Nightlife is booming in one part of Sydney – but there’s still a way to go

Nightlife is growing significantly faster in Sydney’s west than in the east: spending on dining in the Parramatta district has risen by 71 per cent over the past five years.

In Blacktown and south-west Sydney, spending has risen 44 and 43 per cent respectively over the same period, adjusted for inflation, while it has grown at 42 per cent in the Sydney CBD.

The data, based on depersonalised transaction information from Visa and analysed by the Herald, underscores the momentum achieved by local councils and the state government’s work to reform the night-time economy but it also reveals the work yet to be done to allow more businesses to open at night.

The data also shows that Sydney’s south-west and Parramatta regions recorded surges in in-person night-time transactions by 21 and 17 per cent respectively between 2019 and 2025, edging out the CBD and the eastern suburbs, which grew by 15 and 12 per cent.

The Northern Beaches and North Sydney/Hornsby regions recorded fewer transactions than they did in 2019, dropping by 4 per cent and 8 per cent respectively, though dining spending had risen over the same period.

Parramatta’s night-time turnaround

Walk down Parramatta’s Church Street on a Saturday night and you’ll see restaurants of every cuisine, shisha bars and dessert venues brimming with patrons.

But it is not just Church Street: analysis of businesses open late into the night shows clusters of activity around the south side of Parramatta’s railway station and the popular Little India dining precinct in Harris Park.

Frankie B’s, a pizza shop on the strip, is the first restaurant in eight years to operate 24 hours a day.

“If other restaurants could open for longer times as well, that’s when people are going [to] have more options to go out, but now it’s only us 24/7,” said Sam Sherpa, the manager of the Italian-inspired eatery known for its huge portion sizes. “If they got more stores opening, more live bands or more clubs around, that’d be awesome.”

Governments, at state and local levels, are trying to help. The City of Parramatta council last year updated its Late Night Trading development controls to allow 24-hour trading along most of the area and it is in talks to establish a Special Entertainment Precinct to make outdoor dining and noise approvals easier to access.

The NSW Labor government has unveiled a slew of policy tweaks to make it easier for businesses to operate at night. Among them are live music incentives: venues can stay open for two hours longer, with an 80 per cent reduction in liquor licence fees if they offer live music and performances. Seven venues in the Parramatta LGA have taken it up so far: the Dundas Sports & Recreation Club, the Winston, the Silverwater Hotel, the Commercial Hotel, the Albion Hotel, the Tollgate Hotel and the Station Hotel.

Also significant for the region was the designation of a Purple Flag, an internationally recognised metric to show an area has significant and reliable night-time activity. Parramatta is one of four regions in Sydney to be given one; the others are in the Sydney CBD, Lakemba and Marrickville.

But one problem persists, according to Visa’s night-time spend index: while the business environment (that is, the conditions to allow businesses to thrive at night) is strong, Parramatta is still significantly lacking in “vibrancy”: the number of people working, and the number of businesses trading at night. The more businesses that are open, the more options to spend time. The more options, the more people.

“Fewer [merchants] are open at night than in a lot of other places in Sydney, but the spending levels are still high,” said Simon Baptist, the company’s principal economist for Asia-Pacific. “The places that are open are doing well. For the places that aren’t open, there’s questions about what they can do to take advantage of this opportunity.”

That will come with time.

“Parramatta’s rise gives you a vision for where Sydney’s nightlife is heading,” said John Graham, the NSW minister responsible for the night-time economy, who is known as being particularly passionate about the portfolio. “The days of everyone piling into Kings Cross for a boozy night out are long gone. With precincts like Parramatta, you will see more culturally diverse, food-oriented, entertainment-driven precincts [that are] closer to transport links and where people live. That’s a big improvement on the old days.”

The Sydney Morning Herald has opened a bureau in the heart of Parramatta. Email parramatta@smh.com.au with news tips.