Sydney City Council is attempting to revitalise Sydney’s nightlife.
In a bid to save Sydney’s dying nightlife, the Sydney City Council have put forward plans to allow for vendors to extend their hours — 24 hours.
The new proposal was revealed in a media release via the City of Sydney website. It will permit restaurants and businesses on major main roads to operate until two in the morning and 24 hour trading for alcohol free businesses.
Additionally, the proposal boasts new late night trading in areas such as Barangaroo and Green Square, a new cultural precinct in Alexandria, and a one extra trading hour for live performance venues.
This will be the biggest change Sydney has seen in terms of nightlife in five years.
One thing that will not change however, are the firmly established lockout laws that were put into place by the Barry O’Farrell government in 2014.
The lockout laws were put into place in an attempt to minimise alcohol-induced violence. Patrons now must enter venues before 1:30am (2:00am for some excepted locations), otherwise they will be refused entry.
Since its inception, the lockout laws have resulted in massive loss of revenue for the state of New South Wales.
The idea to give Sydney a 24 hour city centre was the created with the intention of bringing a renewed energy into metropolitan nightlife, and to increase financial revenue for the state.
According to Deloitte Access Economics, Sydney is currently profiting $27 billion per year off of its Night Time Economy (NTE). This figure however could have stood at a grand $43.3 billion per year without the introduction of lockout laws, a loss of $16 billion annually.
Joleigh Pasfield, a local resident and employee of the Sydney City area, was unsure about how effective the proposal would be. “What business is going to want to shed out more money to pay employees?”, she remarked.
She continued by expressing that the kinds of shops that would be open 24 hours wouldn’t be appealing to a large amount of people, and that allowances in surrounding suburbs are in “out of the way places for nightlife”.
The proposal has officially been approved and business owners may now apply for the permit that allows them to function as a 24 hour operation.
Lord Mayor Clover Moore in a statement to www.broadsheet.com.au she said, “More than 10,000 people told us they want Sydney to have a diverse and exciting night-time economy”.
She continued, “I’m pleased that council has unanimously backed this proposal to give retailers more flexibility, to give visitors more late-night options”.
NSW Music Collective 