the markets were an “incredible event” that demonstrated the state’s diversity, and it was proud to support the council in making the markets more cost-effective.
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