Newcastle Trading Hours Slashed

By Ian Neubauer

Licensed venues in Newcastle will have trading hours reduced and new restrictions imposed on the sale of alcohol following a ruling by the NSW Liquor Board (LAB).

Premises currently trading to 3:00am will now be required to close at 2:30am, while premises trading to 5:00am will now be required to close at 3:00am. In addition, shots, doubles and RTDs with an ABV greater than 5 per cent cannot be sold in the city after 10:00pm.

The action — initiated by Newcastle Police and a group of residents — is unprecedented in the state, with 15 hotels identified as problematic as a result of violence and property damage attributed to patrons hopping between venues late at night.

In his ruling, LAB Chairman David Armati cited statistics showing assault rates at or outside licensed premises had increased 70 per cent since 2004, with five of the premises identified as being among the worst 100 in the state for assaults.

Armati credited the city’s hoteliers for voluntary initiatives implemented to reduce the impact of late trading on the community but found those initiatives insufficient.  

“The current problems are too serious, too disturbing and too frequent to enable further time to be given to licensees to trial other initiatives,” Armati said in the ruling. “In essence, some of the hoteliers were offering nothing but a plan of management, something which sensibly should have been in place a long time ago.”

The ruling will come into effect on March 20.
 

[Mon 17/03/2008 03:27:03]