Liquor Licence Checklist Victoria: Red Line Plan Requirements

A liquor licence checklist in Victoria is the list you run before a red line plan goes to Liquor Control Victoria. LCV, the regulator that took over liquor licensing from the VCGLR, publishes the rules on Red line plans for licensed areas (updated 5 December 2025). This page turns that guidance into a practical tick-list: the licensed-area boundary, the labels, the misses that get a plan queried, how long the drawing takes, and when a hand drawing is enough.

Cost, turnaround and the order of the job sit in Liquor Licence Redline Plan Victoria — Requirements & Cost. This page stays on the checklist. Café and restaurant detail is in Red Line Plans for Cafés and Restaurants. Footpath, kerbside and courtyard rules are in Outdoor Dining and Kerbside Areas on a Red Line Plan.

What the red line is

LCV describes a red line plan as a map of the venue with a red line around the areas where you will sell, serve or supply alcohol, where customers will drink, and anywhere else they may go with a drink, such as bathrooms. That outline is the licensed area.

You need the plan to apply for a licence or permit, or to change the red line. You upload it with the application, and you keep a copy at the venue for a liquor inspector or Victoria Police. Pre-retail licences do not need a red line plan. A BYO permit for a commercial party bus does not need one either.

The plan can be drawn by hand or on a computer. Hand-drawn plans are allowed when they meet the rules below. Most venues still want a CAD plan they can lodge and revise. A finished example is the red line plan for Coltivare in Camberwell.

Red line plan requirements Victoria: the checklist

Tick these against LCV's red line plan page before you lodge.

• Continuous red boundary. One unbroken red line around the licensed area. On a hand drawing, use pen or ink. Pencil and highlighter are called out as the wrong tools.
• At least A4, and readable. Neat lines, labels you can read, no wobbly outline.
• North point. A compass arrow pointing north.
• Address and streets. The premises address and the surrounding street names. If no street is alongside the site, an arrow to the closest street.
• Dimensions. Measurements of the licensed venue or location, and the total licensed floor area in square metres.
• Key areas labelled. Bars or registers (the point of sale), dining areas, kitchens, toilets, and dance floors, where those rooms exist.
• Boundary note. How the edge is marked where it is not a wall: barriers, ropes, fencing, café screens.
• No satellite base. LCV says a satellite image does not show the internal layout. Do not trace the plan from one.
• No safe. Approved plans are public. Leave the safe off the drawing.

Two further items make the same plan checkable, even though they are drafting practice rather than a separate sentence on LCV's list:

• Entries and exits. Show the doors, so it is obvious how people reach the bar, the toilets and any outdoor area inside the line.
• Seating and standing. Label dining, and label a distinct standing area where people drink. A restaurant and cafe licence also has a seating condition that is separate from the red line. That ratio is covered in Red Line Plan vs Patron Capacity, not repeated here.
• Scale. LCV asks for measurements and the total square metres. A stated scale is how a drafted plan keeps those lengths consistent. An unscaled sketch with guessed lengths is a frequent reason the drawing has to be done again.

Extras that depend on the licence

The general list above is the base. The licence type adds rooms, and it decides whether a council footpath is inside the line. Check the licence-specific section on LCV's page. The short version:

• Restaurant and cafe. Include where alcohol is sold, where customers drink (including outdoor areas), kitchens, toilets and bathrooms. A council-approved kerbside, footpath or laneway area is included and labelled AA (authorised area).
• On-premises. Same drinking areas, toilets and bathrooms, and the same AA label for a council-approved footpath, kerb or laneway. Storage stays out unless customers can enter it.
• General licence, including late night. Include bars, registers, drinking areas, courtyards and beer gardens, plus toilets and bathrooms. Leave kerbside, footpath and laneway areas off the plan, even with council approval. With that approval, LCV says you may offer table service, or let customers drink there, until 11 pm.
• BYO permit (club, restaurant or cafe). Drinking areas, toilets and bathrooms. No public laneway or footpath. Do not copy the AA footpath from LCV's Example A.
• Packaged liquor. The register or checkout, the areas where customers browse (including cool rooms and shelves), and customer toilets. Leave loading docks and back-of-house stores out. LCV's Example B is the guide.
• Club, producer, remote seller, limited and temporary licences. Each has its own include-and-exclude list on the same page. A temporary limited licence still needs north, the address, the points of sale, the drinking areas, toilets, the square metres, and a note on how the boundary is marked.

If the footpath is the part you are unsure about, use the outdoor-dining guide rather than guessing the AA label.

Why a plan gets sent back

LCV does not publish a rejection-rate table. Plans get queried when a requirement on that page is missing. The usual ones:

1. The red line is broken, or it is drawn in pencil or highlighter.
2. North, the address, or the surrounding streets are missing.
3. There are no measurements, or the total licensed area in square metres is missing.
4. The bar, point of sale, dining, kitchen, toilets or dance floor are not labelled.
5. A boundary that is not a wall has no note saying what marks it.
6. The plan is a satellite image, or it shows the safe.
7. The footpath is inside the line on a licence that must leave it out, or a council-approved footpath is missing the AA label on a restaurant and cafe or on-premises licence.
8. Toilets are left out even though a patron can walk there with a drink. LCV's definition of the licensed area includes those bathrooms.
9. The drawing is not to scale, so the dimensions and the square-metre total cannot be checked against each other.

Internal layout changes are a separate question. LCV says you apply to vary the licence if the red line's size (square metres) or perimeter changes. Moving a bar inside an unchanged outline does not, by itself, require that variation. If the move affects patron capacity or another condition, you do apply. The path is in How to Change Your Red Line Plan in Victoria.

How long it takes

Two clocks run, and they are not the same.

Drawing the plan. At Arya Designs, redline plans Melbourne for a standard liquor licence are $499 flat, typically 48 hours, when we can work from accurate existing plans. You receive DWG and PDF. Architectural and council redlines are a free quote, and they are not this flat fee.

When there are no usable plans. Older pubs, a changed fitout, or a lease sketch that is not to scale need an on-site measure first. That visit is a free quote. A call-out fee may apply. A laser scan, where the floor plate needs it, is quoted with the job. We do not publish a scan price. The measure is site measurement and as-built drawings in Melbourne. A measured food tenancy in the same spirit is the Torito Foods layout in Carlton. Once a reliable base exists, the liquor redline is the $499 step.

LCV's own timing. For a change to an existing licence, including the size of the licensed area, LCV's changes page says to apply at least 9 to 11 weeks before you need the change to take effect. The change does not apply until LCV approves it. Increasing the licensed area has a non-refundable application fee. The amount is on that page. Reducing the area is free. Drafting the plan in 48 hours does not shorten LCV's assessment.

Drawing it yourself, or sending it to a drafter

LCV will accept a careful hand drawing that meets the checklist. DIY is sensible when the floor is simple, you already have a scaled plan, and you can place north, the streets, the square metres and the fixture labels yourself.

A drafter is the better path when the line runs through outdoor areas, more than one room, or a mezzanine, or when a licensing consultant needs a file they can edit. The longer comparison is DIY vs Professional Liquor Redline Plans in Victoria. The file you keep after lodgement is covered in Liquor Redline Plans in Melbourne: PDF vs DWG + PDF. LCV lodges the PDF. We still issue the DWG.

If "redline" on your job means a council or builder markup rather than a licensed area, that is a different article: What Is a Redline Plan?.

Ask for the $499 redline

Send the venue address, the licence type, and any existing plans, to redline plans. Usable plans mean a liquor licence redline at $499 flat, in 48 hours, as DWG and PDF. If the plans are not usable, we quote the measure first. A call-out fee may apply to the visit. Architectural and council redlines are a free quote.

Related reading

• Redline Plans
• Liquor Licence Redline Plan Victoria — Requirements & Cost
• Red Line Plans for Cafés and Restaurants
• Outdoor dining on a red line plan
• How to change your red line plan
• Coltivare, Camberwell liquor red line