Those looking for an early morning kebab on Beaumont Street may get two more hours to satisfy their craving after an application was lodged to keep the Oasis food complex open until 4am.
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The food court on the corner of Beaumont and Cleary streets is approved to trade until 2am seven nights a week, but has lodged a modification application to push the closing time to 4am on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.
The food outlets opened beyond 2am until 2017 when a 1991 development application was discovered that showed three of the five outlets were legally supposed to close by 10pm on weekdays, midnight on Saturdays and 8pm on Sundays.
A new application was lodged later that year to allow the premises to stay open until 2am on a 12 month trial. The hours were made permanent following the trial.
The complex is a popular hot spot for punters looking for a feed after a night out, but the area has sometimes attracted attention for the wrong reasons.
Footage of a wild street brawl in the middle of the road at the intersection of Beaumont and Cleary streets made national headlines in 2017.
Documents lodged with the new application state previous conditions imposed included installation of CCTV, upgraded lighting, security fencing at closing time and the employment of security on Friday and Saturday nights.
"These have all been implemented and proven to be successful in deterring anti social behaviour," the documents state.
The application said other food premises in the area were open until 4am, and the approved hours of 2am closure created "a disadvantage in commercial trade" due to peak times being late Friday and Saturday nights.
"The current requirement to close at 2am results in a large portion of customers moving onto the alternate premises in the immediate locality putting the occupiers of the subject site at a financial disadvantage," the documents said.
The application included a photo of crowds at nearby outlets after the Oasis complex closed, and argued that increased trading hours would disperse these patrons across more outlets, reducing crowds at each place.
It is proposed that the seating area in the Oasis complex would close 2am, and food sold afterwards to be takeaway only.
Sage Swinton
Sage Swinton is a news reporter who was born and bred in the Hunter. She has been with the Newcastle Herald since June 2020, and covers Newcastle council as well as other general news.
Sage Swinton is a news reporter who was born and bred in the Hunter. She has been with the Newcastle Herald since June 2020, and covers Newcastle council as well as other general news.
