Club - liquor licence

Application fee

Use our Liquor Fee Schedule to calculate your fee including:

• an application fee
• a non-refundable processing fee.

Licence fees

Pro-rata annual liquor licence fee

• A Club licence is subject to a pro-rata annual liquor licence fee depending on the time of year your liquor licence is granted.
• The fee is calculated on a quarterly basis and reflects the amount of time you use the licence before the next billing cycle (on 15 March the following year). Calculate your pro-rata fee.

Annual liquor licence fee

• A Club licence is subject to an annual liquor licence fee, due in May each year. Read more about annual liquor licence fees.

This licence is a relevant licence in a cumulative impact area. It may be subject to further considerations. 

Visit the Cumulative Impact Area page to change if current.

​​​The law requires that all types of licensed venues display liquor signs. This includes a number of compulsory signs, depending on which licence and authorisations you have.

• Find out what signs you need

You can tailor your licence to meet your needs by applying for authorisations and exemptions - fees may apply.

The Liquor Act 2007 and Liquor Regulation 2018 include a range of statutory conditions that apply to club licences.

These conditions include:

• A club must not hold a hotel licence or acquire any financial interest in a hotel. This does not apply to a hotelier’s licence or financial interest in a hotel that was granted or acquired by a club before 2 April 2002.
• The secretary or manager must not provide a cash advance on the premises, or permit a cash advance to be provided on the premises on behalf of the club. The exception is where the cash advance is a prize or bonus won as a direct or indirect consequence of participating in lawful gambling conducted on the club premises.
• A copy of the club’s liquor licence, and any licence-related authorisation and conditions must be available at all times for the information of staff who are employed in any capacity by the club.
• ILGA must be notified immediately after a club resumes trading following a continuous period of more than six weeks of ceased trading
• Free drinking water must be available at all times to patrons. Water must be available at or near where alcohol is served, or by waiter service if alcohol is provided that way.

Licence conditions can also be imposed, varied or revoked by ILGA and by the Secretary of the Department of Customer Service.

Here are Licence conditions approved by the Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority. That page contains a list of conditions which the Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority and/or its delegates may impose if the licence is granted.

The Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority may impose additional or alternative conditions if warranted. However, the party seeking additional or alternative conditions must demonstrate the need for those conditions.

If you would like to seek alternate conditions, and/or additional conditions, you can provide, alternative condition text and/or additional condition as well as the reasons with your application. You can attach additional information on separate pages if required.

Conditions maintained: Conditions imposed on a registered club prior to 1 July 2008 by the former Licensing Court or Liquor Administration Board, as a result of a licensing proposal or disciplinary action, continue to apply.

Conditions voided: Harm minimisation conditions which applied to most clubs prior to 1 July 2008 and required certain signage and other requirements to be met no longer apply.

Application must be made to the Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority (ILGA) to vary or remove any other conditions.

A registered club can apply to ILGA for a:

• club functions authorisation: allows under 18s and non-members to attend prescribed types of functions at the club.
• junior members authorisation: allows junior members to attend sporting-related activities and presentations in a part of a small club where it is not physically possible to separate that area from the bar and poker machine area.
• non-restricted area authorisation: allows under 18s to enter a part or parts of the club.

Each of the authorisations is subject to any conditions that may be imposed by ILGA, while a club functions authorisation and a junior members authorisation are also subject to conditions under the Registered Clubs Act 1976.

Note: Where approval was previously granted by the Licensing Court for any of these authorisations, that approval continues, along with the conditions that were imposed at the time.

Application must made to ILGA to vary or remove conditions previously imposed by the Licensing Court or the Liquor Administration Board.

• Under 18s must not enter or remain in the bar area of a registered club. A maximum court imposed fine of $2,200, or an on-the-spot penalty of $220, applies to the under 18 year old.
• Where under 18s enter a bar area of a registered club and are not immediately removed from this bar area a maximum court imposed fine of $5,500, or an on-the-spot penalty of $1,100, applies to a club, secretary, or manager.

• a parent, step-parent, or guardian of the minor
• the minor’s spouse or de facto partner
• a person who is temporarily standing in as the parent of the minor.

If a responsible person is aware that a suspected under 18 year old is attempting to enter the premises, the responsible person must refuse entry unless the person produces a current proof of age document and indicates the person is over 18. A maximum court imposed fine of $5,500, or an on-the-spot penalty of $550, applies to this offence.

Under 18s can enter or stay in a bar area of a registered club while in the company of a responsible adult for as long as is reasonably necessary to travel to another area of the club they can lawfully enter (e.g. a dining area).

Under 18s can be in the bar area of a registered club to attend a wedding reception for:

• a club member
• a child or parent of a club member
• someone for whom a club member has acted as a guardian.

The under 18 year old must have been formally invited to the reception.

• Under 18s can enter and stay in a bar area of a registered club while in the company of a responsible adult when performing as part of a show or other live entertainment performance held in the bar area.

Under 18s can enter or remain in a bar area of a registered club if they are:

• an apprentice or trainee receiving trade training (other than training in the sale, supply or service of alcohol);
• receiving training and instruction in the servicing, repair or maintenance of gaming machines under the supervision of a licensed gaming machines technician.

Restrictions continue to apply to under 18s in gaming machine areas of a club under the law.

Under 18s must not be:

• in a gaming machine area of a registered club. A maximum court imposed fine of $1,100, or an on-the-spot penalty of $55, applies to the under 18 year old.
• under 18s must not be in the gaming machine area of a registered club. If they are not removed immediately, a maximum court imposed fine of $5,500, or an on-the-spot penalty of $550, applies to the club and secretary.
• under 18s on club premises as the guest of the member are not permitted in any gaming machine area. If they are not removed immediately, a maximum court imposed fine of $2,200, or an on-the-spot penalty of $220, applies to the member.

Under 18s are permitted in other club areas – including a non-restricted area or to attend an event held under a club functions authorisation which allows under 18s and non-members to attend functions.

They can enter:

• as a guest of a member or a temporary member
• as a junior member
• while attending an event under a club’s functions authorisation.

As a guest of a temporary member, they must:

• remain in the company of the temporary member
• not sign the guest register.

Where under 18s are a guest of a temporary member, the temporary member must be a responsible adult to them. If a responsible adult allows underage consumption of alcohol a maximum court imposed fine of $3,300, or an on-the-spot penalty of $330, applies to the responsible adult.

Alcohol trading hours for on-premises consumption are unrestricted and continue to be determined by the club, unless restrictions were imposed by the former Liquor Administration Board or Licensing Court.

Alcohol can only be sold for consumption on the premises:

• Monday to Sunday: 5.00am – 12:00am

An extended trading authorisation can be sought to allow trading outside of the standard trading period. Up to 18 hour trading can be approved due to the required 6-hour shutdown period.

An extended trading authorisation can only be granted to for takeaway alcohol services on Sundays:

10pm - 11pm on normal Sundays (not Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve)
10pm - 12:00am on Sundays that fall on 24 or 31 December.

A 6-hour closure period applies to all liquor licences, including those with extended trading hours. It usually starts at 4.00am and ends at 10.00am each day.

You can apply to change the 6-hour closure period:

• temporarily
• permanently
• to different times on different days of the week.

In your application, you need to provide detail on:

• the current and proposed hours of closure, and why the closing period should be changed
• the demonstrated or likely needs of patrons
• the interests of the local community
• the opinion of local police on the proposal, if any
• ways you will minimise harm associated with misuse and abuse of alcohol - including harm arising from violence and other anti-social behaviour
• ways you will promote, sell and supply alcohol safely and responsibly
• ways the proposal will not detract from the amenity of community life.

Also see

The licensee and all staff involved in selling, serving or supplying alcohol need to have completed an approved Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) course and hold a valid NSW competency card.

Licensee training or Advanced Licensee training is mandatory for licensees and managers.

Staff with gaming machine responsibilities also need to hold a current RCG competency card.

The following outlines what you'll need for your application.

Your application can take longer to review if we don’t have all the details we need to assess it. We will come back to you to obtain the missing information to progress your application.

You can help us speed up the application process by:

• Providing all the correct information at the time you apply
• Responding to our request for missing information as soon as possible after we contact you.

What you need:

• details of the venue owner
• details of the organisation (the applicant of a club licence must be a corporation)
• ABN or ACN
• names and birthdates of all directors and officeholders
• a current Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) extract
• if applicable, an appointment of manager notice
• a floor plan showing the proposed boundaries for the licensed area
• a copy of development consent or approval for your premises
• proposed liquor trading hours
• a copy of the club's constitution
• a completed Statement of Risks and Potential Effects (SoRPE). For further information, visit the apply for a liquor licence page.
• a liquor plan of management (PDF 162.77KB)
• if applicable, a completed applicant declaration (TDEC5) (PDF 237.41KB)
• if applicable, a completed declaration by the proposed club secretary (PDF 183.7KB)
• payment.

Additional forms related to this licence are available here.

Once your application is lodged, you will be provided with a public site notice which you will need to affix to your premises until the application is granted. Council, NSW Police and agency stakeholders will be automatically notified of your application.

You must:

• Affix the site notice to the front of the premises and ensure it is visible to the public. This site notice must remain in place until your application has been determined.
• Notify neighbouring premises within a 100-metre radius of your venue
• Notify the recognised leaders or representatives of the local aboriginal community, and aboriginal health and social services in the local government area
• A paper form version of the site notices can be downloaded below if you wish to complete them manually at your convenience prior to lodgement of your application.

APP300 club liquor application site notice PDF, 156.26 KB

We will advertise your application on the Liquor and Gaming Application Noticeboard for 30 days. The community can comment on your application, as well as people who were consulted as part of the SoRPE process, if applicable.

• We'll assess your application
• We'll notify you, and publish the outcome.

For details on this, and what else happens if your application is approved or rejected, see What to expect at Apply for a liquor licence in NSW