Inside the Delany Hotel's plans to stay open later into the night

A new plan of management has been made public after Marvan Hotels lodged an appeal to the NSW Land and Environment Court to keep the Darby Street hotel open until 2am six nights a week and until midnight on Sundays. The current closure time is 10pm Sundays and midnight the rest of the week.

The venue had applied to City of Newcastle to stay open until 2am, but the council instead allowed 1am closure on a 12 month trial basis.

The updated plan of management includes more details of the proposed staged shutdown of the venue through to 2am than previous plans submitted with the application. Acoustic and architectural plans were also updated.

On Fridays and Saturdays, the top floor, Darby Street beer garden and door to the council car park would close at midnight, and capacity reduced from 990 to 300. The public bar would close at 1am, and capacity reduced to 120, including a maximum of 80 people in the gaming room.

The plan said head counts would be undertaken at 11pm, 11.45pm, 12.30am and 12.45am, after which mechanical or electronic counters would be used to maintain an accurate patron total.

If there are more than 300 people in the venue at 11pm, entry would be restricted, and if there are still more than 300 people inside at midnight, patrons leaving the top floor would be directed to exit the venue.

If there are more than 120 people inside at 12.45am, patrons in the public bar will be directed to leave.

From Monday to Thursday, the public bar would also close at midnight and the capacity reduced to 120.

The acoustic plan said new building works would take place in the lounge bar to minimise noise after midnight, including upgrades to doors and secondary glazing to windows.

The plan says the duty manager may start the staged shutdown earlier if the hotel is trading well in excess of 500 patrons.

A security guard would patrol Darby and Council streets and the car park "to monitor and control patrons in the public domain until those patrons have left".

The proposed 2am closure has attracted opposition from surrounding residents.

Those who have previously lodged objections have been alerted about the new amendments by City of Newcastle, and have until March 1 to make new submissions.