A lingering hangover has lifted: Patrons can now stand and drink outside city pubs
From today, patrons can now stand up with a drink outside pubs, restaurants and bars operating across the City of Sydney, scrapping a long-standing rule that prevented people drinking on the footpath without a table or shelf.
The updated outdoor dining guideline are part of a wider push to make outdoor dining a permanent part of the city’s streets. This change affects all City of Sydney suburbs, from St Peters to Potts Point, Elizabeth Bay, Erskineville and the CBD.
Removing the lingering hangover from the guidelines means punters can wait on the footpath with a glass of wine until their table is ready, and stand out the front of the pub drinking a beer, provided the venue has a designated outdoor dining area. The idea is that the change will add energy and life to public spaces, bringing Sydney closer to the outdoor dining and drinking culture of many European cities.
Matt Johnson, group beverage director at Applejack Group, which runs venues across the City of Sydney council area, including Opera Bar, Surry Hills’ Forrester’s and The Butler in Potts Point, says the change will make a big difference to the group’s venues.
“It’s super exciting and just in time for summer too,” he said. “I’m from the UK, so I grew up in Brighton and London, where it’s completely the norm to be outside the pub standing with a pint, with friends.
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“On our busier days, like Anzac Day and during the sports season, our pubs are bursting at the seams, so this will give us more space, and it creates such a good energy to be able to have guests standing and drinking outside.”
Publican James Wirth said drinking outdoors was part of the experience at the Old Fitzroy Hotel in Woolloomooloo. “At The Old Fitz and our other pubs, the pavement pint is half the point, and people standing outside on a warm summer’s evening is what people come here for, and it creates a really vibe-y atmosphere outside.”
In practice, the no-standing rule has not really been policed said Deputy Lord Mayor Jess Miller. “As far as I’m aware, it’s never really been enforced. To the best of my knowledge, council has never walked up to a person and said, ‘excuse me, you need to sit down or find some furniture’.”
Instead, venues have been largely policing themselves so as not to be in breach of their licensing conditions.
“We would ask people to find a table, and it’s never really been a comfortable conversation,” said Johnson. “It never really made sense to us, especially when our guests are just there trying to enjoy themselves with a drink and there’s only so many tables available.”
Wirth said the rule was never enforced at The Old Fitz, where people regularly drink on the pavement, but he still welcomes the change.
“It’s a small change, but council deserves credit for making it,” he said. “It speaks to the fact that council is listening and respecting how people want to use these areas, and recognise that vertical drinking isn’t a safety problem.”
The change does not alter how alcohol is sold or served, which must still comply with each venue’s liquor licence.
Patrons can’t wander off with their drink from the venue’s designated outdoor dining areas, and standing is allowed only within its approved outdoor footprint. A clear path must also remain for pedestrians, wheelchairs and prams.
Miller says the bigger story is about $20 million in reforms, due to roll out over the next eight years, to expand outdoor dining spaces across Sydney.
Pop-up dining spaces, such as those in carparks, will be made permanent, and footpaths will be extended to allow more people to be seated outside.
Work is expected to begin in the next few months, with extended outdoor dining areas planned for Glebe, Redfern, Surry Hills, Newtown and Erskineville.
“Adding paving and landscaping, and making [a] permanent area outside of restaurants can effectively double their capacity, and that will have a huge impact on business,” said Miller.
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