Low-cost licence plan for small Adelaide venues

Adelaide City Council has asked the South Australian Government to make some changes to its proposed late night code for venues.

The council is worried some restaurants and smaller venues may have to do the same as large nightclubs, by switching to safer, unbreakable glassware after midnight and installing metal detectors at their premises.

Councillor Natasha Malani said smaller venues did not attract the same level of alcohol-related violence and behavioural problems as bigger ones.

"We're encouraging smaller venues to establish in the city. They attract a different person who comes and wines and dines and wants a different experience to a nightclub experience and we should be encouraging that service," she said.

Lord Mayor Stephen Yarwood said the cost of implementing some planned changes would be a barrier for small business.

"We really want to make sure that small bars in the city are supported in a way that's actually going to help the long-term vibrancy and add to city safety," he said.

A staff member for the state Planning and Business Services Minister said smaller venues had little to fear, as the provisions would make clear it was large venues operating into the early hours which needed to comply with the new requirements.

Planning and Business Services Minister John Rau said the Government would ensure start-up businesses could obtain low-cost, minimal-documentation liquor licences, easing some of the legal and cost issues they would otherwise face.

The low-cost option would assume the business operated in hours somewhere between 11:00am and midnight with a maximum capacity of 120 people. Applications would be taken for exemptions to trade until 2:00am.

Property Council executive director Nathan Paine said the new licence class would give boutique bars a better chance of succeeding in the Adelaide market.

"We've seen what small bars have done in the revitalisation and regeneration of not only Melbourne but also Perth and Sydney and I have no doubt that they'll be wholeheartedly accepted by South Australians and by young people looking to make a break and create a business," he said.

Source: ABC News, 29 November 2012