In 2014 the New South Wales government slapped draconian lockout laws on King's Cross when street violence resulted in the death of two young men assaulted on separate incidents of alcohol fuelled violence. Patrons were stopped from entering premises from 1-30 am and this tamed the drunken crowds of revellers who previously thronged the streets of Sydney's entertainment Mecca until well after daybreak.
Consequently, the entertainment that drew vast crowds to Kings Cross closed their doors and shut down. Some claim that the " night life " scene in Sydney dropped to the standard of a poor, country town and lost any comparison with world cities. The statistics clearly showed a massive reduction in assaults and other evidence of street crime.
Now government has had a change of heart, and from March 4 those restrictions will be lifted. Patrons will be allowed to enter pubs, clubs and nightclubs after 1-30 am and restrictions on drinks served will be lifted. It is clearly a " wait and see " approach.. Those laws can be reapplied if crowd control is again needed.
The entertainment that previously drew crowds to Kings Cross was " girly " shows drawing comparisons between venues. It was a mix of sex and alcohol that drew the people in ands clearly it was out of control. It was a place where illicit drugs were easy to find and it was Sydney's notorious red light district. The conduct of these boisterous crowds was in itself what drew in more patrons to view the excitement that prevailed.
The crime elements which ran Kings Cross entertainment have moved on to new ventures and they would need to recruit new artists to create new shows, and it will be difficult to resurrect Kings Cross to the same intensity that labled it " the river of gold " of yester year.
It is fact of life that every world city has a suburb of disreputable entertainment that draws visitors who both deplore its depravity and thoroughly enjoy its atmosphere. Sydney, without Kings Cross became " dull " in the eyes of many world travellers. The government has deliberately eased those restrictions to create a resumption of night life in Australia's biggest city.
How this works out, remains to be seen. That " old " Kings Cross was the culmination of the way world events combined to create an entertainment hub. When Sydney became and " R and R " hub for soldiers fighting a war in Vietnam the type of entertainment offering was attuned to the needs of young men with dollars to spend. Their need was good food, copious amounts of alcohol - and shows featuring sexy women in provocative poses, and that what Kings Cross provided.
It is now a different era, and tastes will be very different. We seemed to be on the cusp of the casino age in Sydney and there was the likelihood that entertainment might coerce around that but the government decided it would prefer the sleaze factor to remain in Kings Cross.
There are no guarantees of what will happen. Entertainment is a fickle component of young minds and a resurrected Kings Cross may not find favour. It may head in an entirely new direction, What form it will take is as uncertain as trying to predict future fashion !
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