Maria Donohoe has lived next door to The Norfolk Hotel for 16 years.
And while she concedes that the venue hasn’t changed its operation too much during that time, she believes the Fremantle CBD has changed.
Ms Donohoe says there has been a noticeable rise in anti-social behaviour.
She is a complainant against The Norfolk Hotel this week as it seeks a condition from the director of liquor licensing to allow it to play music indoors.
The hotel has been prohibited from doing so via a town planning condition it received when it gained planning approval for outdoor extensions in 2001.
Ms Donohoe has complained to the Liquor Licensing Authority about The Norfolk before, and also recently complained against a liquor licence application to establish a new venue, The Mustang Bar, on South Terrace, and an application to renew extended trading hours by Benny’s Bar and Cafe.
Her complaints centre on anti-social behaviour by patrons leaving the venues.
Ms Donohoe purchased her Norfolk Street home while living in Melbourne and moved next door to the crowd favourite venue in 1988.
“I’m an old Freo girl, I came here in 1933. I went to Melbourne and came back and I wasn’t aware of what had happened to Fremantle,” she said.
Ms Donohoe has spent the past few years taking her concerns to the director of liquor licensing.
“There are people out on the street vomiting,” she said. “It’s been going on for years and now they want to open more. Why do they need to make more money to make more people drunk?”
The Norfolk Hotel owner Garry Gosatti said residents on many occasions had used his liquor licence applications to draw attention to broader issues, such as anti-social behaviour and disorderly conduct, issues that were not specific to his pub.
Mr Gosatti believes individual residents have increasing weight at both the council and liquor licensing level.
“It’s no longer a balanced forum and there is no indication from local government or the liquor licensing division that they will arrest the swing,” he said.
- Julie-anne Sprague