Newcastle After Dark: all grown up with somewhere to go
By Samuel Bartlett
In 2008, Newcastle’s CBD had the highest rate of alcohol-fuelled violence in the state. After a spate of violent assaults and spiking rates of drink-driving, the then Liquor Administration Board introduced some of the strictest liquor licensing laws in NSW after receiving submissions from police, community members and the inner-city’s late trading pubs.
Since then, the City of Newcastle has tried to reinvent itself as a bustling cultural hub by building the light-rail and developing new areas for public domain, pushing its blue-collar past behind it. But even with the revitalisation of the CBD and efforts to curb assaults, Newcastle has remained an alcohol violence hotspot.
In 2017, the Newcastle After Dark Strategy was initiated to reinvigorate the night-time economy, but that same year Newcastle’s Sydney Junction Hotel and King Street Hotel appeared at the top of the list for numbers of violent assaults.
Taken from ABC News
Taken from ABC News
Following an independent review by Johnathan Horton QC, the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) decided on only minimal changes to licensing in Newcastle.
Council and small bar owners have nevertheless pushed for change and believe culture is to blame, not the changes to trading, thus leading to a trial involving 24 venues across the city which began this year in October.
Participating restaurants can now trade until midnight and small bars can trade until 2am, with cocktails allowed to be served past the previous cut-off at 10pm.
stop the trial...
arguments against
Some community members are fearful that similar levels of violence will spring up again and increased noise levels will impact their families.
Trial supporters believe as Newcastle grows into its status as an international city, with a 5-star hotel currently under development, it’s inevitable changes occur.
In 2017, police and doctors were adamant that a change to the licensing of large hotels would result in further violence. Newcastle was still topping the list as an alcohol violence hotspot. But plans were already underway to change the nightlife culture to one of refinement through the Newcastle After Dark scheme.
Tony Brown, Chair of the Newcastle Drug Action Team, was at the forefront of introducing the lockout-laws to Newcastle and represented 150 local residents and small businesses in the 2008 legal proceedings
He has consistently opposed the relaxation of restrictions. However, he has acknowledged that it is necessary to gauge where the city is regarding violence.
He says residents are open to a trial which is based on solid research and facts as well as occurring at a time which will accurately record the numbers of people attending licensed venues.
“Let’s have a trial but let’s do what Hunter New England Health have advocated [for]; a holistic independent trial of the conditions,” Mr Brown said. “We said some conditions might go up and some might go down. All we’re asking for is integrity, impartiality and objectivity.”
Mr Brown said he’s not convinced this is the right time for a trial in a city re-awakening from COVID lockdown. “There could be no worse time to try and increase drink strengths and allow licenced premises to trade later,” he said. “Why not put it off until the city is back to normal?”
In the past, local police have taken a strong position against lockout changes but Mr Brown says they haven’t taken a public stance on the trial so far.
This is in contrast to 2018 when local police leaders and Hunter health experts came out against lifting restrictions, something which hasn’t happened this time.
“There’s been a 72% reduction in weekend night assaults [from 2008 to when counting stopped in 2017],” Mr Brown said. “If it isn’t broken why are we trying to fix it?
“We are still a NSW alcohol violence hotspot. Surely our priority is to take ourselves out of that odium and shame.”
Mr Brown has thrown his support behind the appointment of community member Dr Anthony Cook to the trial panel, who has previously been vocal about the impact of pubs and clubs in the inner city.
In 2017, Dr Cook wrote a submission to the NSW Government outlining his fears of easing restrictions as a citizen, a Newcastle CBD resident and as a doctor.
In his submission, he relates his experiences as a father trying to protect his children from intoxicated people who have come from nearby pubs and pose a safety risk.
He has now been appointed to sit on the trial panel, headed by Mark Latham who oversaw part of the relaxation of Sydney’s lockout, alongside Newcastle City Council members, bar owners, representatives from the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority and the police.
The NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) has also urged the State Government to resist pressure from the alcohol industry to relax late-night trading restrictions across Newcastle venues.
General Secretary Brett Holmes said in a media release in June: “We hold grave concerns about any rollback of these reasonable limits that have been proven to save lives and livelihoods in Newcastle and across the Lower Hunter.”
He said the rollback of restrictions was reckless, “Now we see attempts by the alcohol lobby to claw back control of liquor laws in NSW, under the guise of a strategy to reinvigorate the night-time economy.”
Community Advocate Tony Brown (Image Newcastle Herald)
Community Advocate Tony Brown (Image Newcastle Herald)
A Brawl in Newcastle (Image Newcastle Herald)
A Brawl in Newcastle (Image Newcastle Herald)
Police in Newcastle (Image Newcastle Herald)
Police in Newcastle (Image Newcastle Herald)
Nurses and Midwives Association call the relaxation reckless (Image NSWNMA)
Nurses and Midwives Association call the relaxation reckless (Image NSWNMA)
...let it happen
arguments for the trial
Prudence Farquhar Owner of Blue Kahuna's
Prudence Farquhar Owner of Blue Kahuna's
Now allowed to serve after 10pm - Dirty Mango Martini (Image Blue Kahuna's Facebook)
Now allowed to serve after 10pm - Dirty Mango Martini (Image Blue Kahuna's Facebook)
Chris Wilson Owner of The Koutetsu
Chris Wilson Owner of The Koutetsu
Inside The Koutetsu
Inside The Koutetsu
However, some business owners said their venues have never had complaints and believe the trial is the perfect opportunity to justify the easing of restrictions.
Prudence Farquhar owner of Blue Kahunas, a small tropical cocktail bar on Hunter street, is also sitting on the panel overseeing the trial. She said the lockout laws have become a blanket restriction on venues which pose little risk to the community.
She believes the restrictions have delayed Newcastle’s revitalisation and instead caused the shutdown of other small bars, such as The Flying Tiger, another small venue on the corner of Brown street which closed in August last year.
“We haven’t had any noise complaints since we opened up with council or since we’ve opened the trial began,” Ms Farquhar said. “We’ve had no incidences as well with violence on the streets related to Blue Kahunas.
“We’re not here to get someone drunk and stumbling on the ground or throwing up. That’s not responsible; that’s just not being a decent human being.”
Furthermore, she says a one size fits all model was never the original plan.
“It started in 2008 and it was only meant to be for 14 venues, that was it,” Ms Farquhar said. “Slowly it just crept and crept. With any new applications, [ILGA] just put them [under the current restrictions] and now it’s just become this stock standard.”
Blue Kahuna's on Hunter Street
Blue Kahuna's on Hunter Street
Mr Brown believed the trial was bypassing current licence amendment processes, but Prudence denied this was the case. She argued the trial was one way to test whether easing restrictions would benefit Newcastle’s night-life.
These small cocktail bars and restaurants did not even exist when the lockout laws were first introduced and both Ms Farquhar and Chris Wilson, owner of retro cocktail bar, The Koutetsu, believe Newcastle has become more refined.
Chris has had to reduce the seating at his bar from 76 people when COVID isolation began, to 25 but he says being able to stay open until 2am is worth it thanks to the trial.
He believes as Newcastle continues to grow, it’s embarrassing for the city to be unable to serve drinks after usual dinner time.
“Newcastle is not what it was 12 years ago,” Wilson said. “These bars didn’t exist in Newcastle 12 years ago. They’re not a place where you cram 800 people into one place – these are 70-seater venues which cater for adults. We target the 30 plus market.
“People don’t finish work till 8pm these days, it’s a 24-hour economy so why shouldn’t bars – especially these little ones where it is such a refined atmosphere - be able to serve until 2am? When I knock off, I want to have a conversation, I want to have a refined drink, talk to the bartender, talk to my wife. It’s our 5pm.”
Ms Farquhar and Mr Wilson both said they have maintained strict limitations on customer noise and behaviour to minimise community impact.
What's the real problem?
... and why are small bars suffering for it?
Owner operators are adamant they can control the noise and opponents say it shouldn’t even get to that stage, however without a test, it’s impossible to say whether small venues are the cause of local complaints.
In 2019, there were noise complaints levelled at The Basement on Market St, which is part of the trial. But as noise and city hustle are a part of living in the CBD, business owners argue that residents can’t expect silence however a balance between the two positions should be prioritised
Mr Wilson agrees a 24 hour economy isn’t quite attainable, but current restrictions have cut into business and the region’s developing identity as a cultural hub.
The question remains: has Newcastle really grown up as a city if we’re still seeing high levels of violence especially with poor track records of pubs like the Sydney Junction? Mr Wilson says, “yes and no – I am from a pub and nightclub background but [the trial] is focussing on small bars.”
“We’re always going to get some kind of issues,” Wilson said. “It’s putting too many people in the one venue. There’s always going to be underlying [violence]; its always going to happen.”
Mr Wilson believes the real problem doesn’t lie in the relaxation of small bar restrictions but rather the cultivation of an unhealthy culture which larger venues support.
While Mr Brown believes the current trial has a predetermined outcome to succeed, Ms Farquhar suggests this test will provide solid evidence supporting the region’s growth and instead put larger clubs under scrutiny without resulting in the loss of businesses. Mr Wilson also said it was all too easy for the city to apply a blanket shutdown, the trial is helping the law to recognise the grey areas which have arisen due to the increase in small bars across the city.
