"We have had to put our coffee up to $5 a coffee just to stay in the ball game. And we're no different to all the other people here," City Extra owner Steven Duff said. Of the $5 that the 24-hour restaurant charges for a coffee, $3 alone goes towards covering rent and electricity costs, which are 30 per cent higher than a year ago. And while rents imposed by the state keep rising, the revenue of restaurants such as City Extra and the nearby Italian eatery, Rossini at the Quay, has plunged by 15 to 30 per cent since buses were re-routed from stops at Circular Quay in late 2015 and light rail construction began last year. "I don't think [the government] has got any comprehension of what it's like to run and survive in a private business," Mr Duff said. "Walking up and down George Street, I weep when I think of people who have lost their homes and livelihoods. To me, they've all just been walked over."

Work on the light rail at Circular Quay was originally due to be completed last October but retailers have been told it is now at least 12 months away. And the $200 million redevelopment of the ferry wharves and adjacent waterfront land at Circular Quay from as early as next year looms as another period of disruption. City Extra owner Steven Duff, left, and Anthony Liberiou from Italian restaurant Rossini at the Quay. Credit:Kate Geraghty A request from City Extra to the state for rent relief due to the disruption caused by the light rail construction was knocked back without explanation. ­"At the moment we feel we are taking the brunt of paying the big rents while we're going through this suffering period, and other people can come in afterwards and get all the benefit," Mr Duff said.

"All I asked was for a pause in the increases in the rent. I wasn't after any great concession." The restaurants say they are suffering from the impact of construction at Circular Quay, even though their premises face northwards towards the wharves. Loading Rossini at the Quay, the family business next door to City Extra, incurred a 10 per cent rental rise in 2016, and subsequent increases of 3 per cent a year, despite revenue dropping by up to 30 per cent since buses were re-routed from Circular Quay and light rail construction started. "The government should do as they say. They want all the independent landlords to help [tenants] trade out [during construction] but for themselves they are not helping us trade out," said Anthony Liberiou, son of the 83-year-old owner of Rossini at the Quay.

"We are unable to make further capital investments in this shop." Transport for NSW said it was finalising offers of rent reductions for small business tenants of buildings owned by transport agencies at Circular Quay and Eddy Avenue near Central Station. "We have already started contacting these business owners and rent reduction will be backdated to December 2017," it said. The agency said businesses that accepted rental reduction would not be prohibited from also applying for help under a financial assistance program, which was available during the light rail construction period. However, it would be considered in the application process. City of Sydney councillor Angela Vithoulkas, whose family has a cafe on George Street impacted by the light rail project, said the transport agency had suddenly realised, long after disruption from construction had begun, that "they are guilty of mistreating their own tenants".