Lockout laws have been relaxed for seven more Sydney clubs and pubs by the NSW Government.
The venues given later entry and drinks service are: Potts Point Hotel (formerly Sugar Mill), Kings Cross Hotel, Establishment, Slip Inn, Burdekin Hotel, ARQ Sydney, The Cliff Dive and Kinselas. They will now be able to keep their doors open until 2am instead of 1:30am and serve alcohol until 3:30am instead of 3am.
There are now 20 venues operating under the new rules.
NSW Racing Minister Paul Toole said: “What we are seeing in NSW … is that if people are going out and doing the right thing and people can go and enjoy a drink with their friends and still feel safe, we will continue to look at relaxing the lockout laws.
“We want the CBD and Kings Cross to be an area where people can go out and enjoy a drink, enjoy the restaurants and the live entertainment on offer.”
Keep Sydney Open’s Tyson Koh told ABC News: “The Government is starting to admit they went too far. A lot of people have been put out of business and reputations have suffered and the Government is trying to wind that back.”
However, Koh says the new measures don’t go far enough: “The businesses we have spoken to said the half hour doesn’t make a big difference for revenue. Instead the success depends on extensions at a precinct wide level.”
The clinical director of alcohol and drug service at nearby St Vincent’s Hospital Nadine Ezerd condemned the move, saying that since the lockout laws were introduced there have been no serious alcohol-related head injuries at the hospital.
“I suspect we will see an increase in alcohol-related harm with the extra half hour of trading,” she said.
Kings Cross pub penalised for lockout sign
Resident groups are expected to protest the extended entry rules. Just last week, the Kings Cross Hotel was told to take down a “Keep Sydney Open” banner or face a fine of $6000, after the 2011 Residents’ Association complained to the City of Sydney council.
The banner was installed – without council permission – as part of a music festival held in Kings Cross.
“We had good intentions in putting the banner up. It was about supporting a community initiative and local businesses in the area,” Dan Lacaze, marketing director at Solotel, which owns the Kings Cross Hotel, told The Sydney Morning Herald.
Koh noted: “It shows the factors at play when it comes to gentrification and entertainment precincts in the inner city.
“It hurts that there are groups out there that think Keep Sydney Open is driven by alcohol industry or tainted money or drug money, when its support comes from thousands of people who support a safe and vibrant nightlife.”