Cheaper liquor licences to encourage smaller bars across Adelaide CBD
Lauren Novak and Tim Williams
adelaidenow
November 28, 20124:08PM
Rowan Edwards and Mickael Lefevre from Udaberri bar in Leigh St are hope new licensing laws will make it easier for people to start small bars. Picture: Luke Hemer Source: adelaidenow
CHEAP new liquor licences will encourage more small bars in the city offering live entertainment, the State Government says.
EaChanges to the Liquor Licensing Act, introduced to Parliament today, would create a new, low-cost category of liquor licence for small venues with less red tape than existing laws, which often require drink service to be paired with sit-down meals or live entertainment.
The new licences would:
ALLOW small venues to open from 11am to midnight, with the ability to apply for an extension to 2am.
LIMIT the number of patrons in those venues to 120 people.
ENABLE small venues to offer live entertainment without having to apply for separate approval.
NOT permit gaming.
However, residents or others in the surrounding area would not be able to dispute the opening of a venue under the new licence.
Premier Jay Weatherill said the Government wanted to encourage more small venues in the CBD "much like Melbourne's laneway scene".
"I believe Adelaide has already begun to embrace this culture and we have had some very successful venues established over the past few years such as udaberri, Caf Troppo and Cork Wine Caf, but costs have often been barriers for young entrepreneurs.
"These reforms will make it easier for entrepreneurs to set up a variety of licensed businesses such as small specialist bars and hybrid caf bars."
Business Services and Consumers Minister John Rau said the new conditions would create a "low cost, low doc licence, ideal for start-up businesses".
"The Government has been hearing from small venue operators that the current structure of liquor licensing is inflexible and costly for their preferred business models," he said.
The Government is also pushing changes to liquor licencing which will create a new code of conduct for larger venues in a bid to stem alcohol-related violence in the city.
The code would ban shots, breakable glassware and cheap drinks in venues trading after 2am and require owners to make food available and not serve more than four drinks to a patron at a time.
After 3am, there would be a lockout stopping entry of new customers.
Mr Rau said the small bars liquor licences would cater to a different clientele to patrons who frequent larger club-like venues which would be subject to the code of conduct.
People would still have the right to make submissions to the Liquor Licensing Commissioner.
For the first year the reform would apply only to the Adelaide CBD, including the Riverbank precinct, but could be extended into the suburbs after that.
The City Messenger reported in September that the change had been outlined by government officials in a confidential briefing to City councillors.
At the time, hospitality industry figures such as Leigh St bar udaberri co-owner Rob Dinnen, who had spent more than $30,000 trying to find a liquor licence to suit his business case, said the new category would encourage more hole-in-the-wall drinking spots.
Small-bar licences already operate in Melbourne, Sydney and Western Australia