Outdoor Dining and Kerbside Areas on a Red Line Plan in Victoria

Outdoor dining on a Victorian liquor licence is two permissions. The council decides whether tables may sit on a public footpath or in a kerbside space. Liquor Control Victoria (LCV) decides whether customers may drink there, and how that area is drawn on the red line plan. A courtyard or beer garden on your own land is separate from a footpath permit, and it still has to be shown if people drink there.

This is for cafés, restaurants, bars and hotels. The base checklist is in Liquor Licence Redline Plan Victoria: Requirements & Cost. Café detail, including the AA label, is in Red Line Plans for Cafés and Restaurants.

Footpath and kerbside trading areas

A footpath area is the public footpath in front of the venue. A kerbside area steps into the roadway, often a council-approved car space used as a parklet. LCV groups laneways with footpaths.

The shop lease doesn't let you occupy that public land. Permission to place furniture is a council permit, not the liquor licence.

Service Victoria's footpath trading application draws the line. The permit is only for use of the footpath trading zone. Food eaten there is a separate council registration. Alcohol drunk there needs a liquor licence that includes the zone. The online path is for a footpath wider than 2.5 metres. Narrower than that, contact the council. Costs vary by council. We don't quote them.

Local rules differ. City of Kingston uses separate permits for the footpath, for trading in front of a neighbour, and for a parklet, and it says to contact LCV before serving liquor in the footpath zone or parklet. City of Melbourne has its own outdoor dining permit for the footpath or street. That permit is not a liquor licence. Who can hold it is on Melbourne's page, not in LCV's red line rules.

Courtyards and beer gardens

A rear courtyard, deck, rooftop or beer garden on the premises is not footpath trading. You may still need planning or building approval for the structure or the use. That question sits with the council, not on the red line.

If customers drink there, LCV expects it on the plan. For a general licence, the current red line page includes outdoor areas where customers drink, and it names rear courtyards and beer gardens. Restaurant and cafe licences and on-premises licences include those on-premises outdoor areas too. Dimension them, and describe the edge where it's not a wall. The liquor plan doesn't replace a building permit for the courtyard.

The council permit and the liquor licence

The council permit lets you occupy the public space. The liquor licence, with its red line plan, says where alcohol may be supplied and consumed. A planning permit can still apply to the use or the buildings.

On 1 July 2025, Amendment VC286 deleted Clause 52.27 (Licensed premises) from the Victoria Planning Provisions. The Department of Transport and Planning says a planning permit is no longer required simply to sell or consume liquor, and a liquor licence still is. A permit may still be required to use or develop the land as a restaurant, bar or similar, and an existing permit may still bind you. Ask the council.

LCV still wants planning-scheme evidence on a variation. The changes page accepts a planning permit, a planning application, or written confirmation that no planning permit is needed.

How the red line shows an outdoor area

This follows LCV's red line plans page, updated 5 December 2025.

Restaurant and cafe, and on-premises. Include council-approved kerbside, footpath or laneway areas and label them AA (authorised area). Include on-premises outdoor areas where customers drink. Restaurant and cafe plans also include kitchens, toilets and bathrooms. On-premises plans include toilets and bathrooms. Storage that customers can't enter stays out.

General licence, including late night. Include courtyards, beer gardens and other on-premises outdoor drinking areas, plus toilets and bathrooms. Leave kerbside, footpath and laneway areas off the red line, 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). No public laneways or footpaths. Example A on LCV's page shows an AA footpath. Don't include it. Drinking areas, toilets and bathrooms are in. A private courtyard can be.

Club licences (full or restricted). Public footpaths and laneways stay out. A private courtyard where customers drink can be in.

We still draw one continuous red line, with north, the streets, measurements and the total square metres. If the edge is not a wall, the note names the barrier, rope or fence. Don't use a satellite image. AA appears only where that licence must show the council area.

Varying the licence to add the area

A new courtyard, deck or beer garden changes the red line's size or perimeter, so it needs a variation. So does a council-approved footpath on a restaurant and cafe or on-premises licence, because that area is drawn and marked AA.

A new footpath permit on a general licence is not that variation. Those public areas stay off the plan, so the council approval alone doesn't change the line's size. If you're unsure, email contact@liquor.vic.gov.au with the licence number, the change, and the new plan.

Nothing changes until LCV approves it. The variations page warns of significant penalties for trading outside the licence. Apply at least 9 to 11 weeks ahead. Increasing the licensed area has a non-refundable fee. Check the amount on vic.gov.au rather than an old printout. Reducing the area, the hours or patron capacity is free.

The form and the order of documents are in How to Change Your Red Line Plan in Victoria.

Patron numbers

More outdoor floor doesn't, by itself, raise the patron cap. Capacity is how many customers may be in the licensed area at once.

LCV's application glossary asks for it on general, on-premises, restaurant and cafe, and club licences, and uses it for risk, the renewal fee and a licence condition. Where the red line plan is the supporting document, the ratio is 1 person per 0.75 square metres. LCV's example is 60 square metres divided by 0.75, which is 80 people.

The July 2023 patron capacity factsheet asks a building surveyor, where a report is required, to count internal public area (not toilets or passageways) and external areas such as courtyards or decks, each at 0.75 square metres. LCV may cap a balcony, terrace or courtyard separately. Overall capacity is generally no larger than the internal figure unless that report shows fire safety and sanitation can cope. A large beer garden, cover from the weather, separate entries, or its own bar or toilets are the features it mentions.

The factsheet is older than the glossary. If they conflict, ask LCV. We state the square metres and don't certify occupancy. Trade to the lowest limit that applies. See Red Line Plan vs Patron Capacity.

A restaurant and cafe licence also needs seats for at least 75 per cent of patrons. The factsheet's example: seats for 50 allow 66 patrons at most.

How Arya draws it

1. Send floor plans, the licence type, any council footpath or parklet permit, and photos.
2. Usable plans: $499 flat, typically 48 hours. If the outdoor area is not on a reliable plan, site measurement and as-built drawings in Melbourne are quoted first. A call-out fee may apply.
3. We draw to the licence type, with AA only where LCV requires the council area, and an updated square metre total.
4. You get DWG + PDF. Lodge and display the PDF. Keep the DWG, the editable CAD file, for the next variation.

Architectural and council revisions that are not an LCV red line are a free quote, still as DWG + PDF. See redline plans for liquor licences.

Frequently asked questions

Can the footpath go inside the red line?

On a restaurant and cafe or on-premises licence, include a council-approved footpath, kerb or laneway and label it AA. A general licence leaves those areas off the plan. A BYO permit can't include a public footpath or laneway.

Does the council permit allow alcohol outside?

No. It allows the furniture. Alcohol depends on the liquor licence and, where LCV requires it, on the red line including that area.

Will a courtyard increase patron capacity?

Only if LCV accepts a higher number. The new square metres are an input to the 0.75 ratio, not the decision. The DWG is what your building surveyor can measure.

Related reading

• Redline Plans: $499 flat and 48 hours when existing plans are usable, DWG + PDF
• Red Line Plans for Cafés and Restaurants
• How to Change Your Red Line Plan in Victoria
• Red Line Plan vs Patron Capacity
• If redline means a builder markup or a council RFI, not a licensed area, read what is a redline plan

Need the outdoor area on the plan?

Send the address, licence type, council outdoor permit and any plans. Usable plans mean a liquor redline at $499 flat in 48 hours, as an editable DWG plus the PDF. A measure, if you need one, is quoted separately. Architectural and council redlines are a free quote.