As if the situation in the once-bustling live music and party hub of Sydney’s Kings Cross wasn’t bad enough already, new State Government legislation looks poised to make the nights of some business owners in the area just a little more sleepless.

As The Daily Telegraph reports, the new legislation, which has already passed through the State Lower House and will move to the Upper House this week, applies to restaurants with primary service authorisations, which allows establishments whose primary function is not serving alcohol to do so.

The bill serves as an amendment to the Liquor Act, clarifying that the primary purpose of an establishment with such a license must not be the sale or supply of liquor at any time. This will address concerns that some licensed restaurants with a primary service authorisation that enables liquor to be served without meals are trading as restaurants by day and morphing into bars at night.

With the Kings Cross late-night industry already on the ropes, publicans like Danny McPherson, co-owner of the New Hampton, are saying that the new legislation, paired with the city’s infamous “lockout laws” and other regulations, could be the final KO.

[include_post id=”418056″]

“We built a kitchen in our venue to try and look after our clientele and now the Government is turning that gesture against us and it’s becoming a financial liability,” said McPherson. “If the market was there to keep a kitchen open late at night we would, but it’s not.”

“It’s unbelievable, business should be able to operate based on demand. Sometimes we don’t have many customers around and we don’t get a lot of business after 10pm so it is ­insane to try and regulate something like this. It is going to mean we will need to pay to keep our chefs on which is going to really burden us financially.”

“The over-regulation of this industry is just insane,” he continued. “We have enough problems as it is with the ID Scanners and now this. The State Government has killed Kings Cross, the damage is done.”

And it’s not just venue owners who are critical of the new legislation. Sydney state Independent MP Alex Greenwich said applying more restrictions on an ­industry that’s already suffering is irresponsible. “It just adds another level of regulation and red tape for venues that run safe businesses,” he said.

[include_post id=”423577″]

Kings Cross has already seen a significant downturn since former NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell’s controversial “one-punch” laws, which imposed harsher punishments on intoxicated assaults, 10pm closing times for bottle shops, and 1:30am lockouts and 3:00am last-calls on venues, were introduced.

During a recent submission to a NSW Legislative Assembly inquiry into alcohol-fueled violence, which the laws were enacted to curb, the City of Sydney reported an 84 percent reduction in foot traffic on Darlinghurst Rd, compared to 2012 levels, while business owners report a 40 percent loss of revenue post-lockout.

The situation has become so dire that investors have offered commercial tenants free rent in empty storefronts on the Kings Cross strip as part of a bid to bring back business back to the area.

Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture.
to Rolling Stone magazine
to Rolling Stone magazine