Revellers on New Year’s Eve this year, which falls on a Sunday, will be able to party until 4am, after the Liquor Licensing Board granted an extension to bars, restaurants, nightclubs and hotels.
However, no similar extension has been granted for Christmas Eve, which also falls on a Sunday, and normal licensing rules are in effect for that day, the board has decided.
On New Year’s Eve, licensed premises will be allowed to sell liquor and play music from the start of their normal hours until 4am.
According to an announcement by the board this week, the last serving of alcohol must be done by 3:50am, 10 minutes before closing time, and music must cease at 4am on 1 Jan. 2024.
2018 law change enables partying on NYE Sunday
This year is the first time the Liquor Licensing Board has been able to exempt bars and nightclubs from restrictions on music and dancing events on a New Year’s Eve that falls on a Sunday.
The last time New Year’s Eve was on a Sunday was in 2017. There was no music or dancing at venues that evening because, under existing legislation at that time, neither the board nor Cabinet had the legal discretion to grant exemptions to licensed premises to allow music or dancing on a New Year’s Eve Sunday.
Some establishments that night began their live entertainment at 12:01am on Monday to get around the ban, but no such steps will be necessary this year.
An outcry over a ban on live music and dancing on New Year’s Eve in 2017 led to the passage the following year of an amendment to the Music and Dancing (Control) Act that enabled the board to grant exemptions to permit entertainment at licensed premises on a New Year’s Eve Sunday.
Further loosening of the Sunday licensing rules were made last year when lawmakers approved a bill to 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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