Change in maximum trading hours
The maximum trading hours for new and existing alcohol licensed businesses will change from Monday 9 December 2024.
You cannot sell or supply alcohol beyond your current licence hours if they are shorter than those listed. Selling alcohol outside the permitted trading hours may result in enforcement action.
On-licences
Businesses with alcohol
on-licences cannot sell alcohol:
- outside the city centre after 3am
- within the city centre after 4am.
Hotel on-licences may sell alcohol to lodgers at any time.
You cannot sell alcohol within Auckland after 3am:
- on boats, planes, buses, trains and other types of transportation
- if you run a catering business.
Off-licences
Premises with
off-licences cannot sell alcohol across Auckland after 9pm. Remote (online) sellers can sell alcohol at any time but only deliver to customers between 6am and 11pm.
Club-licences
All premises with
club licences cannot sell alcohol after 1am. RSAs will be able to sell alcohol from 5am on Anzac Day if their licence conditions permit.
Temporary freeze
From Monday 16 September 2024, a temporary two-year freeze on new off-licences in the city centre and 23 other priority overlay areas came into effect.
Visit
Local alcohol policy areas for maps of the city centre and priority overlay areas.
This also means applications for new off-licences are likely to be declined for the next two years in the following areas:
- Auckland city centre
- Avondale
- Clendon
- Glen Eden
- Glen Innes
- Helensville and Parakai
- Henderson
- Hunters Corner
- Māngere
- Māngere East
- Manukau
- Manurewa
- Mt Wellington
- Oranga
- Ōtāhuhu
- Ōtara
- Panmure
- Papakura
- Papatoetoe
- Point England
- Pukekohe
- Takanini
- Wellsford and Te Hana
- Wiri.
The freeze does not apply to:
- renewal applications
- new off-licence applications for premises operating under an off-licence in the last six months
- remote (online) sales premises, complementary sales premises and auctioneers.
New applications
The
District Licensing Committee (DLC) now reviews applications based on the Local Alcohol Policy changes.
This includes applications submitted before the
Local Alcohol Policy (LAP) came into effect.
New applications are likely to be declined for:
- neighbourhood centres
- city centre and priority overlay areas from 16 September 2026, which is two years after the temporary freeze.
However, if a new application is made during this time, the DLC will assess it on a case-by-case basis. You will need to include reasons in your application for why a new off-licence should be approved despite the LAP. This does not apply to remote (online) sales premises.
Visit
GeoMaps for location maps of the neighbourhood centre.
Conditions to operate the business
According to the new policy, the DLC will need to apply some conditions on new or renewed licences from 16 September 2024. This can include:
More information
Visit
Last call: Council adopts Local Alcohol Policy for Auckland to find out how the new Local Alcohol Policy will have an effect on licence holders and Auckland’s communities.
