THE curfew at two of Orange’s popular nightspots has been pushed back to midnight, with Royal Hotel publican Tony McClure saying it was changed to accommodate shift workers.
The Royal and Standard hotels introduced an 11pm curfew for Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights last month to reduce alcohol related problems.
Mr McClure said the trial had been a success so far, but stressed that patrons needed to get the message that trouble will not be accepted at the two popular pubs.
He also denied the curfew was introduced to get patrons to the two pubs earlier in the evening.
“We need to change the public perception,” Mr McClure said. “We need to make people know they need to be responsible for their actions.
“Because if it keeps going, the NSW Government will put a halt to late night trading and no one wants that.”
Mr McClure said there had been no problems at the Royal Hotel since the curfew began last month.
He also said the curfew would be reviewed “weekly and monthly” to determine if it continued.
The new curfew means the pub shuts one hour earlier than previously.
The latest change was because of shift workers.
Mr McClure said: “We felt people working afternoon or night shifts were not being able to get into the hotels, but things have been working well.
“Hopefully the 12 o’clock curfew works well, too.”