Overview
The City of Sydney has announced its largest expansion on the Special Entertainment Precincts initiative yet, with proposals prepped to boost late-night trading for over 5000 businesses in 20 precincts across Sydney, enhancing nightlife possibilities for hundreds of thousands of Sydneysiders. These precinct rulings began in 2021 in Enmore, protecting businesses within designated areas from noise complaints and other restrictions after dark.
After performing extensive community consultation, the City of Sydney has announced that a number of existing entertainment precincts will receive further benefits, and several other late-night trading zones will be "upgraded to a later tier". These expansions include Harris Street in Ultimo, Meagher and Shepherd Streets in Chippendale, Oxford Street, Regent Street, Botany Road and the Hollywood Quarter (parts of Campbell, Foster and Commonwealth streets in Surry Hills).
Venues in these designated zones will be able to trade later, and will be granted access to a number of NSW Government benefits, including an 80 percent discount on liquor licence fees, and an extension to licensing hours. Announcing the expansions, Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore AO, said: "This will be the largest overhaul of late-night trading of its kind in Australia."
"Our community has resoundingly voiced its support for our plans so far, highlighting the fact that we want to see a nightlife that reflects our status as a global city," Moore added. "The community has also asked us to allow some areas to trade even later and we've listened."
Ben Sanford
Factoring in the potential fallout for residents and following acoustic testing in the proposed areas, the City of Sydney has included bespoke sound rules in the proposals. Though the hours are meant to be extended as a baseline, the sound levels of specific areas will be determined by the time of day and will be tailored at a street-specific level.
"Businesses will have clarity about how loud they can be at what time, while residents will rest easy in the knowledge that their needs have been taken into account," Moore explained.
One venue included in the expanded offer is Butter, already a cornerstone of late-night dining, and now it's getting ready to build on that in a big way. Co-Founder Julian Cincotta can't wait for the new opportunities, saying, "For businesses like ours, later trading means we can better support live music, events and collaborations across the neighbourhood."
"What's exciting about these changes is that they support the whole ecosystem of a precinct rather than individual venues operating in isolation. It allows hospitality venues, bars and cultural spaces to operate in sync with each other, rather than shutting down just as the area is getting busy."
For more information on Special Entertainment Precincts and to find out more about the latest rollout, visit the City of Sydney website.
Lead image: Ed Hurst for City of Sydney
Like what you see? Subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter to get stories just like these straight to your inbox.