SYDNEY revellers have dumped the city and Kings Cross in favour of late-night friendly Newtown.

In a bid to escape the 1.30am lockouts and 3am last drinks introduced in the CBD and Kings Cross in February, punters have been migrating south of the city to the thriving inner-west hub of Newtown’s King St.

With its proximity to the CBD King St’s late-night venues are luring crowds from traditional late-night precincts around Darlinghurst Rd and George St.

Newtown locals Rodney Todd, Linda Jaffries and Stu Ellis have been drinking on King St for years.

They say they have noticed a dramatic increase in the number of drinkers in the area on Friday and Saturday nights.

“We see the blow-ins come in on Saturday night,” Mr Ellis told The Daily Telegraph. Ms Jaffries agreed. “Up at the Marly (Marlborough Hotel) end, it’s like North Sydney,” she said.

Meanwhile, drinkers at Kings Cross say they feel safer, and doctors at St Vincent’s Hospital in nearby Darlinghurst have noticed a sharp fall in alcohol-fuelled violence.

“I think it’s good for safety,” student Chris Myers said. “There are fewer drunk people on the streets.”

CRIME STATS SHOW VIOLENCE SPREADING ONTO THE STREETS

LOCKOUT LAWS MAKING THE CITY AND KINGS CROSS SAFER

media_camera Linda Jaffries, Stu Ellis and Rodney Todd at the Earl's Juke Joint in Newtown / Picture: Jeremy Piper

Bradley Edwards said the new restrictions on venues covering The Rocks, Darling Harbour, Oxford and George streets would not affect his night out.

“I still feel like I can have a good night so I don’t mind the restrictions. I’ve been up to the Cross; it seems a lot cleaner there now,” Mr Edwards said.

Precincts within the lockout zones are reporting big drops in patronage.

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City North Liquor Accord spokesman James Stevenson said the laws had hit venues across the city hard, with crowds opting to socialise on the fringes of the zone like Pyrmont, Double Bay, Surry Hills and Newtown.

“No one’s coming into the city,” he said.

“People are tending to stay in or find places they can go out where they don’t have to go home at 1.30am or 3am. No one’s coming into town anymore.”

The tight restrictions such as banning venues from selling shots and a two-drink limit per person after 2am, which already apply in King Cross, were expanded to most of the CBD last month.

The expansion of drinking restrictions is coupled with the 1.30am lockout and 3am last drinks rules introduced in February.

St Vincent’s Emergency Department head Gordian Fulde said his hospital, which bore the brunt of alcohol-fuelled violence, was a completely different place.

“On Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights it has massively decreased,” Dr Fulde said. “We are hardly seeing the severe head injuries. It has nearly dried up. It’s really fabulous.”

Police said the lockouts were having a positive effect but the real test would come in the summer months.

“The most recent crime statistics are encouraging,” Assistant Commissioner Mick Fuller said.

“Anecdotally, we are seeing a reduced number of intoxicated people on the streets around lockout time and after a venue closes.”

In the first month of the lockouts, ambulance call-outs for violence in the city dropped by more than two thirds.