JUST before 6.30am on a mid-spring day without a cloud in the sky, the Bathers Way is heaving with joggers, walkers and bike riders. The waves along the stretch from Merewether to Cooks Hill are packed with surfers. The carparks of both ocean baths are nearing capacity.
Newcastle is full of morning people. Night owls still unconscious under the doona at 6am have missed what the early larks call "the best part of the day".
If Newcastle was a person, it would be an early lark. The city comes alive in the morning and winds down mid-afternoon before getting ready to drape on the jim-jams at 6pm. Cafes generally close between 2-3pm and most retail closes between 5-6pm. Few people are around on city streets after 7pm on most week days. Restaurant kitchens closing by 8pm and lights out in residences across the city by 10pm is frustrating for both tourists and many locals.
It wasn't always this way. Newcastle used to have a wonderful night life where headline bands came on at 11pm. Lock-out laws, noise laws and COVID-lockdowns seem to have normalised early nights beyond the mini-casino pokie palaces. Laws play a role in deterring a vibrant night-time economy, and having the world's third-highest beer tax puts major pressure on the hospitality industry. Difficulty for promoters trying to organise entertainment in Newcastle made news again last week after community complaints forced the cancellation of a music event planned for the Carrington Pump House.
The 2023 Year In Review report by WHOOP, a wearable health and fitness coach that analyses sleep, shows Aussies have the world's earliest average bedtime, plus the second-earliest wake-up time. It's probably why Newcastle, Sydney and other Australian cities are boring after 9pm on most nights of the week, yet there are elbow-room only queues for coffee at 6.30am.
In the NSW government's Visitor Economy Strategy 2030 Review Summary, the state's tourism agency Destination NSW announced it is changing its focus from attracting major events. While a calendar of dependable events such as Mardi Gras and Vivid and big sporting events will continue, the new strategy looks towards developing leisure-oriented experiences.
The report says modern visitors don't just want to visit an iconic destination they can see online such as the Opera House, and that visitors "want authentic connections with local culture, stunning landscapes, delicious food, a spontaneous night out and enriching, memorable moments. This is 'experience tourism'. "
NSW Tourism Minister John Graham says the change of focus was driven by market research.
It might also be driven by a resignation that an increasingly ingrained early-to-bed culture in the state can't be challenged while over-regulation, a relatively high cost of food and beverage, and whingy complaints from those who refuse to have their early-to-bed regime occasionally interrupted do not align with marketing blurbs proudly boasting 'vibrant global city' status.
Vibrant global cities don't do shut-eye at 10pm.
At the same time as the state government wants its tourism agency to refocus its efforts towards encouraging 'experience tourism', the City of Sydney has released plans for entertainment precincts in the Sydney CBD to allow bars, clubs, cafes and retail business across the majority of the CBD to apply to open around the clock. Additionally, a special entertainment precinct will be established that will include most of the CBD area. Special Entertainment Precincts will potentially allow venues to trade later without the need for a development application and aim to reinvigorate cultural life and the night-time economy.
The City of Newcastle has made some positive changes in the past few years that have helped to resuscitate the night-time economy. Elected representatives of NSW's second largest city should closely observe the planned special entertainment precinct of the state's biggest city and continue to work with businesses to identify impediments to ensuring visitors and locals have the opportunity for a more varied nightlife that provides both employment and a richer cultural 'experience'.
Not everyone wants to go to bed at 10pm.
