Extended trading to help licensed venues reap benefits of Sydney Mardi Gras

Extended trading in NSW will see for pubs, clubs, bars and now restaurants reap the benefits during this year’s Mardi Gras celebrations.

The NSW Government is extending trading hours for licensed venues in key areas over two weekends during the 2025 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras festival, allowing celebrations to continue well into the night.

Extended hours will apply after the iconic Mardi Gras Parade on Saturday 1st March, ensuring the festivities continue beyond Oxford Street into bars, clubs, restaurants, breweries, and live music venues until 2am on Sunday across 17 central Sydney suburbs, from Barangaroo to Centennial Park.

These extended trading hours will ensure that local businesses are able to take full advantage of the increased tourism and patronage the festival brings to NSW.

This initiative is part of the NSW Government’s commitment to growing Sydney’s night-time economy by supporting the state’s venues and encourage a vibrant nightlife for residents and visitors.

Special event extended trading hours are made available under the Liquor Act 2007 for events that are of “regional, state or national significance”.

NSW Minister for Music and the Night-time Economy John Graham noted “Mardi Gras is not the night for an early bedtime, it’s one of the biggest celebrations on Sydney’s calendar and a massive drawcard for visitors, which makes it a very appropriate occasion to push back last drinks.

"Extended trading will keep the party going well beyond the parade and give people more time to enjoy everything our city’s vibrant nightlife has to offer.

“The NSW Government is working hard to bring Sydney’s nighttime economy back to life, and extending trading hours during major events is an important part of that effort.”

The NSW Government has delivered two rounds of vibrancy reform since coming to office in March 2023.

The first round of Vibrancy Reforms in December 2023 delivered improvements that:

• Permanently relaxed rules for outdoor dining to allowing venues to make the most of their outdoor space

• Ended single noise complaints from shutting down pubs and other licensed venues

• Made it easier to activate streets for festivals and events (Open Streets program) and a regulatory model that allows streamlined approvals for repeat events (Permit, Plug, Play)

• Expanded Special Entertainment Precincts that empower local councils to change the rules around noise and opening hours in a designated area to support live entertainment and nightlife

• Increased incentives for live music and live performance, with two hours extended trading and an 80% reduction in liquor licence fees for licensed venues offering live music and performance

• Created easier pathways for extended trading hours for major events like the Olympics and World Cups.

The second tranche of reforms in October 2024 included:

• Tearing up baffling restrictions on licensed venues that include “no entertainment” clauses or dictate what genre of music or even how many musicians can play

• Requiring property buyers to be notified that they are moving into an existing entertainment zone to protect the intent of Special Entertainment Precincts and reduce the friction between venues and their neighbours

• Ending the antiquated rule that prevents people living within five kilometres of a registered club from signing in without first becoming a member

• Binning the restriction on outdoor dining approvals that prevented patrons from standing while drinking outside a licensed premises

• Amending the Major Events Act to make it easier to support foundational events like Sydney Festival and Vivid Sydney

• Empowering the Minister for Music and the Night-time Economy to refer live music and performance venues with legitimate disputes to mediation.

Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras 2025 extended trading information:

Sydney Mardi Gras Parade – 12am to 2am, Sunday 2nd March