Council voted unanimously to support\u00a0a trial to extend\u00a0the trading hours of restaurants in the city until midnight and to 2am for small bars, as proposed in\u00a0the\u00a0City of Newcastle\u2019s After Dark Strategy\u00a0adopted 2 years ago.
\nTwenty-seven\u00a0small bars\u00a0and restaurants\u00a0have opted into the\u00a0proposed\u00a0trial\u00a0as part of efforts to grow the night time economy and support the\u00a0hospitality industry recovery from the impact of COVID-19 related restrictions.
\nVenues include wine bars such as\u00a0Coal and Cedar, Basement on Market and Big\u00a0Poppys, as well as iconic restaurants such as\u00a0Scratchleys, the Edwards, Three Bears Kitchen and\u00a0the Signal Box.
\nNewcastle\u00a0Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said the\u00a0Newcastle Night-time Economy\u00a0trial was a collaborative process\u00a0involving\u00a0both local and state governments\u00a0that would allow for an evidence-based understanding of the community\u2019s needs.
\n\u201cCity of Newcastle\u2019s Newcastle After Dark strategy\u00a0is our\u00a0plan for creating a safe, vibrant and diverse night-time economy.\u00a0The Strategy was unanimously endorsed by the Council in November 2018 and supports venues designated as low risk\u00a0such as small bars\u00a0to be exempt from current lock-out laws\u00a0and permitted to trade until 2am.
\n\u201cThe After\u00a0Dark\u00a0strategy\u00a0highlights that the\u00a0growth of venue diversity\u00a0is paramount to increasing the appeal of the Newcastle\u2019s\u00a0night-time economy\u00a0to demographics who are\u00a0currently\u00a0not catered for.
\n\u201cThe\u00a0trial will begin in October\u00a0and\u00a0will\u00a0allow\u00a027\u00a0low impact venues to open later and relax current drinking restrictions to provide a boost\u00a0to the\u00a0local hospitality, entertainment and creative\u00a0sectors.\u201d
\n\u201cNewcastle\u2019s night-time economy has undergone significant changes over the past 15 years. We acknowledge that for Newcastle to thrive as a diverse and vibrant City, our night-time economy must be strong.
\n\u201cThe hospitality and creative industries have also struggled in the wake of COVID-19 with job losses, income reduction and loss of revenue because of the impacts of Public Health Orders, restrictions to venue capacities and a general reluctance for people to attend public places.
\n\u201cWe hope to see a positive outcome from the trial for these industries through increased night-time economic development, cultural participation and activation in our City.\u201d
\nDeputy Lord Mayor Cr Declan Clausen successfully moved a resolution to support an Independent inner-city residents\u2019 representative member being appointed to the Committee for Night Time Jobs and Investment.
\nThe Deputy Lord Mayor\u2019s resolution will also see City of Newcastle write to the Minister for Customer Service, the Hon. Victor Dominello MP, requesting the Minister re-instate Newcastle based Liquor Licensing Compliance Officers, to both assist in overseeing proposed licensing regulatory changes, and to gather crucial data throughout the Newcastle Night Time Economy trial.
\nCity of Newcastle together with the Liquor and Gaming NSW, the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority, Newcastle Tourism Industry Group and the NSW Police have worked together to facilitate the trial relaxation of the current conditions for\u00a0low risk\u00a0venues.
\nLocal\u00a0restaurateur\u00a0and\u00a0owner of Scratchleys\u00a0on the Wharf\u00a0Neil Slater\u00a0said the trial is a valuable\u00a0opportunity\u00a0to\u00a0revitalise\u00a0what the City has to offer after dark.
\n\u201cThese changes to the night-time economy are all part of\u00a0a\u00a0revitalised\u00a0Newcastle\u00a0precinct. The trial will allow for\u00a0a\u00a0more sophisticated Newcastle that has matured and is ready to\u00a0take\u00a0our\u00a0place\u00a0as one of the\u00a0great cities of Australia,\u201d\u00a0Mr Slater said.
\n\u201cWe want to offer visitors and locals alike a truly wonderful city by day or night.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Council voted unanimously to support\u00a0a trial to extend\u00a0the trading hours of restaurants in the city until midnight and to 2am for small bars, as proposed in\u00a0the\u00a0City of Newcastle\u2019s After Dark Strategy\u00a0adopted 2 years ago. Twenty-seven\u00a0small bars\u00a0and restaurants\u00a0have opted into the\u00a0proposed\u00a0trial\u00a0as part of efforts to grow the night time economy and support the\u00a0hospitality industry recovery from … Continue reading “City of Newcastle supports trial for small bars and restaurants to boost night-time economy”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newcastle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7977\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}