PERTH may have its fair share of pubs, clubs and restaurants, but compared with other capital cities it seems the social scene is missing a vital ingredient.
PERTH may have its fair share of pubs, clubs and restaurants, but compared with other capital cities it seems the social scene is missing a vital ingredient.
There aren’t enough bars.
While the city’s population may not warrant the number of bars in Melbourne, for example, there is strong market demand in Perth for small bars that cater to non-pub goers, according to industry representatives spoken to by WA Business News.
But securing town planning and liquor licensing approval to open a bar is a difficult process, they say.
WA’s liquor licensing laws require hospitality operators to apply for tavern licences if they want to open a lounge bar or incorporate a bar into a restaurant.
However, this change is only a relatively recent one.
Up until last year places such as Must Winebar, Balthazar, Box Deli, and C Restaurant have opened with special facility licences.
An amendment to liquor licensing rules last year means that avenue no longer exists.
Whether places like Must Winebar would be able to open and function as they do now under the new rules is doubtful, according to a number of industry representatives contacted by WA Business News.
Securing town-planning approval for a tavern application seems to be a major stumbling block. Town-planning approval is needed before applicants can seek a liquor licence.
Atlantic, a restaurant in Subiaco, is the most recent example of the pitfalls that await applicants.
The City of Subiaco town planning committee has this week recommended that Atlantic’s application for a change of use from ‘restaurant’ to ‘tavern’ be rejected.
Among its concerns are a number of issues that would be inherent with tavern use.
The problem for Atlantic is that it is not planning to radically change its current operation.
But City of Subiaco town planners say the owners’ failure to justify that a change in use would not be detrimental to the amenity of the areas adjacent to the town centre – and a failure to demonstrate satisfactory measures for the management of patrons – are part of the reason why the application should not be approved.
Atlantic owner Paul Zisopoulos believes it’s the word tavern that is causing confusion.
Atlantic is not alone in its desire to offer Perth people a comfortable, contemporary place to enjoy a glass of wine with or without eating.
The owners of Altos Bistro would love to have people sit at the bar and have a drink. So too would the proprietors of the Bluewater Grill in Applecross, among other venues.
It’s something they can already legally do but, according to several restaurant owners, they are unable to operate in a way that creates the ambience and culture that exists in other States.
In WA, restaurants can serve alcohol without the requirement to serve a meal, but it can only be in a designated demarcated area that is less than 20 per cent of the floor space.
That area can not be in the vicinity of the bar and the restaurant cannot promote the fact patrons can drink without having to purchase a meal.
Freehills liquor licensing lawyer Tony van Merwyk said the use of the word tavern was stifling development.
“It’s a clumsy word in a town planning sense that restricts the development of new bar facilities,” he said.
Altos Bistro and Bar One (which has secured a tavern licence) owner Stephen Scaffidi said there were a number of reasons why Perth lacked the type of bars that were popular on the eastern seaboard.
“You don’t get the smaller places here and I think it’s for a number of reasons. It’s licensing, it’s councils, it’s the culture that’s embedded in Perth,” he said.
“I think licensing authorities are nervous of change because they are worried that it will get abused, and maybe they’re right.
“Some people may abuse it, but that’s stopping the really good operators from being able to do something different and provide variety. What we should do is have a system like they do in Queensland, where an operator is penalised severely for breaking the rules. If you break the rules you get a fine or have your licence revoked.”
Mr Scaffidi said another deterrent to opening small bars was the money involved.
Australian Hotels Association executive director Bradley Woods disagreed that it required thousands of dollars to get appropriate liquor licences.
“There a quite a lot of people who think they have to hire a top barrister and spend $200,000 on a liquor licence,” Mr Woods told WA Business News.
“But that is a myth.”
He also disagreed that the use of the word tavern was restricting the development of bars in WA.