Somersby distillery plans 40-seat artisan bar, food service and live entertainment under new DA

Plans lodged with Central Coast Council would convert part of a Somersby distillery into a 40-seat artisan bar, with tastings, takeaway sales and food service proposed. Supporting acoustic material also refers to background music and live entertainment.

DA/1014/2026 seeks approval for an internal fit-out at 42 Pile Road, Somersby. The application remains on notification and advertising, so Central Coast Council has not yet made a decision.

This is not a new building proposal. The plans would repurpose part of the existing industrial premises, with a bar, kitchen, seating area and amenities at ground level, plus an office and conference room on a new mezzanine.

The distillery operation would remain in place. The applicant says the visitor side of the business would allow people to taste spirits made on site, buy products to take away, drink on the premises and access food intended to accompany tastings.

The submitted schedule proposes bar hours of 4pm to 7pm from Monday to Friday and 7am to 7pm on Saturdays and Sundays. It also proposes up to three staff at any one time. Those hours differ from the existing distillery schedule.

The DA proposes 15 on-site parking spaces, including one accessible space, up from the existing six. A traffic report prepared for the applicant says the two uses would not overlap in parking demand, estimates five additional vehicle trips a day and describes the net traffic change as negligible. It also characterises the proposal as a small, booking-focused hospitality offer rather than a high-turnover or late-night bar.

The accompanying acoustic statement considers the proposal low risk for nearby homes because of the industrial setting and the distance to residential receivers. That conclusion, along with the traffic assessment and the references to background music and live entertainment, is applicant-commissioned material for Council to assess — not a finding already endorsed by Council.

Source: Planning documents lodged with Central Coast Council for DA/1014/2026.