Palm Beach restaurant The Joey will be allowed to open its waterfront terrace for sunset drinks this Sunday after its owners spent more than $200,000 on a seven-month legal battle to overturn a Northern Beaches Council decision restricting trade past 4pm.

The council denied The Joey’s application to modify its opening hours in March after seven Palm Beach residents claimed the beachfront restaurant, located 600 metres from the nearest home, was too loud to operate at night.

The decision sparked a highly publicised dispute, which concluded on Christmas Eve when a court upheld The Joey’s appeal and approved a modified management plan permitting the restaurant to open until 11pm every day, year-round, and host two private events each week.

The council and The Joey had agreed to the terms during court-ordered mediation in September after repeated acoustic testing resolved noise concerns, the court heard.

“It was just so plainly absurd and unfair – to have a site as incredible as this and not be able to let people have a sunset drink on a Sunday,” said co-owner Ben May, who took over the 77-year-old property with Rob Domjen in August 2023 and spent more than $7 million on its refurbishment.

“The impact of this decision will be huge. It takes the business from ticking over and doing OK to becoming what we hope to be a long-lasting, successful business able to employ double the number of staff it does now.”

While the restaurateurs said their team was “over the moon” to have come to an agreement with the council, the outcome was far from ideal.

“For now, this is what we’ve got, and this is what we’ve got to take, because summer arrived and we still couldn’t open past 4pm on a Sunday afternoon, almost a year later,” May said.

“But there’s nothing stopping us from trying harder again next year.”

May said the number of functions they were allowed to host remained a key concern as events represented a large source of potential income and other Palm Beach venues in closer proximity to residential areas weren’t subject to the same restrictions.

For long-term residents such as Shane Oxenham and Nick Burton Taylor, who wrote to the council supporting plans to refurbish the old Barrenjoey boat shed in 2021, The Joey was a much-needed asset in a community where facilities had dwindled for decades.

Burton Taylor, who lamented the loss of venues such as The Teahouse, Blue Haven Restaurant and Greasy Joe’s during his 65 years living on the peninsula, said the court’s decision represented common sense.

“[It’s a] solution to what has been an entirely unnecessary and frustrating obstruction by … [an] unrepresentative group in the community seeking to frustrate the overwhelming desire of most residents and visitors to Palm Beach to enjoy an amenity which replicates what has been there for over 50 years,” he said.

After The Joey reopened in February and applied to modify its closing time from 4pm to 11pm, Burton Taylor contributed one of 139 submissions made to the council. The majority supported the change. Seven did not.

Noise remained the key concern, regardless of provisions to direct outdoor speakers away from residential areas and the installation of a noise limiter. One objector emailed the council with claims The Joey “could not comply with noise criteria” and described how “the local community is … becoming enraged”.

Despite an independent recommendation for approval, three staff members on the Northern Beaches Council panel rejected The Joey’s application on the basis that “an increase in operating hours and the inevitable increase in functions, noise traffic and other amenity issues resulting from these extended hours [did] not meet the requirement to be of minimal environmental impact”.

NSW Premier Chris Minns said he was troubled by the council’s decision. In May, the state government passed a bill to force local councils to review new “vibrancy guidelines” when assessing trading-hour applications by venues at least 500 metres from the nearest homes.

“The bill was supported by both sides of the NSW parliament so they’ve acted on it, and moving forward, that’s why we feel more comfortable to go back and try to improve this situation down the track,” Ben May said.

“We’ve held our rights to pursue the matter further, and we most certainly will, and we think the council will be in a position to more easily be supportive of us, whilst taking legitimate concerns into account.”

For now, the owners look forward to a busy summer.

“We have one of the best sunsets in Australia. It’s such a beautiful sight. And now we can finally serve a bucket of prawns and a glass of wine during the nicest time of the day,” Domjen said.

From Friday, The Joey will open from 7am until late, Wednesday to Sunday.