The Sydney night life scene simply died when the government put up the shutters in Kings Cross. It was a bawdy concentration of drinking holes that made much use of the female anatomy to draw in thousands of revellers until the wee small hours of the morning. It became a dangerous place to visit but the surging crowds loved it and when it closed our reduced drinking hours put us out of favour with the rest ofthe world.
The lid was kept firmly shut on any alternative emerging to replace Kings Cross when the required liquor license needed to be obtained from an existing venue. The price of such a license soared and they changed hands at exorbitant prces. Sad to say, Sydney now lacks the charm and conviviality that made Kings Cross famous around the world.
The government has taken a step into the unknown by ending the eleven year freeze on issuing new liquor licenses. As a consequence, the price of existing liquor licenses has collapsed, much to the chagrin of those holding such a valuable entity. It frees up the opportunity of the entrepreneur to get into the entertainment business and Sydney will undoubtedly gain a new entertaiment Mecca - but it will not be in Kings Cross.
That suburb has changed forever. " Gentrification " set in once those bawdy bars closed and this venue close to the centre of the city has been reclaimed by the commercial world. That Kings Cross phenomenon was derived from Sydney becoming the R and R centre for the Vietnam war and thousands of free spending servicement on leave provided the stimulus for the type of entertainment that flourished there.
This is happening at a very interesting time. We are emerging from a pandemic and new entertainment venues will have to abide by rules that limit crowds. It is hoped that what replaces Kings Cross will be widely dispersed, but that depends on what finds favour and there will be a tendency for an entertainmernt cluster to emerge. The lure of the old Kings Cross was the proliferation of " girly " shows packed into that famous " golden mile ".
The government has accepted that Sydney needs an off colour, raffish draw card to match the rest of the world. It waits to see what emerges, knowing that it will not be popular with the existing people that live there. As happened in Kings Cross, property values will soar as the surroundings draw in more entertainment venues. Entertainment venues bring their own rewards of increased job opportunities and work for live bands. The Sydney music scene will expand rapidly once this new era gets under way.
We are on the cusp of a new era. Just what - and where - remains to be seen. It will be an exciting time as something new finds its place in Australia's biggest city. There is the inevitability that Kings Cross would be replaced and now the roadblock has been removed it is about to happen. The only question is what form it will take !
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