Bellissimo Bar & Bottle Shop
Bellissimo Bar & Bottle Shop, Harrisdale has recently opened its doors after a lengthy application process. The project began in November 2020, with the application only being approved and finished late last month, allowing them to finally open on Wednesday, 21st of June. The bar & bottleshop is part of a new shopping centre called ‘The Village Harrisdale’.
During initial discussions with the owner, we were told that he was more tempted to go with a liquor store licence, however the landscape of decisions coming out at that time from the licensing authority was heavily not in favour of approving liquor stores. Having further discussed the slightly higher likelihood of having a tavern licence approved and having a genuine on-premises food & beverage offering on top of a packaged liquor offering, the owner decided to settle on a tavern licence. Of late, the liquor store & tavern combination has become a popular trend, with the browsing sections for packaged liquor blending with the overall tavern aesthetic. Places such as Besk in West Leederville and Casa in Mt Hawthorn are top WA examples of this.
The application process required extensive public interest and section 36B(4) submissions due to the type of licence type being applied for. Public interest submissions are based around how the application will not increase harm or ill-health in the community and other matters, whereas section 36B(4) submissions are about the reasonable requirements of the public for packaged liquor. In recent times, approval of applications with takeaway liquor have not come easy, so the application was not without significant risk.
Usually, to overcome 36B(4) submissions you need to provide an item or licensed service that is not already available in the locality, and is proven to be wanted, desired, or required by the local community. This was accomplished by the owner providing a list of packaged liquor that was proven to be desired by the public, resulting in it becoming a condition of his liquor licence.
Bellissimo, to comply with their licence, will have a unique selection of craft beers and ciders, rare local wines, a diverse and extensive range of Italian liquor, and a unique offering of international sakes, Indian liquor, Georgian clay pot wines, Armenian cognacs, and organic and preservative free wines. On top of this, Bellissimo will have a rotating set of 6 to 12 craft beers available on the growler system, and selective food items designed to pair well with the drinks on offer.
Outside of liquor licence specifics, we also had to lodge a change of use development application with the City of Armadale. The premises was initially approved as a post office, and we went through an extensive (and publicly advertised) application process to change the use to liquor store. This involved several rounds of submissions and letters addressing Council concerns. This process started in mid-December 2020, and was approved in mid-February 2021.
The application received no objections and gained conditional approval on November 2022 – 2 years after the owner first signed on with us. With the fit out completed just recently, Bellissimo has finally opened their doors after this lengthy application process. A big thank you to Amrit for the opportunity to assist in the opening – it’s been a long time coming, and it’s great to see Amrit be able to provide this new service to the Harrisdale community.