In the spirit of celebrating venues across Perth reopening again amid the Phase 3 easing of restrictions – we revisit one of our clients liquor licence application jobs, ahead of their grand reopening on July 2 – Palace Cinemas in Raine Square.

This job came about from our long-standing relationship with the Luna/Palace Joint Venture. In the past, we’ve worked on some of their prior projects, like Cinema Paradiso, Luna on SX and Windsor Cinemas, to name a few. The project itself was a landmark venture, because it was to be the first Palace Cinema to come to Western Australia.

Canford were asked to help obtain a liquor licence for the 9 cinemas, 4 platinum cinemas, and foyer area with 4 separate bars. We advised to apply for a Special Facility licence rather than a standard liquor licence application. There were a few reasons for this. Firstly, Palace would not be operating as a traditional food and beverage venue. Secondly, they wanted patrons to be able to take liquor from the foyer area into the cinemas. And thirdly, the wanted to allow unaccompanied juveniles inside the venue. As a result, they are ruled as ineligible for a standard restaurant or tavern liquor licence.

The application had interventions from both the Chief Health Officer and the Police.

These centered on:

• The size of the proposed licensed venue. The concern being providing liquor for the large area, meanwhile safely serving and managing patrons.
• Worry that unaccompanied juveniles would be in an unfit and unsafe environment
• Safety of patrons exiting the venue onto William Street and Wellington street which they viewed as an unsafe environment

After working through the above concerns, the Special Facility Licence was granted. Unfortunately, because of a fair amount of pushback, unaccompanied juveniles were not allowed. This was an issue Palace were desperate to resolve.

Through much discussion with the Director of Liquor Licensing however, we managed to come to an agreement to overturn the juvenile prohibition just in time for the opening.

Since opening in September 2018, the Raine Square venue has been cited as one of it’s most popular and visited venues in the country. Moreover, their Facebook and Instagram followings are in the thousands, and the reviews and general sentiment are all extremely positive. In short, we’re very grateful for the opportunity to have partnered Palace Cinemas and wish them the best for their July 2 re-opening!