Sydney Pubs not facing restrictions fear Impact of new alcohol laws
The new alcohol laws have been welcomed by many as the solution to many of the alcohol fuelled harms in NSW but there are a handful of pubs that trade all night which fall outside of the state government’s Sydney CBD entertainment precincts that fear the forced implementation of the 1:30am lockouts and 3am last drinks call.
The pubs on the edge of Surry Hills, opposite Central Station are quite a walk away from the city’s popular night venues but they do trade all night and many of them also have gambling all night as well. Some of these venues have expressed their fear that the new laws will negatively impact their businesses by attracting the wrong crowd.
Publicans in some parts of Surry Hills are afraid that once the popular venues close, the drunken patrons will simply migrate to their venues. Although many venues admit that the laws will make their hotels more attractive to patrons, they also don’t want to attract the wrong element which would only cause more problems.
According to media reports, some venues are so afraid of this that they have decided to increase their late-night security if the proposed changes are implemented.
The following excerpt from Smh.com.au explains:
One of the pubs that will not have restrictions, the Royal Exhibition Hotel on Chalmers Street, has a 24-hour liquor licence, although it usually closes at 6am.
Its owner, Michael Wiggins, concedes his pub would probably do well out of the government’s proposal.
”It is probably going to make a difference to us if you want a gamble at 1.30pm or a drink,” he said.
”But I actually don’t think it is a good thing for the industry at all … the king-hits and the violence happens at 9pm not later in the night and the government could also move these boundaries at any time.”
One of the pubs that will not have restrictions, the Royal Exhibition Hotel on Chalmers Street, has a 24-hour liquor licence, although it usually closes at 6am.Although the NSW government has not yet confirmed the final boundaries of the new precinct and liquor authorities have not revealed how many venues will be affected by the changes, some venues already fear that they will be affected directly or indirectly by the changes and will have to adopt their operations accordingly, for example hiring more security staff. Others will have to adjust to the influx of more patrons. The article from Smh.com.au goes on to explain:
Another manager at one of the Surry Hills all-night pubs, who did not want to be named, agreed that his pub would do well from so many drinking establishments being forced to stop selling drinks from 3am.
”Maybe we would benefit, we probably will, but that will only be if we don’t get all the other crazies,” he said.
