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Sun-seekers of Sydney, we’ve got good news. Way back in August 2024, the NSW Government announced that the long-outdated ban on standing while drinking outside Sydney venues was being repealed, and in the middle of last year, the City of Sydney confirmed that they’d be taking alfresco fun a step further, with all on-road dining fees permanently waived across the CBD and surrounding suburbs. Now, the city’s outdoor dining offering is levelling up again. To make alfresco eating easier for businesses, better for pedestrians and more beautiful for everyone who actually uses the city streets (read: all of us), The City of Sydney has opened public consultation on a raft of proposed changes to its outdoor dining guidelines.
If you cast your mind back to 2020 – when the city suddenly sprouted makeshift dining decks protected by chunky concrete barriers – you’ll remember how radically Sydney’s streetscape shifted almost overnight. What started as a pandemic survival tactic quickly became one of the city’s most popular urban experiments: streets felt more social and neighbourhoods more alive. Now, the City of Sydney wants to lock that energy in for the long term.
Endorsed by the City of Sydney in December and now open for an extended feedback period, the updated guidelines aim to cut leftover red tape, streamline approvals and, crucially, give venues more flexibility and certainty when it comes to using outdoor space. The headline change? Temporary on-street dining areas – the ones still hemmed in by brutalist concrete blocks – could become permanent footpath extensions.
Lord Mayor Clover Moore AO says it’s time to swap utilitarian barriers for thoughtfully designed, permanent spaces that will “change not just the face of our city but how we experience it.”
There’s a strong accessibility focus baked into the proposals, too. Rather than sticking rigidly to the traditional idea that the clear pedestrian path must run along the building line (which, in reality, is often interrupted by ramps, steps and utilities anyway), the City is proposing a more flexible approach: identify and protect a genuinely clear, accessible path of travel, wherever it makes most sense. The idea is to maximise space for dining while ensuring people with disabilities, those pushing prams and people with limited mobility can move through the city comfortably and safely.
Other proposed changes read like a wish list for hospitality operators. Businesses could set up outdoor dining outside adjacent properties (with consultation), use both sides of the clear path where space allows, and place more planter boxes and large pots to green up the street. The approval process would be faster and simpler, with less duplication and fewer notifications, while some of the more fiddly rules – like restrictions on standing without a table or shelf, or extra requirements around food service, toilets and heaters – would be scrapped altogether. Where possible, approvals could also be granted for up to five years, giving venues far more certainty.
The numbers show just how transformative outdoor dining has already been. Since 2020, the City has approved almost 1,000 applications, creating an estimated 13,000 square metres of new dining space across roads and footpaths and supporting more than 860 businesses. By waiving outdoor dining fees, the City of Sydney has delivered around $20 million in support to local venues. According to the City of Sydney, three-quarters of participating businesses reported hiring extra staff, while more than a third saw turnover jump by at least 20 per cent.
Public feedback on the proposed outdoor dining guidelines is open from January 12 to March 12 2026. If you’ve ever loved lingering over a long lunch on a sunny Sydney street – or simply enjoyed walking through neighbourhoods that feel more alive thanks to tables, chatter and clinking glasses – this is your chance to have a say in what our streets look like next.
You can read more about the proposals and have your say here.
Feel like a Spritz in the sun? Soon, your options will be endless. In the meantime, these are the best beer gardens in Sydney, and these are our favourite rooftop bars in the city.
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