Outdoor dining
Outdoor dining on streets is key to vibrant, active streetscapes and is supported by Inner West Council.
Restaurants, cafes, bars, pubs, small bars, breweries, and other food and drink businesses can apply to Council for the use of footpaths, and in some cases, kerbside parking spaces for outdoor dining purposes.
How to apply
Complete the Outdoor dining and footpath trading license application (PDF 184.2KB) and submit it to Council through our online self-service portal, instructions are below.
Please follow the below steps to lodge a footpath trading license application.
- Go to our online portal.
- Sign up to become a registered user and log in to apply for applications.
- Select Other Applications.
This can be found under Apply for… on the bottom right-hand side of the page.
- Select Public Approvals.
- Select Footpath Approval from the drop down underneath Type of Approval.
- Select Footpaths - Outdoor Dining.
- Enter an address in the search bar and select the relevant property from the drop-down list.
- Click the Next button to proceed.
This can be found in the bottom left-hand or top right-hand corner of the page.
- Provide a description of your proposal.
- Click the Next button to proceed. This will direct you to the summary of the pre-lodgement.
This can be found in the bottom left-hand or top right-hand corner of the page.
- Click the Lodge button to proceed.
This can be found in the top right-hand corner of the page.
- Click the Attachments section.
This can be found on the left-hand side of the page.
- Upload the required documents by dragging the files from your documents or by clicking the + Add button.
This can be found at the top of the page.
- Required documents:
- Click the Finalise and Lodge button to finish lodging your application.
This can be found in the top left-hand corner of the page.
If you have a general enquiry about footpath trading or outdoor dining please lodge an enquiry here: Footpath trading enquiry.
Liquor licence boundary changes associated with outdoor dining
If your premises has a liquor licence, you will need to temporarily change the boundaries on your licence in order to serve alcohol in an outdoor dining area.
Please submit the Liquor Licence application: temporary change of boundaries form (PDF 199.2KB) directly to Liquor & Gaming NSW. This form should be submitted separately from your Outdoor Dining application to Council.
Relevant links and forms