One of the Hunter's largest and newest pubs hopes to take advantage of the NSW government's vibrancy reforms to extend its trading hours to 4am on weekends.
Harrigan's Cameron Park has submitted a modified development application to Lake Macquarie City Council calling for its approved opening hours to extend by two hours when it hosts live music entertainment.
The venue, which opened in 2023, regularly hosts live music duos on Friday nights and cover bands on Saturdays.
If approved, this would allow Harrigan's Cameron Park to trade from 9am to 4am on Friday and Saturday.
Harrigan's owner the Roche Group also proposes extending closing times from 10pm to 12am on Sundays and public holidays when live music is performed.
Live entertainment would not be performed outside of the existing trade hours.
Harrigan's Cameron Park operations manager Sam Harman said the modified plan was made possible due to the vibrancy reforms.
"It's just extending the entertainment," Mr Harman said. "They're [the punters] already here so we just want to keep the good times rolling with it."
The vibrancy reforms are part of the 24-Hour Economy Legislation Amendment, which was passed through NSW Parliament last November and is aimed at revitalising and diversifying night-time activity.
"Basically we're just getting on the back of the government's vibrancy reforms and encouraging the live music scene and trying to be a big part of it," Mr Harman said.
"We built a beautiful big stage area that's dedicated to it, so it was always the intention to be an entertainment hub."
The 300-square-metre venue is located in one of Lake Macquarie's biggest residential growth areas, but Mr Harman said its positioning near the Cameron Park Plaza commercial zone meant noise was not a problem for residents.
"We're definitely committed to being responsible and being a good neighbour," he said.
"We always have been. We haven't had any community complaints or noise issues.
"We're positioned really well actually. We've had the whole acoustics report done and they haven't changed.
"We don't generate much noise; it's all internal. We don't do any music on the outside of the venue."
