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A club licence allows registered clubs to sell alcohol to their members and guests for consumption on and off the premises. If a registered club owns more than one premises, each must be separately licensed.
Gaming machines may also be operated, subject to separate approval. Types of businesses that use this licence include:
A Cumulative Impact Assessment applies to the Kings Cross and Sydney CBD Entertainment precincts. The Assessment aims to manage areas of the precincts with higher concentrations of licensed premises, where cumulative impacts and risk of alcohol-related harm are greater.
The Authority will generally not approve new higher impact premises, or more late-night trading or licensed boundary increases for these premises, in the following designated Cumulative Impact Areas:
If making an application for a club licence in one of these areas, you should read the Assessment PDF, 9516.42 KB to understand the requirements that must be met. A compelling case will need to be made about community benefits and the harm reduction measures that will be in place.
Precinct maps:
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:
The information below will help you to prepare your application and gather all the necessary materials for your licence. However, if you're ready now...
Apply online
Additional forms related to this license are available here.
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 and Police will be automatically notified of your application.
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.
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.
Licensee training or Advanced Licensee training is mandatory for licensees and managers.
It is best practice to keep copies of your and your staff’s qualifications in a register on the premises.
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:
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 - midnight 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:
In your application, you need to provide detail on:
The Liquor Act 2007 and Liquor Regulation 2018 include a range of statutory conditions that apply to club licences.
These conditions include:
Licence conditions can also be imposed, varied or revoked by ILGA and by the Secretary of the Department of Customer Service.
This 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:
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.
A club licence is held by the club – the club is the licensee. This is known in the Liquor Act as a corporate licensee.
A registered club must have one secretary who is also the chief executive officer. The secretary must be approved by the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA).
Where a club operates only one premises, the secretary of the club is automatically taken to be the appointed manager of the club’s licensed premises.
The secretary must hold an RSA competency card and if they have gaming machine duties must also hold an RCG competency card.
All corporate licensees, including registered clubs, are required to have a manager appointed for the licensed premises. Where a club operates more than one premises, the club must appoint a manager to each premises where the club’s secretary is not present.
Before being appointed, the manager must apply under the Liquor Act for approval to manage licensed premises (application for Approved Manager Approval). Once approval has been granted by ILGA a person may be appointed to act as a manager.
A person’s approval as a manager of licensed premises generally does not expire. It applies to the person, not to any particular club. Once a person has received approval as a manager it applies to any licensed premises the person is authorised to manage.
ILGA can place conditions on the types of licensed premises that an approved person can manage and may limit a person to only managing registered clubs, or certain types of registered clubs.
Where a club operates more than one premises, the club must appoint a manager to each premises where the club’s secretary is not present.
Managers and their staff must hold an RSA competency card and if they have gaming machine duties must also hold an RCG competency card.
Important: A club, secretary, or manager is guilty of an offence if a person under 18 years old enters a bar area of a registered club and is 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 these two offences.
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 be in the bar area of a registered club to attend a wedding reception for:
The under 18 year old must have been formally invited to the reception.
Under 18s can enter or remain in a bar area of a registered club if they are:
Restrictions continue to apply to under 18s in gaming machine areas of a club under the law.
Under 18s must not be:
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 temporary member, they must:
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.
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.
Your application costs include:
Use our Liquor Fee Schedule to calculate your 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.
A Club licence is subject to an annual liquor licence fee, due in May each year. Read more about annual liquor licence fees.
You must be 18 years or older and authorised to lodge this licence application.
Create a Service NSW account to apply online for a new licence or maintain your existing licence online.
Once your application is lodged, you will receive a site notice. This notice must be affixed to the location of the proposed licensed premises and must be provided to the occupiers of surrounding buildings.
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 CIS process, if applicable.
Use our online feedback form to send us your questions, suggestions or feedback. You can also:
Call: 1300 024 720 | Monday to Friday 9am - 4pm
Email: contact.us@liquorandgaming.nsw.gov.au
Access the Liquor Act 2007 and the Liquor Regulation 2018 at www.legislation.nsw.gov.au
