Pubs and clubs across NSW are being gradually liberated from archaic licensing restrictions as part of the Berejiklian government efforts to revive the state's live music industry and bolster the night-time economy.

In a licensing overhaul by Liquor and Gaming NSW, more than 30 venues across NSW are now able to provide a greater range of live entertainment, with some pubs permitted to play live music for the first time in decades.

Revellers outside the Civic Hotel in 1980. The pub was hit with a "rock & roll" ban in 1989, which has now been lifted. Credit:Julia Featherstone

At least a dozen pubs, spread across the city's suburbs, have benefited, including the Civic Hotel in the CBD.

Richie Haines, general manager for the Universal Hotels group, which runs the Civic, said the venue had a fabled rock and roll past, having hosted the likes of INXS and Midnight Oil in the 1980s.