The Great Sydney Urban Myth
I've decided to tackle one of those great Sydney urban myths.
I've been lamenting the fact that Sydney doesn't have the bar scene that Melbourne has and I just reckon it is because people in Sydney would rather be at an RSL.
But every single Sydney person that I've ever met has said Oh it's just that our licensing laws are so much more expensive... that's why you don't get those small groovy bars here that you find in Melbourne.
I didn't believe them so I did some research and this is what I found:
It costs $526.80 to apply for a general liquor licence in Victoria and then $158.10 to renew each year. You need to add $979.90 per year to get some decent trading hours between Monday and Saturday plus an extra $979.90 to trade late on Sundays.
So from my reading of the rules you could open a small bar in Melbourne and trade fairly late Monday to Saturday for $1,506.70 in the first year and then $1,138 each year after.
Now lets try this in NSW.
I've read the pdfs on the government website and I can't see why you couldn't run a bar in Sydney with a Hotel license which costs $2,500 per year with an application fee of $500 (which is refunded if you are successful). Depending on the licensing court this will let you trade up to 24 hours per day.
OK. So this is twice as much as Victoria but I've calculated the following
All you would need to do is sell an extra stubby of Boags Premium each night at $6 each to make $1,872. Take out the cost of the beer and you have your extra dollars.
Now the problem might be that if you get classed as a night club in the City of Sydney you will have to fork out $60,000!
From everything I've read I can't see that a small bar would be classed as a Nightclub but maybe I'm missing something here. But I guess that explains why Sydney nightclubs are huge - they have to be.
If I can be bothered one day I might telephone the liquor licensing court to confirm the facts, because it is odd that little bars don't seem to exist here.
As a side note I discovered one interesting point about Victorian licensing laws: You'll have a lot of trouble getting a glass of beer after the Dawn Service unless you find a bar that's paid the additional $526.80 per year to open from 7am on ANZAC day and Good Friday.
This doesn't seem to be a problem in NSW.
I've been lamenting the fact that Sydney doesn't have the bar scene that Melbourne has and I just reckon it is because people in Sydney would rather be at an RSL.
But every single Sydney person that I've ever met has said Oh it's just that our licensing laws are so much more expensive... that's why you don't get those small groovy bars here that you find in Melbourne.
I didn't believe them so I did some research and this is what I found:
It costs $526.80 to apply for a general liquor licence in Victoria and then $158.10 to renew each year. You need to add $979.90 per year to get some decent trading hours between Monday and Saturday plus an extra $979.90 to trade late on Sundays.
So from my reading of the rules you could open a small bar in Melbourne and trade fairly late Monday to Saturday for $1,506.70 in the first year and then $1,138 each year after.
Now lets try this in NSW.
I've read the pdfs on the government website and I can't see why you couldn't run a bar in Sydney with a Hotel license which costs $2,500 per year with an application fee of $500 (which is refunded if you are successful). Depending on the licensing court this will let you trade up to 24 hours per day.
OK. So this is twice as much as Victoria but I've calculated the following
- Sydney Bar $2,500 per year
- Melbourne Bar $1,138 per year
- Difference of $1,362
All you would need to do is sell an extra stubby of Boags Premium each night at $6 each to make $1,872. Take out the cost of the beer and you have your extra dollars.
Now the problem might be that if you get classed as a night club in the City of Sydney you will have to fork out $60,000!
From everything I've read I can't see that a small bar would be classed as a Nightclub but maybe I'm missing something here. But I guess that explains why Sydney nightclubs are huge - they have to be.
If I can be bothered one day I might telephone the liquor licensing court to confirm the facts, because it is odd that little bars don't seem to exist here.
As a side note I discovered one interesting point about Victorian licensing laws: You'll have a lot of trouble getting a glass of beer after the Dawn Service unless you find a bar that's paid the additional $526.80 per year to open from 7am on ANZAC day and Good Friday.
This doesn't seem to be a problem in NSW.
posted by RodP at 11:00 AM
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