The Liquor Licensing Board has granted licensed premises permission to keep the doors open until 2am on New Year’s Eve, which falls on a Saturday this year.
Normally, all licensed establishments are required to be closed by midnight on a Saturday.
The Liquor Licensing Board made the decision this week that bars, nightclubs, restaurants and hotels are permitted to sell liquor until 1:50am and play music until 2am on the morning of Sunday, 1 Jan.
The board noted that all other licensing stipulations remain in effect.
This year, Christmas Eve also falls on a Saturday, but the board said it will not be granting any extensions for that night.
The last time New Year’s Eve fell on a Saturday was in 2016, when the board also granted a similar exemption as this year.
Next year will mark the first time the Liquor Licensing Board will be able to exempt bars and nightclubs from restrictions on music and dancing events on a New Year’s Eve that falls on a Sunday.
A bill passed in 2018 enabled the Liquor Licensing Board to grant exemptions to permit music and dancing at licensed premises on a New Year’s Eve Sunday.
Before that amendment was made to the Music and Dancing (Control) Act, neither Cabinet nor the board legally had the discretion to offer exemptions to bars and restaurants for Sunday performances on New Year’s Eve.
The change in the legislation followed controversy in 2017, when New Year’s Eve fell on a Sunday, and no exemptions could be granted to allow venues to operate outside the usual Sunday restrictions.
This led to some being forced to cancel DJs or live bands after realising no exemptions would be forthcoming. On that night, however, a few entertainment outlets still managed to go ahead with their live music events by starting them at 12:01am on Monday.
More changes were made to the Music and Dancing (Control) Act this week, when Parliament approved a bill that would allow live music and dancing in standalone bars in Cayman on Sundays. Before this amendment, only bars in hotels, restaurants, ports and airports were allowed to play music on Sundays.
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