Buying alcohol over the Easter break can often cause confusion. Here are six things you need to know so you don't get caught dry:
- No off licences can sell alcohol on Good Friday. That includes all supermarkets, bottle stores, wineries, breweries and anywhere that sells alcohol to take away.
- The rules for off licences are the same on Easter Sunday, except wineries are allowed to sell from their cellar door, provided that they actually make or harvest the grapes on that land.
- On licences like bars, restaurants, and cafes with a licence to sell alcohol to be drunk on-site can sell alcohol on Good Friday and Easter Sunday but only to customers who are “on the premises to dine”. So you can’t have a beer at the pub unless you order a burger to go with it.
- You can’t linger at the bar. You can’t be served alcohol more than one hour before or after eating a meal, otherwise the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act says you aren’t there to ‘dine’.
- The exception is for hotels, bed and breakfasts, and other accommodation providers that sell alcohol to their guests. Guests ‘residing’ on the premises for the time being (in other words, people who will be staying overnight) are still able to buy and drink alcohol on-site.
- Trading on Saturday and Monday is not affected.
Some of these rules may soon change. The Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Sales on Anzac Day Morning, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, and Christmas Day) Amendment Bill is currently at Third Reading. If enacted, this Bill will allow on licences to trade on Good Friday without restriction and will extend the ‘cellar door’ exception to Good Friday.
While these changes are unlikely to be enacted this year, they should bring relief to businesses and consumers ahead of ANZAC Day 2026 and for Easter 2027.
