Finnegan's Hotel has applied to extend its trading hours until 4am in an attempt to take advantage of the NSW government's trial of relaxed liquor restrictions.
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The hotel's owner, Paul Hunter, has lodged a development modification with Newcastle council to extend the venue's operating hours from 2.30am to 4am on Friday and Saturday nights, six annual event days and any day prior to a public holiday.
Finnegan's, on the corner of King and Darby streets, currently has council and liquor licence approval to trade until 2.30am on the subject nights, but it has to cease selling alcohol 30 minutes prior to closure.
Under the government's year-long trial of eased restrictions introduced last weekend, a participating venue's liquor-trading hours can be extended from 3am to 3.30am, provided development consent is in place to allow the venue to stay open.
While Finnegan's will benefit from the trial's removal of the 1.30am lockout and limits on the types of drinks sold, it will not gain any advantage with liquor-trading hours without modifying its development approval.
The hotel's application to council says under its existing hours the venue will be at a "significant disadvantage" to other venues which can now sell alcohol later.
"Finnegan's already operated with a competitive disadvantage being required to close at least 30 minutes prior to most, this will increase the competitive disadvantage by an additional 60 minutes at a time when Finnegan's has just reopened after the year-long COVID closure," planning documents state.
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The application argues that prior to the introduction of restrictions in 2008, Finnegan's had council approval and was licensed to sell alcohol and trade until 3am on Fridays, Saturdays and the outlined additional days.
This licensed trading time is understood to have been lost while the venue was in receivership and the development consent altered as part of a 2012 renovation.
Finnegan's was contacted on Tuesday but management did not comment publicly.
The application concludes the long-term owners are "committed to operating a responsible hotel whilst evolving with the Newcastle community's expectations".
"No additional hours have been proposed for days where the hotel does not already trade until 2:30am and existing security initiatives will remain in place," it says, noting how along with other measures, the hotel has 51 CCTV cameras and guards patrol outside the venue until half-hour after closure.
Alcohol-harm prevention advocate Tony Brown said an extra 1.5 hours selling alcohol was concerning.
"It is a significant concern the likely harm and the council's proven propensity to rubber-stamp these high-risk alcohol outlets," he said. "The independent scientific evidence is really strong that when you increase the time, you increase the crime."
Mr Brown said the modification, if approved, could prompt other venues which do not have development consent to trade beyond 3am to seek similar changes.
Submissions about Finnegan's proposal must be made to council by 5pm, July 19.
