First published on 18 Jul 2012. Updated on 23 Jul 2012.
Around the same time Time Out magazine launched in Sydney, Lord Mayor Clover Moore pushed through a bill to enable Sydneysiders to open small bars, similar to the ones they’ve had in Melbourne for over a decade. We celebrated long and hard, and even dedicated an entire issue to the topic. And now Hospitality Minister George Souris is trying to take it all back, claiming small bars are partly to blame for the alcohol-fuelled violence in Kings Cross.
Feel free to join in as we bang our heads against the wall in confusion and frustration.
Because it
is confusing. Kings Cross has been a violent, vice-fuelled area long before the Small Bars Legislation was even a twinkle in the Lord Mayor’s eye and will no doubt continue to be until some other part of Sydney takes the mantle. And it’s frustrating when something that’s changed the city’s nightlife in such a positive way takes a hit. All you have to do is take a look at the Cross on a Friday or Saturday night to see it’s not
Hinky Dinks or the
Roosevelt or
Eau de Vie that have lines of partying youngsters down the block. It’s
Hugo’s. It’s the
Tunnel nightclub. It’s
Sugarmill.
Cast your minds back to 2007 – a dark age for bars, when the city was overrun with big, brightly lit beer barns staffed by burly bouncers, or ultra-expensive cocktail bars. Sydney bartenders certainly didn’t have the scratch to think about opening a small venue. And so the reflection of our city was one of stainless steel, bright lights, chilled beats and schmiddies.
Fast forward just a couple of years after the Small Bars reform came into play. Suddenly there are bars like
Shady Pines,
Grandma’s and
Button. These are bars staffed by passionate people with a vested interest in changing Sydney into a town with a vibrant, varied and interesting nightlife. Sure, you might find these people in the bigger venues too, but they're not as apparent on first glance.
In the past four years we have seen the entire town take a turn for the better. It’s suddenly a city where people don’t just go to bars to drink, they go to socialise with each other and the people behind the bar –not faceless beer slingers who give you back your change on a stupid tray, but real people who built these small businesses from the ground up. And guess what: not a single one of them is in the heart of the Cross. They couldn’t afford it even if they wanted to be there.
You’ve got it wrong, George Souris. Want to see alcohol-fuelled rage? Get rid of our small bars.
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How can you have more licenses, no guards , no experience , little outlay (under $100 k) unlike pubs who have got millions to loos and the small minded people with agendas keep promoting "small bars" !
Posted on Thu 26 Jul 2012 01:36:32
How can you have more licenses, no guards , no experience , little outlay (under $100 k) unlike pubs who have got millions to loos and the small minded people with agendas keep promoting "small bars" !
Posted on Thu 26 Jul 2012 01:36:32
How can you have more licenses, no guards , no experience , little outlay (under $100 k) unlike pubs who have got millions to loos and the small minded people with agendas keep promoting "small bars" !
Posted on Thu 26 Jul 2012 01:36:32
How can you have more licenses, no guards , no experience , little outlay (under $100 k) unlike pubs who have got millions to loos and the small minded people with agendas keep promoting "small bars" !
Posted on Thu 26 Jul 2012 01:36:32
How can you have more licenses, no guards , no experience , little outlay (under $100 k) unlike pubs who have got millions to loos and the small minded people with agendas keep promoting "small bars" !
Posted on Thu 26 Jul 2012 01:36:32
How can you have more licenses, no guards , no experience , little outlay (under $100 k) unlike pubs who have got millions to loos and the small minded people with agendas keep promoting "small bars" !
Posted on Thu 26 Jul 2012 01:36:32
How can you have more licenses, no guards , no experience , little outlay (under $100 k) unlike pubs who have got millions to loos and the small minded people with agendas keep promoting "small bars" !
Posted on Thu 26 Jul 2012 01:36:32
How can you have more licenses, no guards , no experience , little outlay (under $100 k) unlike pubs who have got millions to loos and the small minded people with agendas keep promoting "small bars" !
Posted on Thu 26 Jul 2012 01:36:32
How can you have more licenses, no guards , no experience , little outlay (under $100 k) unlike pubs who have got millions to loos and the small minded people with agendas keep promoting "small bars" !
Posted on Thu 26 Jul 2012 01:36:32
How can you have more licenses, no guards , no experience , little outlay (under $100 k) unlike pubs who have got millions to loos and the small minded people with agendas keep promoting "small bars" !
Posted on Thu 26 Jul 2012 01:36:32
How can you have more licenses, no guards , no experience , little outlay (under $100 k) unlike pubs who have got millions to loos and the small minded people with agendas keep promoting "small bars" !
Posted on Thu 26 Jul 2012 01:36:32
How can you have more licenses, no guards , no experience , little outlay (under $100 k) unlike pubs who have got millions to loos and the small minded people with agendas keep promoting "small bars" !
Posted on Thu 26 Jul 2012 01:36:32
How can you have more licenses, no guards , no experience , little outlay (under $100 k) unlike pubs who have got millions to loos and the small minded people with agendas keep promoting "small bars" !
Posted on Thu 26 Jul 2012 01:36:32
How can you have more licenses, no guards , no experience , little outlay (under $100 k) unlike pubs who have got millions to loos and the small minded people with agendas keep promoting "small bars" !
Posted on Thu 26 Jul 2012 01:36:32
I'm a Sydneysider who in my recent travels just spent two weeks in Berlin. There you can buy a beer from the newsagent and drink it on the street. Many clubs on Friday night and stay open till late Monday morning. No violence. Why? IMO because there are enough clubs to accommodate all the clubbers (Club capacity > club goers) and the people there aren't treated like potentially violent, dangerous morons by the state. If Sydney licensing laws allowed more places to open up and stay open for longer then we wouldn't have people milling around, frustrated with nothing to do. It's a simple mathematical figure: how many people are coming in from the suburbs for their big night out, and how much capacity is there in the Sydney clubs? And what measures do we have to get them home? The problem is exacerbated when so many places in Sydney must shut their doors at 3am (also the taxi changeover time - duh!) And, IMO there's not enough space for everyone because potential night spot ideas are hamstrung by Sydney's RIDICULOUS licensing laws and prohibitive rent. I have toured in a band across the US and Canada and spent some time in European cities and South Asia, and Sydney nightlife has more rules and regulations on it's clientele than anywhere I've been. Our shots are measured out in tiny little cups to make sure the alcohol is being served 'responsibly', and then we're charged 10 bucks for the privilege. ---> so people therefore load up on booze and 'pre game' at home! The astronomical mark up on drinks (for whatever reason - maybe it's rent / the cost of a licence) also encourages this tendency. To smoke a cigarette we have to stand around outside penned in a roped off area like sheep. Our beers are served in plastic cups because we can't be trusted not to hit people if we have an actual glass. We live in fear of the threat of a swarm of police invading a club with sniffer dogs - think of how many MDMA overdoses these raids have caused!! It's no wonder people act with no self-responsibility: the state has all but taken self-responsibility away from them and put it in the hands of young cops fresh from the academy, and giant bouncers fresh from the boxing gym. And here's the thing: if we had enough clubs for everyone that didn't close right when people are having the most fun, and if we could drink as much as we wanted, when we wanted, for a fair price, and if we had a decent public transportation service so we could get home safely at the end of the night, and if we didn't have broad spectrum drug prohibition (yeah that policy is |working really well guys!) then maybe as a society we would stop and think, "hmmm actually how much should I drink tonight?" / "hmm I'm pretty tired, maybe I'll go home now" (straight onto a bus / train), people would openly, and safely take just the right amount of whatever their drug of choice was (face it you prunes: people like to take drugs and listen and dance to music and they're doing it right now everywhere across the world. Prohibiting this activity only makes it ten times as dangerous and pushes people who wish to do so into the hands of bikies and other criminal gangs.) Let society regulate itself because clearly the police and the hand-on-shoulder laws we have now are doing a fucking terrible job. Too much law, not enough order. RIP Thomas Kelly. And sincere condolences to your family and friends. I hope we fix whatever problem this is.
Posted on Fri 20 Jul 2012 09:24:34
I'm a Sydneysider who in my recent travels just spent two weeks in Berlin. There you can buy a beer from the newsagent and drink it on the street. Many clubs on Friday night and stay open till late Monday morning. No violence. Why? IMO because there are enough clubs to accommodate all the clubbers (Club capacity > club goers) and the people there aren't treated like potentially violent, dangerous morons by the state. If Sydney licensing laws allowed more places to open up and stay open for longer then we wouldn't have people milling around, frustrated with nothing to do. It's a simple mathematical figure: how many people are coming in from the suburbs for their big night out, and how much capacity is there in the Sydney clubs? And what measures do we have to get them home? The problem is exacerbated when so many places in Sydney must shut their doors at 3am (also the taxi changeover time - duh!) And, IMO there's not enough space for everyone because potential night spot ideas are hamstrung by Sydney's RIDICULOUS licensing laws and prohibitive rent. I have toured in a band across the US and Canada and spent some time in European cities and South Asia, and Sydney nightlife has more rules and regulations on it's clientele than anywhere I've been. Our shots are measured out in tiny little cups to make sure the alcohol is being served 'responsibly', and then we're charged 10 bucks for the privilege. ---> so people therefore load up on booze and 'pre game' at home! The astronomical mark up on drinks (for whatever reason - maybe it's rent / the cost of a licence) also encourages this tendency. To smoke a cigarette we have to stand around outside penned in a roped off area like sheep. Our beers are served in plastic cups because we can't be trusted not to hit people if we have an actual glass. We live in fear of the threat of a swarm of police invading a club with sniffer dogs - think of how many MDMA overdoses these raids have caused!! It's no wonder people act with no self-responsibility: the state has all but taken self-responsibility away from them and put it in the hands of young cops fresh from the academy, and giant bouncers fresh from the boxing gym. And here's the thing: if we had enough clubs for everyone that didn't close right when people are having the most fun, and if we could drink as much as we wanted, when we wanted, for a fair price, and if we had a decent public transportation service so we could get home safely at the end of the night, and if we didn't have broad spectrum drug prohibition (yeah that policy is |working really well guys!) then maybe as a society we would stop and think, "hmmm actually how much should I drink tonight?" / "hmm I'm pretty tired, maybe I'll go home now" (straight onto a bus / train), people would openly, and safely take just the right amount of whatever their drug of choice was (face it you prunes: people like to take drugs and listen and dance to music and they're doing it right now everywhere across the world. Prohibiting this activity only makes it ten times as dangerous and pushes people who wish to do so into the hands of bikies and other criminal gangs.) Let society regulate itself because clearly the police and the hand-on-shoulder laws we have now are doing a fucking terrible job. Too much law, not enough order. RIP Thomas Kelly. And sincere condolences to your family and friends. I hope we fix whatever problem this is.
Posted on Fri 20 Jul 2012 09:24:34
I'm a Sydneysider who in my recent travels just spent two weeks in Berlin. There you can buy a beer from the newsagent and drink it on the street. Many clubs on Friday night and stay open till late Monday morning. No violence. Why? IMO because there are enough clubs to accommodate all the clubbers (Club capacity > club goers) and the people there aren't treated like potentially violent, dangerous morons by the state. If Sydney licensing laws allowed more places to open up and stay open for longer then we wouldn't have people milling around, frustrated with nothing to do. It's a simple mathematical figure: how many people are coming in from the suburbs for their big night out, and how much capacity is there in the Sydney clubs? And what measures do we have to get them home? The problem is exacerbated when so many places in Sydney must shut their doors at 3am (also the taxi changeover time - duh!) And, IMO there's not enough space for everyone because potential night spot ideas are hamstrung by Sydney's RIDICULOUS licensing laws and prohibitive rent. I have toured in a band across the US and Canada and spent some time in European cities and South Asia, and Sydney nightlife has more rules and regulations on it's clientele than anywhere I've been. Our shots are measured out in tiny little cups to make sure the alcohol is being served 'responsibly', and then we're charged 10 bucks for the privilege. ---> so people therefore load up on booze and 'pre game' at home! The astronomical mark up on drinks (for whatever reason - maybe it's rent / the cost of a licence) also encourages this tendency. To smoke a cigarette we have to stand around outside penned in a roped off area like sheep. Our beers are served in plastic cups because we can't be trusted not to hit people if we have an actual glass. We live in fear of the threat of a swarm of police invading a club with sniffer dogs - think of how many MDMA overdoses these raids have caused!! It's no wonder people act with no self-responsibility: the state has all but taken self-responsibility away from them and put it in the hands of young cops fresh from the academy, and giant bouncers fresh from the boxing gym. And here's the thing: if we had enough clubs for everyone that didn't close right when people are having the most fun, and if we could drink as much as we wanted, when we wanted, for a fair price, and if we had a decent public transportation service so we could get home safely at the end of the night, and if we didn't have broad spectrum drug prohibition (yeah that policy is |working really well guys!) then maybe as a society we would stop and think, "hmmm actually how much should I drink tonight?" / "hmm I'm pretty tired, maybe I'll go home now" (straight onto a bus / train), people would openly, and safely take just the right amount of whatever their drug of choice was (face it you prunes: people like to take drugs and listen and dance to music and they're doing it right now everywhere across the world. Prohibiting this activity only makes it ten times as dangerous and pushes people who wish to do so into the hands of bikies and other criminal gangs.) Let society regulate itself because clearly the police and the hand-on-shoulder laws we have now are doing a fucking terrible job. Too much law, not enough order. RIP Thomas Kelly. And sincere condolences to your family and friends. I hope we fix whatever problem this is.
Posted on Fri 20 Jul 2012 09:24:34
I'm a Sydneysider who in my recent travels just spent two weeks in Berlin. There you can buy a beer from the newsagent and drink it on the street. Many clubs on Friday night and stay open till late Monday morning. No violence. Why? IMO because there are enough clubs to accommodate all the clubbers (Club capacity > club goers) and the people there aren't treated like potentially violent, dangerous morons by the state. If Sydney licensing laws allowed more places to open up and stay open for longer then we wouldn't have people milling around, frustrated with nothing to do. It's a simple mathematical figure: how many people are coming in from the suburbs for their big night out, and how much capacity is there in the Sydney clubs? And what measures do we have to get them home? The problem is exacerbated when so many places in Sydney must shut their doors at 3am (also the taxi changeover time - duh!) And, IMO there's not enough space for everyone because potential night spot ideas are hamstrung by Sydney's RIDICULOUS licensing laws and prohibitive rent. I have toured in a band across the US and Canada and spent some time in European cities and South Asia, and Sydney nightlife has more rules and regulations on it's clientele than anywhere I've been. Our shots are measured out in tiny little cups to make sure the alcohol is being served 'responsibly', and then we're charged 10 bucks for the privilege. ---> so people therefore load up on booze and 'pre game' at home! The astronomical mark up on drinks (for whatever reason - maybe it's rent / the cost of a licence) also encourages this tendency. To smoke a cigarette we have to stand around outside penned in a roped off area like sheep. Our beers are served in plastic cups because we can't be trusted not to hit people if we have an actual glass. We live in fear of the threat of a swarm of police invading a club with sniffer dogs - think of how many MDMA overdoses these raids have caused!! It's no wonder people act with no self-responsibility: the state has all but taken self-responsibility away from them and put it in the hands of young cops fresh from the academy, and giant bouncers fresh from the boxing gym. And here's the thing: if we had enough clubs for everyone that didn't close right when people are having the most fun, and if we could drink as much as we wanted, when we wanted, for a fair price, and if we had a decent public transportation service so we could get home safely at the end of the night, and if we didn't have broad spectrum drug prohibition (yeah that policy is |working really well guys!) then maybe as a society we would stop and think, "hmmm actually how much should I drink tonight?" / "hmm I'm pretty tired, maybe I'll go home now" (straight onto a bus / train), people would openly, and safely take just the right amount of whatever their drug of choice was (face it you prunes: people like to take drugs and listen and dance to music and they're doing it right now everywhere across the world. Prohibiting this activity only makes it ten times as dangerous and pushes people who wish to do so into the hands of bikies and other criminal gangs.) Let society regulate itself because clearly the police and the hand-on-shoulder laws we have now are doing a fucking terrible job. Too much law, not enough order. RIP Thomas Kelly. And sincere condolences to your family and friends. I hope we fix whatever problem this is.
Posted on Fri 20 Jul 2012 09:24:34
I'm a Sydneysider who in my recent travels just spent two weeks in Berlin. There you can buy a beer from the newsagent and drink it on the street. Many clubs on Friday night and stay open till late Monday morning. No violence. Why? IMO because there are enough clubs to accommodate all the clubbers (Club capacity > club goers) and the people there aren't treated like potentially violent, dangerous morons by the state. If Sydney licensing laws allowed more places to open up and stay open for longer then we wouldn't have people milling around, frustrated with nothing to do. It's a simple mathematical figure: how many people are coming in from the suburbs for their big night out, and how much capacity is there in the Sydney clubs? And what measures do we have to get them home? The problem is exacerbated when so many places in Sydney must shut their doors at 3am (also the taxi changeover time - duh!) And, IMO there's not enough space for everyone because potential night spot ideas are hamstrung by Sydney's RIDICULOUS licensing laws and prohibitive rent. I have toured in a band across the US and Canada and spent some time in European cities and South Asia, and Sydney nightlife has more rules and regulations on it's clientele than anywhere I've been. Our shots are measured out in tiny little cups to make sure the alcohol is being served 'responsibly', and then we're charged 10 bucks for the privilege. ---> so people therefore load up on booze and 'pre game' at home! The astronomical mark up on drinks (for whatever reason - maybe it's rent / the cost of a licence) also encourages this tendency. To smoke a cigarette we have to stand around outside penned in a roped off area like sheep. Our beers are served in plastic cups because we can't be trusted not to hit people if we have an actual glass. We live in fear of the threat of a swarm of police invading a club with sniffer dogs - think of how many MDMA overdoses these raids have caused!! It's no wonder people act with no self-responsibility: the state has all but taken self-responsibility away from them and put it in the hands of young cops fresh from the academy, and giant bouncers fresh from the boxing gym. And here's the thing: if we had enough clubs for everyone that didn't close right when people are having the most fun, and if we could drink as much as we wanted, when we wanted, for a fair price, and if we had a decent public transportation service so we could get home safely at the end of the night, and if we didn't have broad spectrum drug prohibition (yeah that policy is |working really well guys!) then maybe as a society we would stop and think, "hmmm actually how much should I drink tonight?" / "hmm I'm pretty tired, maybe I'll go home now" (straight onto a bus / train), people would openly, and safely take just the right amount of whatever their drug of choice was (face it you prunes: people like to take drugs and listen and dance to music and they're doing it right now everywhere across the world. Prohibiting this activity only makes it ten times as dangerous and pushes people who wish to do so into the hands of bikies and other criminal gangs.) Let society regulate itself because clearly the police and the hand-on-shoulder laws we have now are doing a fucking terrible job. Too much law, not enough order. RIP Thomas Kelly. And sincere condolences to your family and friends. I hope we fix whatever problem this is.
Posted on Fri 20 Jul 2012 09:24:34
I'm a Sydneysider who in my recent travels just spent two weeks in Berlin. There you can buy a beer from the newsagent and drink it on the street. Many clubs on Friday night and stay open till late Monday morning. No violence. Why? IMO because there are enough clubs to accommodate all the clubbers (Club capacity > club goers) and the people there aren't treated like potentially violent, dangerous morons by the state. If Sydney licensing laws allowed more places to open up and stay open for longer then we wouldn't have people milling around, frustrated with nothing to do. It's a simple mathematical figure: how many people are coming in from the suburbs for their big night out, and how much capacity is there in the Sydney clubs? And what measures do we have to get them home? The problem is exacerbated when so many places in Sydney must shut their doors at 3am (also the taxi changeover time - duh!) And, IMO there's not enough space for everyone because potential night spot ideas are hamstrung by Sydney's RIDICULOUS licensing laws and prohibitive rent. I have toured in a band across the US and Canada and spent some time in European cities and South Asia, and Sydney nightlife has more rules and regulations on it's clientele than anywhere I've been. Our shots are measured out in tiny little cups to make sure the alcohol is being served 'responsibly', and then we're charged 10 bucks for the privilege. ---> so people therefore load up on booze and 'pre game' at home! The astronomical mark up on drinks (for whatever reason - maybe it's rent / the cost of a licence) also encourages this tendency. To smoke a cigarette we have to stand around outside penned in a roped off area like sheep. Our beers are served in plastic cups because we can't be trusted not to hit people if we have an actual glass. We live in fear of the threat of a swarm of police invading a club with sniffer dogs - think of how many MDMA overdoses these raids have caused!! It's no wonder people act with no self-responsibility: the state has all but taken self-responsibility away from them and put it in the hands of young cops fresh from the academy, and giant bouncers fresh from the boxing gym. And here's the thing: if we had enough clubs for everyone that didn't close right when people are having the most fun, and if we could drink as much as we wanted, when we wanted, for a fair price, and if we had a decent public transportation service so we could get home safely at the end of the night, and if we didn't have broad spectrum drug prohibition (yeah that policy is |working really well guys!) then maybe as a society we would stop and think, "hmmm actually how much should I drink tonight?" / "hmm I'm pretty tired, maybe I'll go home now" (straight onto a bus / train), people would openly, and safely take just the right amount of whatever their drug of choice was (face it you prunes: people like to take drugs and listen and dance to music and they're doing it right now everywhere across the world. Prohibiting this activity only makes it ten times as dangerous and pushes people who wish to do so into the hands of bikies and other criminal gangs.) Let society regulate itself because clearly the police and the hand-on-shoulder laws we have now are doing a fucking terrible job. Too much law, not enough order. RIP Thomas Kelly. And sincere condolences to your family and friends. I hope we fix whatever problem this is.
Posted on Fri 20 Jul 2012 09:24:34