A restaurant bar in Leichardt, West Sydney, was fined $10,000 for breaching COVID-19 social distance regulations after footage from within the venue showed large groups of customers mingling and dancing at various places in the venue.

The fine on the venue, Odyssey Bar Restaurant, was the result of a NSW Department Customer Service blitz on businesses in the area last Friday. A task force team of 30 inspectors uncovered close to 100 breaches of regulations by hospitality businesses in the area.

A New South Wales government statement said that a second blitz of the area was planned for today, while another is to take place next Wednesday evening to coincide with the screening of the second State of Origin rugby league game.

The state’s Liquor and Gaming Director of Compliance, Dimitri Argeres said closed-circuit TV footage had shown patrons at the Odyssey Bar Restaurant disregarding regulations by mingling, dancing and hugging across several areas of the venue which was issued with two $5,000 fines.

“It’s hard to fathom how staff could have failed to notice and stop things getting out of hand as patrons had in effect created multiple dancefloors,” Mr Argeres said. “The COVID Safe requirements are in place for a reason, and all venues need to make sure they are fully compliant.”

READ MORE: Mad Melbourne rush to car washes, hairdressers, auctions and more

An inspections blitz carried out on 32 hospitality venues in the Liverpool area on Friday had uncovered 94 breaches with over 25 penalty notices being issued and thousands dollars worth of fines being issued.

The inspections were carried out as part of a joint task force that included Liquor & Gaming NSW, SafeWork NSW and NSW Fair Trading, with support from NSW Food Authority and NSW Health.

Mr Argeres said of the 74 hospitality venues inspected, 13 were not registered as COVID Safe, 39 did not have a current safety plan, 20 had issues with record keeping, seven were not properly adhering to social distancing, two displayed hygiene issues and 13 had no COVID-19 safety marshal.

“Such a high level of breaches is simply unacceptable and puts at risk all the hard work in containing the spread of COVID-19,” he said.

Out of the 47 hair and beauty salons inspected by SafeWork NSW, one warning letter was issued. NSW Fair Trading found all 79 retail shops inspected to be fully compliant.

There are plans for more inspection blitzes to be carried out in Sydney and across the state in the coming month to ensure public safety during the coming festive season.