Kings Cross crackdown won't stop violence, local businesses say

Kings Cross businesses have launched a campaign in response to alcohol restrictions

The crackdown on Kings Cross will cost restaurants and bars more than $1 million a month in lost sales and will not halt the violent attacks, according to local businesses.

Premier Barry O'Farrell's crackdown on the late night sale of shots and ready-to-drink beverages inside 58 venues after midnight would send costs up and sales plummeting, but do little to curb the drunken fights that have plagued the area, said 20 angry business owners.

Drunken assaults are now so common that restaurateur Justin Maloney spends Friday and Saturday nights standing outside his eatery and cocktail bar Jimmy Liks to ward off "morons".

In response to the restrictions, restaurants, bars and nightclubs joined forces on Saturday night to launch the We Love Kings Cross campaign. More than 800 venue staff donned "We Love Kings Cross" T-shirts, calling for more police, a zero-tolerance approach to violence and more night transport options. They also urged patrons to complain to Mr O'Farrell's office about the crackdown.

The campaign, run by the Kings Cross Liquor Accord, argues the changes are a one-size-fits-all approach.

As part of the new restrictions, on Friday and Saturday nights venues will not be able to sell alcohol in the hour before closing and they will all have to roster on two responsible service of alcohol marshals after 11pm.

This alone will cost at least $8000 a month per restaurant or bar, said business owners.

Glasses, glass bottles and glass jugs will also be banned after midnight every night.

"It's now at the point that I, a restaurateur, spend from 9.30pm on my busiest two nights of the week not serving customers, not overseeing the kitchen, not serving at my bar but standing out the front guarding by business from morons," Mr Maloney said.

"The government is not going to solve the problem with security on the streets of Kings Cross from behind my bar. It will not be solved by forcing me to serve $21 Manhattans in a plastic cup in my restaurant, but by stopping 18-year-olds from drinking four litres of wine from plastic bags out the front of it."

Mr O'Farrell announced the restrictions last month in response to the death of teenager Tom Kelly in July.

Mr Kelly, 18, died after being king-hit while walking through the nightclub strip. Kieran Loveridge, 18, of Seven Hills, has been charged with Mr Kelly's murder. He is due to appear in Central Local Court on September 20.

Source: The Daily Telegraph, 10 September 2012