Apply for outdoor dining approval

Get permission to serve food and drink outdoors.

Project Status: When you need to do this

If you want to set up an outdoor dining area, you need to seek approval from us.

The premises must have development consent to operate as a food premises and/or a licence under the Liquor Act 2007 (if applicable) prior to an approval for use of public land being granted.

Alfresco city

To help hospitality venues recover from the devastating effects of Covid-19, we’re continuing to work with the NSW Government to provide venues with more options to cater for more customers.

We created a fast-tracked, free application process for outdoor dining permits and we’re trialling several temporary changes to our outdoor dining rules. We’re also continuing to waive fees until 30 June 2025.

The temporary changes to our outdoor dining guidelines allow some venues to:

increase the space they use on footpaths
extend their trading hours
apply to use on-street car parking space for outdoor dining
host live entertainment in outdoor dining areas.

Venues with on-street dining permits currently have approval to use these areas until 30 April 2023.

Due to the popularity of the on-street dining spaces, we’re currently investigating opportunities for making some of these spaces permanent. We’ll report back to Council on this in early 2023.

Who’s eligible to apply

Cafes, bars, restaurants and cultural venues that already have an outdoor dining permit can apply to:
- change their current permit so they can potentially trade for more hours and extend their dining space
- take over car parking space for outdoor dining.
Cafes, bars, restaurants and cultural venues that currently don’t trade outdoors and that serve food for eating at the premises can apply for:
- a footpath dining permit
- take over car parking space for outdoor dining.

Venues in the following areas need to contact Place Management NSW:

Darling Harbour
The Rocks.

Venues in Barangaroo may be serviced by Place Management NSW or Infrastructure NSW depending on their location. Contact either and you’ll be pointed in the right direction for your location.

Assessment criteria

All outdoor dining permits will be assessed against the following:

Is the venue within the City of Sydney local area and does it have development consent to serve food for eating at the premises?
Will the extension to your trading parameters still allow adequate access for pedestrians, residents and essential vehicles?
What will the impact be on local residents?

For more information on outdoor dining permits, including fees, call us on 02 9265 9333.

If you already have an outdoor dining permit you can apply for longer trading hours, within those stipulated in your development application, and potentially get the maximum allowable hours for your area without going through a trial period:
- late night management precincts – until 1am
- city living precincts – until 11pm
- local centre precincts – until 10pm.
Other new benefits:
- you can apply to host live entertainment, read the guidelines
- you no longer need to pay a security deposit
- you may be able to reduce the amount of ‘clear path’ space required for pedestrians.
Applications will be assessed on an individual basis to ensure the safety of staff and customers and to ensure your business meets all the required Australian standards and NSW Government regulations.

If you need help with your application, please contact us on 02 9265 9333. We’d like to help you.

What you need to do
1. If you have a liquor licence, complete this form and upload it to your online application form.
2. Complete the online application form.
Apply now
Who's eligible to apply

Cafes, restaurants, bars and cultural venues in the City of Sydney local area that serve food for eating at the premises.

Venues in the following areas need to contact Place Management NSW:
- Darling Harbour
- The Rocks.
Venues in Barangaroo may be serviced by Place Management NSW or Infrastructure NSW depending on their location. Contact either and you’ll be pointed in the right direction for your location.

What you need to do
1. Read the outdoor dining guidelines
  The outdoor dining guidelines will help you prepare your application and set up safe and unobtrusive outdoor furniture.
2. If you have a liquor licence, complete the this form and upload it to your online application form
3. Complete the online application form.
Apply now
Application requirements

Your application needs to be presented in digital format, which must include:
- photos of the proposed area
- a site plan
- a plan of management (if alcohol will be served).
Document your outdoor dining area

The site plan should be on A4-sized paper at an appropriate scale (1:100, 1:150 or 1:200 and so on). It should show the:
- name and address of your premises and the neighbouring businesses
- name and position of the nearest cross streets
- position of the side boundaries of your premises
- width of the building frontage of your premises
- location of building edges
- location of the kerb
- location of entrances, doors and public infrastructure
- position and dimensions of the seating area
- width of the footpath to the building edge
- clearances between the seating area and the kerb
- location of equipment such as umbrellas, heaters, and the like
- total area for outdoor dining in square metres.
Download a sample outdoor dining plan (PDF 54.3KB).
Apply now
Who's eligible to apply
- Cafes, restaurants, bars and cultural venues in the City of Sydney local area that serve food for eating at the premises
Venues in the following areas need to contact Place Management NSW:
- Darling Harbour
- The Rocks.
Venues in Barangaroo may be serviced by Place Management NSW or Infrastructure NSW depending on their location. Contact either and you’ll be pointed in the right direction for your location.
Unsuitable road space – if you have any of the following outside your business, unfortunately you’re ineligible to apply:
- bus stops or bus zones
- roads with speed limits of more than 50km/hr
- clearways
- parking for Australia Post, police, fire, ambulance, or car share vehicles
- no stopping zone
- bike lanes
- in-road fire hydrant.
What you need to do
1. Check out what the City of Sydney will provide for free.
2. Read our general outdoor dining guidelines.
3. Complete the application form.
We encourage venues to apply for space together as a group. Nominate 1 person to complete the application form for the group. Ideally, choose someone who has an existing outdoor dining permit.

If you can’t join with other venues to create a group, that’s ok. You can apply as a single venue too.

To improve your chances of gaining approval you will need to demonstrate the space will be well used. The area must be used for a minimum 7 hours a day, 5 days a week.

To reduce potential complaints from your neighbours, we recommend you talk to them about your plans.

What happens after you submit an application
1. If your application is potentially viable, we’ll inspect the site.
2. If the site is suitable, we’ll contact you and walk you through the next step: You’ll need to apply to amend your existing footpath dining permit or apply for one if you don’t already have one. You may also need to extend your liquor licence.
3. Your application will go on notice for public consultation for 7 days.
4. If there are no significant objections, your application will go to the Local Pedestrian and Traffic Committee for approval.
5. When your application is approved, you’ll be emailed a display notice and we’ll be in contact to arrange the delivery of the concrete safety barriers.
On-street parking is important to the community. The removal of parking is conditional upon it being used for outdoor dining. It's difficult for us to justify keeping on-street space for outdoor dining if it's unused. Therefore, if your application is successful you will have 3 days after the barriers are installed to start using the space.
Street space outdoor dining is a new, trial program for the City of Sydney. We’ll continue to fine tune the details as we receive community feedback. If you have queries, please contact us on 02 9265 9333. We’d like to help you.

Apply now
What you need to do
1. If you want to renew your permit without making any changes to your hours of operation or size of outdoor dining area, complete this online application form.
2. If you want to change your operating hours or extend your outdoor dining area, apply to amend your outdoor dining permit.