The City of Sydney and Inner West Council have come together to make it easier for businesses along Newtown's popular King Street to trade later while boosting the potential for more music and performance on the strip.
King Street is proposed to become a special entertainment precinct, making it easier for small bars, shops, restaurants and larger venues to trade.
An aligned approach to trading hours across both councils will provide clear, consistent guidance on who can trade when.
"King Street is already an incredibly popular late-night destination. These changes will help support businesses trading on the strip and unlock the full potential of this fabulous area," Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore AO said.
Proposals for King Street were included as part of a broader move to extend special entertainment precincts across Sydney following the introduction of Sydney's first Special Entertainment Precinct on Enmore Road.
Last year, both councils resolved to work together to provide consistent rules for businesses around trading hours and sound.
"King Street is unusual as it comes under a different council's jurisdiction depending on which part of it you're on, but we know people see it as one precinct," the Lord Mayor said.
"We did not want to see an approach where businesses on one side of the street could trade later and louder than their counterparts across the road."
The proposals, which have been endorsed by both councils, mean businesses at the north and south end of King Street will be able to access the following trading hours without needing a development application:
- Unlicensed shops and businesses until 4am
- Small bars, restaurants and takeaways until 2am
- Larger venues until midnight or 2am with live music.
For business at the centre of the strip, the hours are as follows:
- Unlicensed shops and businesses until 4am
- Small bars and restaurants until 2am or 4am with live music
- Larger venues until midnight or 2am with live music
- Businesses can also trade up to 24 hours with a DA.
Businesses will also be able to open earlier in the morning, from 6am, without a development application.
The City of Sydney is also extending the proposal to a number of popular sites on surrounding streets that border the late-night trading areas:
- 1-5 Wilson Street
- 2-8 O'Connell Street
- Corner of Wilson Street and Erskineville Road
- 1C Whateley Street
- 189 - 199 Missenden Road.
Both councils are making it easier for venues to trade outside, with outdoor dining until midnight on Friday and Saturday and 11pm Sunday to Thursday.
Inner West Deputy Mayor, Chloe Smith, said "the inner west is the beating heart of Sydney's live music scene and King Street is one of its main arteries. We want to spread the success of what we've done on Enmore Road along the complete length of King Street and breathe life and vibrancy back into this iconic strip."
"Last year Inner West Council added six new entertainment precincts across Balmain, Dulwich Hill, Leichhardt, Marrickville and Rozelle. We want to keep supporting businesses to give the community what it wants – safe, fun, interesting night-time venues. Sydney is a global city and it deserves a world-class live music and entertainment scene. We're delivering that here in the inner west.
"The inner west has the largest creative arts community in NSW coupled with some of the best entertainment venues, bars, breweries, restaurants and pubs in Sydney. Later trading as a reward for hosting gigs is a real incentive for bars, restaurants and pubs and will add to the vibrancy of King Street. It's a win for artists, local businesses and the community."
Businesses along King Street have welcomed the proposals and the collaborative approach to the changes.
"Great nightlife isn't created by accident; it's the product of thoughtful policy, good governance and genuine collaboration. King Street has always functioned as a single cultural precinct, despite sitting across two local government areas," founder of Odd Culture, James Thorpe, said.
"The City of Sydney and Inner West Council should be congratulated for putting aside jurisdictional boundaries and working together to create a consistent approach across the entire precinct. That kind of collaboration gives businesses greater certainty, treats the precinct as the community experiences it and creates a much stronger foundation for Newtown's future."
The proposals follow a broader push from the City of Sydney to recognise established and understood late-night trading areas with special entertainment precinct status.
Special entertainment precinct status in existing late-night trading areas would reward venues that put on live music and performance by unlocking incentives from the NSW Government for liquor licence fee discounts and more licensing hours.
Licensed and unlicensed businesses will also have flexibility to trade later without a development application, allowing a seamless transition for daytime businesses to take advantage of the night-time economy.
King Street is one of Sydney's most iconic locations, visited by tourists from across the globe and immortalised in Australian film and music. Known for its shopping, bars, restaurants and bustling live music scene, the new special entertainment precinct status will further cement this famous thoroughfare as one of the most vibrant cultural and economic hubs in the world.
Following endorsement from both councils, the proposals will go to the NSW Government for gateway determination before they open for community feedback.
