Gold Coast businesses lobby council for small, alcohol-only bars
Business owners on Queensland's Gold Coast are lobbying the council to allow small, alcohol-only bars in the region.
Under the current town plan there are no bar licences available, forcing venue owners to operate as restaurants, taverns or hotels.
It means licensees must have a food menu available, and food sales must exceed drink sales.
Figures from the Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation show there are 49 commercial other bar licences in Queensland. (Photo: Andrew O'Connor)
Owner of Bine Bar and Dining at Nobbys Beach, Scott Imach, said he has been asking the council to change the law for years.
"You've either got have accommodation or gaming; club licences you're obviously gaming and you've got to be an affiliated club, so then it comes back to again restaurant licences, which is the only other thing available. It's a massive shame," he said.
"I've just spent six weeks in Europe investigating other bar options, it's happening all over the world - it's just the Gold Coast is behind the times in the small bar scene."
Figures from the Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation show there are 49 other commercial bar licences in Queensland, but only three of these are in the Gold Coast local government area.
Mr Imach said people did not always want to go to busy nightclubs, instead seeking out trendy, low-key social venues.
"These small bars are popping up in every other city - you go to Melbourne - everywhere, Sydney - everywhere, Brisbane- they're dime a dozen up there and people are loving them."
He said the demand for bars on the Gold Coast was so strong that people were operating them under the radar anyway, and being fined thousands of dollars for it.
"There's been bars and restaurants that have been fined on the Gold Coast that I'm aware of, some they've threatened to close them down," he said.
Town plan provision needs Qld Government sign-off: council
Gold Coast City Councillor Greg Betts said when the current town plan was developed more than 10 years ago there was not a market for bars.
"Over the past five years or so we've seen a demand, and it's been taken up by restaurants, but a lot of those operators would prefer to say 'I don't really want to provide the meals, I'd just like to have a small bar'," Cr Betts said.
He said the council has added a small bar function into its new town plan, but it still needed to be signed off on by the State Government.
"Through having that approval we're encouraging people to spread out amongst the community and not concentrate everyone into the entertainment areas just to go and have a drink," he said.
If approved, the provision would allow a small bar specific land use in spaces up to 100 square metres.
The move has been welcomed by some local residents, like Hugh Masters.
"I think it's a big thing that's lacking up here," he said.
"They're starting to get a bit of culture but definitely little, cool groovy bars you see everywhere in Melbourne and Sydney and stuff definitely needs to be on the Gold Coast."
Source: ABC News, Alyse Edwards, June 10th 2015
