Michael Rodrigues looks comfortable as he sits back in his chair, reflecting on his tenure as Sydney and New South Wales’ 24-hour economy commissioner. “It’s been tough,” he says, “there’s no doubt about that … but there’s cautious optimism.”
His assessment is modest; the city’s approach to nightlife has changed drastically since he was appointed four years ago.
Sydney is the most visited city in a country that prides itself on its laid-back attitude – a city known the world over for its Opera House and pristine beaches. But until recently, its nightlife has had anything but an easygoing reputation: streets in what had been vibrant nightclub areas were sparsely populated late at night, and there were regulations on everything from alcohol to mirror balls. Rodrigues is leading the massive task of transforming Sydney’s approach to nightlife: to make the city come to life at night again. And he has a budget to match.
Core to establishing Sydney’s reputation as a city opposed to a good night out was a set of draconian “lockout” laws aiming to reduce alcohol-related harm, which were in place across much of central Sydney from 2014 to 2021, stopping entry into venues after 1.30am and restricting the sale of alcohol. The restrictions caused $16bn of economic damage a year according to some estimates and saw more than 150 venues close.
“Lockouts were a real crisis. Everyone could see it,” says Matt Levinson from Committee for Sydney, a policy thinktank. “People had this real sense that the city was shut.”
Labelled by some as “Sydney’s best dressed bureaucrat”, Rodrigues – backed by government – has overseen a complete turnaround in the state’s approach to nightlife, cutting red tape and removing “archaic” laws such as restrictions that stopped people from standing up when drinking outside.
Reforms now make it easier for councils to extend opening hours across the state, promote outdoor dining and incentivise live music performances. They are positive, says Levinson, but were perhaps only implemented with such vigour because the city was at “rock bottom” before, and it will take time for the impact to be felt.
‘Policy doesn’t create a vibe’
Key to changes to the city’s nightlife scene is that much of the growth in popular evening locations has been in areas outside the city’s central business district, once the city’s nightlife hotspot. Government has encouraged this by giving “special entertainment precinct” status to suburbs outside the CBD, as far away as Canley Vale in the city’s western suburbs and Byron Bay in the state’s northern rivers. But this encouragement of late night life across NSW has met with some opposition from residents concerned about noise and antisocial behaviour.
However, Burwood in Sydney’s inner west – recently named Australia’s coolest neighbourhood by TimeOut – is taking full advantage. The mayor of Burwood, John Faker, says the council’s new “Licence to Play” policies are designed to “make Sydney fun again!” and encourage busking, community events and filling vacant shopfronts with art, with further initiatives planned to activate spaces at night.
Sydney is among 97% of major global cities that now have nightlife policies in place, according to World Cities Culture Forum. But unlike many cities, who often struggle with tight budgets and mixed political support, NSW’s $27m budget makes it the most well-resourced night-time economy office in the world, says Dr Alessio Kolioulis, an associate professor in urban economic development at University College London. “What the New South Wales government is doing is setting the bar high globally,” he says.
But even with favourable regulations, Sydney has not yet seen the sudden boost it might have hoped for. An already high cost of living and inflationary pressures make a night out expensive in the city, and data shows that growth in spending at night has been sluggish, with the number of pubs and bars decreasing last year. As a speaker at a state-organised conference on the issue earlier this month put it: “Policy alone doesn’t create a vibe.”
‘War on the couch’
A decline in club attendance is often attributed to younger people drinking less, with research suggesting Gen Z Australians are nearly 20 times more likely to choose not to drink alcohol compared with baby boomers. However, of bigger concern, says Rodrigues, is wider changes in how people are connecting socially.
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He describes the next chapter of revitalising the city as a “war on the couch”, citing statistics around rising social isolation. He believes it is up to industry to promote the benefits of a night out as an antidote to these trends.
“Young Australians are rewriting the rhythm of the city,” says Dr Anna Edwards, research fellow at the University of Melbourne and director at Ingenium Research. “Traditional nightlife no longer captures how many young people want to connect in their free time. They’re looking for affordable, social and creative experiences, from night markets and food trucks to live music.”
Although lifestyle changes may partly explain gen Z’s attitude towards nightlife, in Sydney it may also be a case of habit. Both lockout laws and pandemic-era lockdowns mean that even 28-year-olds today did not experience the city’s nightlife before the impact of both issues.
“The young population of Sydney just wasn’t used to going out as much,” says Connor Cameron, 24, co-founder of Maple Social Club, which hosts music-focused events at all times of the day.“They’d been trained by Covid to stay at home and hang out with their friends, and I think people are coming to appreciate it a lot more now.”
Without the social lubrication of (as much) alcohol, younger people are looking for “conscious connection” when they attend events, says Cameron. This has seen a rise in daytime “soft clubbing” experiences and “coffee raves”, such as those run by Maple Social Club.
While “day clubbing” is by no means a new phenomenon, these Instagram-friendly events run counter to trends in cities like Berlin and London, where many venues now ban taking photos, arguing it protects nightclubs as spaces of freedom and experimentation.
In Sydney, “Instagrammability” is often part of the appeal, says Cameron, as people are looking for “unique events” in beautiful spaces that they can post on social media. “There are lots of venues that are really well designed for people to promote on their behalf. People want to take photos, they want to share things about being at that place,” he says.
Part of this might be in the city’s DNA: its natural beauty makes it inherently a daytime city. If New York is the city that never sleeps, Sydney is the city that wakes up early. Nearly two-thirds of cafes and restaurants in Sydney’s CBD are open by 8am, compared with just 37% in London’s Soho, according to Ingenium Research.
In Australia’s capital city CBDs, a similar amount of spending occurs in the morning as in the evening, in contrast to many cities worldwide, where spending is weighted towards the evening, says Edwards.
Although the so-called “early morning economy” could be seen as a challenge to Sydney’s nightlife, Levinson says that the city should “play to its strengths”. Rodrigues agrees that diversity of offer is important: not just nightclubs and not just for younger people.
The last few years are a blip in the city’s history, he thinks. “We have gathered around fires for 60,000 years. People will always want to come together … We are social beings.”
