‘Bring Balmain back to life’: Darling Street to be the next Enmore Road

Darling Street in Balmain will become the next Enmore Road under an Inner West Council plan to inject more nightlife into Balmain and Rozelle by creating two “special entertainment precincts” in the area, where rules around noise and trading hours are relaxed.

Inner West Labor Mayor Darcy Byrne used the official opening of the 24th Biennale of Sydney on Friday night, at the repurposed White Bay Power Station, to announce Darling Street would be the location of the next special night-time zone. It would help “bring Balmain back to life”, Byrne told dignitaries and guests.

The proposed special entertainment precinct on Darling Street in Balmain.Credit: Inner West Council

The special entertainment precinct is a state government policy, which councils can access on a voluntary basis, to provide more favourable trading conditions for live music venues, restaurants and bars within a defined area.

For example, live music venues in such precincts typically receive a two-hour trading extension on nights when live music is offered, and one hour on other nights. Councils can also automatically set later default trading hours for the area, which supersede the venue’s development consent.

Sound is also managed through the council’s noise management plan to provide greater certainty for venues and shield them from unreasonable complaints.

So far, the Inner West Council is the only Sydney municipality to use the special entertainment precinct policy, which was created by the former Coalition state government. Its Enmore Road zone, anchored by the Enmore Theatre, is credited with helping the strip thrive post-COVID, with a flurry of bar and restaurant openings.

The bar Fortunate Son in Enmore, which is located in the special entertainment precinct.Credit: Flaviio Brancaleone

Now it wants to create six more special entertainment precincts, starting with a long section of Darling Street on the Balmain peninsula, running from Arthur Street to Ann Street.

Another zone will be created further west in Rozelle, where Darling Street and Victoria Road meet. That area includes the Bridge Hotel, with its 24-hour licence, and the site of the former (and future) Balmain Leagues Club.

The other precincts are in the northern section of Marrickville (around the Factory Theatre and breweries), along Marrickville and Illawarra roads in Marrickville, in the main section of Dulwich Hill and along Norton Street in Leichhardt.

Last week, the council opened a month-long consultation on the six new entertainment precincts, including three public information workshops, and they are technically “under consideration”. But Byrne’s remarks at the Biennale opening indicate the proposal will go ahead regardless.

“We want to look at extending the trading hours longer than has been allowed so far in Enmore,” he told the Herald after the event. “Later trading as a reward for hosting gigs is a real incentive for bars, restaurants and pubs.”

Byrne said allowing all main street shops to host live music and performances without the need for a development application was one element of the special entertainment precincts which “we want to promote heavily to increase uptake”.

Legalising such performances – in bookshops, cafes, and restaurants, for example – could increase the availability of affordable spaces for young and emerging artists to perform in Sydney, he said.

The Labor state government overhauled the special entertainment precinct framework and is now encouraging councils to use it. The Department of Planning says the framework could apply to the 39 train station precincts identified for higher density under its Transport-Oriented Development Program, “but only at the request of councils”.