Pop-up bar and events licence

Licence for pop-up bars and events and pop-up promotions

The pop-up licence is aimed at supporting established industry, entrepreneurs, creatives and other businesses to operate small-scale pop-up bars and events, such as pop-up bars and restaurants, art shows, live performances. The pop-up licence is also available to NSW licensed producers to provide tastings and sell take-away liquor at pop-up promotional events.

These types of low-risk licensed activities can enliven key areas by attracting visitors to under-utilised areas and providing experiences that are unique in local communities or across NSW, or out of the ordinary.

Liquor & Gaming NSW continues to work in consultation with key stakeholders, including relevant councils, local industry and police to streamline approvals to run pop-ups.

Applying tips:

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 any requests for missing information as soon as possible after we contact you.

The information below will help you to prepare your application and gather all the necessary supporting materials for your licence.

Download the application form: App1100,1120,1130 Pop up bar, events and promotion application form PDF, 1179.09 KB

Allows you to sell or supply liquor for consumption at a temporary pop up bar or event
Allows you to sell or supply liquor for tastings, and take-away liquor, at off-site pop-up promotions if you are already a NSW licensed producer
Allows your pop-up bar to operate over a maximum period of 12 weeks (which may or may not run on consecutive days during that period)
May be used for smaller-scale pop-up bars and events that have a beneficial social or economic impact on the community by:
- activating or revitalising local places and spaces, or
- encouraging more diverse and vibrant social, cultural or business activities in the night-time economy, or
- encouraging outdoor dining to create vibrant local communities and additional opportunities for business.

What’s the difference between a pop up bar and pop up event?

A pop-up bar is a bar operation where the sale/supply of liquor by retail for consumption on the premises is the primary activity.

Patron capacity must not exceed 100 at any time
Trading times are to be specified on the licence and may be approved between 10am and midnight on any day.

A pop-up event is where the sale/supply of liquor by retail for consumption on the premises is ancillary to an event.

Appropriate measures must be in place to ensure the number of patrons at the event does not exceed 300 at any time
Trading times must align with the event times and may be between 8am and midnight on any day.

What’s a pop-up promotion?

A pop-up promotion is an off-site promotional event that allows NSW licensed producers, such as craft brewers and wineries, to showcase local products and provide tastings of their own products at pop-up promotions and sell them for takeaway purposes.

Licensed producers are already authorised to sell and supply their products at industry shows, producers’ markets and trade fairs under certain conditions, but can apply for a pop-up licence for other types of community events where they wish to promote local products on a small-scale, temporary basis.

The product must not be:

a drink that is designed to be consumed rapidly (eg a “shot”, “shooter” or bomb”)
a ready to drink beverage with an alcohol by volume content of more than 5%

To qualify for this licence type, you must provide evidence of why a pop-up licence, and not another type of licence, is appropriate for the sale or supply of liquor for your proposed event.

A range of factors are considered as part of the assessment process, and every application is assessed on its individual merits.

Some or all of the following factors will be relevant:

Social or economic impact of the pop-up

You must show how your pop-up will have a benefit on the community, either socially or economically through:

activating or revitalising local places and spaces, or
encouraging more diverse and vibrant social, cultural or business activities in the night-time economy.

In showing these benefits, you can consider how your pop-up:

encourages experiences for residents or visitors that are unique in a local community or to NSW
supports events that contribute to the responsible development of the live music, entertainment, tourism and hospitality industries
enables innovative business ideas to be piloted
helps raise awareness of, or enhances the image or profile of the local community in which it is being run.

Supervising the event

How will you ensure that your pop-up bar or event is run responsibly and will not unduly impact on neighbourhood amenity?
How you will ensure that the patron capacity of your pop-up bar or event will not exceed the maximum limit?
Will liquor be available throughout the proposed licensed area or only in one specific area? How will you control that?
How will you ensure responsible service of alcohol practices are observed, and intoxication prevented?
How will you prevent liquor at a pop-up bar or event being brought into or taken away from the licensed area?
How controls will be in place for take-away sales from pop-up promotions (e.g. sales in sealed containers only)?
Will security officers be engaged for the duration of the event?
Will food be available throughout the event? What type of food and quantity will be available?

name, local government area, and details of where and when the pop-up will take place,
a plan clearly showing the proposed boundaries for the licensed area and key features, including entry/exit points, bar areas, any adjoining streets and the direction North,
details about what liquor, food, entertainment, sanitation and security will be at the pop-up,
if applicable, a copy of development consent or approval allowing the licence at your venue from your local council,
proposed liquor trading hours,
details of the venue and business owner,
contact details for you or a person authorised to submit your application,
if applicable, a completed applicant declaration (TDEC5) (PDF 176.7 KB),
payment,
estimate quantities of the amount and types of liquor to be sold.

Trading hours for a pop-up licence are determined by the Authority.
Trading hours for pop-up bars are limited to 10am and midnight on any day of the week.
Trading hours for pop-up events are limited to 8am and midnight on any day.
Trading hours for pop-up promotions are limited to 8am to midnight on any day.

In special circumstances such as COVID-19, the Authority may approve later trading up to 2am.

The Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority and/or it’s delegates may impose conditions on a liquor licence.

It is recommended you use the Conditions form PDF, 770.13 KB to discuss the conditions with NSW Police prior to lodging your application.

Lodging this form with your liquor licence application will reduce the processing time.

Licence requirements

In your application, you will also need to provide:

A full site plan of the proposed licensed premises with a key showing:
- all entry/exit points
- points of sale/supply of liquor (i.e. all bar areas)
- boldly outline the entire boundary of where the bar or event will be run.
- All the streets aligning the boundaries of the proposed licensed area
If the applicant is a corporation, provide a current ASIC search containing details of directors and officeholders.
A Plan of Management for the operation of the event including the alcohol plan of management and practices in place.

In your application, you will also need to provide:

A full site plan of the proposed licensed premises with a key showing:
- all entry/exit points
- points of sale/supply of liquor (i.e. all bar areas)
- boldly outline the entire boundary of where the bar or event will be run.
If the applicant is a corporation, provide a current ASIC search containing details of directors and officeholders.
A Plan of Management for the operation of the event including the alcohol plan of management and practices in place.

The current fee is set out in the Liquor Fee Schedule.

You must be 18 years or older and authorised to lodge this licence application.

Download complete the pop-up licence application form PDF, 1179.09 KB.

Before you submit your application:

1. Lodge a notice

Immediately before submitting your application, or within two working days, lodge the notice that is part of the application form, and a copy of the application, to:

the local police station
local council or other consent authority.

2. Complete the application

Include the notification in step 1 with your application.

3. Lodge your application with us

Once you’ve completed all sections of your application, you can lodge your application with us in one of three ways:

Email a copy of your application to: functions.applications@liquorandgaming.nsw.gov.au

Post your application to: GPO Box 7060 Sydney NSW 2001

Visit us: Level 6, 323 Castlereagh Street, Haymarket.
We are open from Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm.

Next steps
Once your application is lodged, we will advertise it on the Liquor and Gaming Application Noticeboard for 14 days so that the community may provide comment on the application.