General bar - liquor licence

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 general bar 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 general licence is subject to an annual liquor licence fee, due in May each year. Read more about annual liquor licence fees.

The Liquor Act and Regulations have certain requirements for hotels, including:

• Your premises must be open to the public and not run as a private club.
• Free drinking water must be available to patrons whenever alcohol is served.
• Food must be available whenever alcohol is served on the premises.
• A sign must be displayed at the front of the premises that shows:
  • the name of the premises
  • the type of liquor licence held and that the premises holds a general bar licence
  • the name of the licensee.
• Under 18s are permitted only in those areas of the premises where a minors area authorisation has been approved by the Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority (ILGA).
• An incident register must be maintained where the premises regularly trades past 12:00am.
• Conditions can be imposed on the licence, either under the liquor laws or by ILGA.

​​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

• 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 see if this is current.

The Licence conditions page approved by the Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority 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.

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

* These hours are subject to the 6-hour closure period

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.

Resources

• Liquor Fee Schedule details the application fee
• More information on changing the 6-hour closure period
• Application form to change your closure period (PDF 685.47KB)

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.

This requirement also applies to security staff and promotional staff conducting tastings on the premises.

The Liquor Regulation 2018 introduced an additional two compulsory courses for licensees and managers:

1. Licensee training
2. Advanced licensee training

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 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'll need

Statement of Risks and Potential Effects: When you apply for a hotel (general bar) liquor licence, you must prepare a Statement of Risks and Potential Effects (SoRPE).

What else you need before you apply:

• a floor plan (PDF 2MB) showing the proposed boundaries for the licensed area (and any authorisations applied for)
• a copy of development approval consent from your local council or provide proof that you have applied for consent
• proposed liquor trading hours
• details of the venue owner
• contact details for you or a person authorised to submit your application
• if applicable, a completed applicant declaration (TDEC5) (PDF 237.41KB)
• a liquor plan of management (PDF 162.77KB)

If applying as an individual you'll also need:

• evidence of your Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) qualifications
• a current National Police Certificate issued within the last three months
• the three identity documents you used when applying for the National Police Certificate.

If you're applying as an organisation you'll also need:

• ABN or ACN
• the names and birthdates of all directors and officeholders (if it is a proprietary company)
• a current Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) extract
• if applicable, inclusion of the appointment of manager notice (PDF 636.18KB)

Application Notices: 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, 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 with 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 before lodging your application.

APP400 hotel liquor application site notice (PDF 214.1KB)

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 SoRPRE process, if applicable.

For more information, at any time you can contact us using the details below on this page.

• 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