With his family hailing from Macedonia, the idea was to bring a little bit of the taste of the Balkans, combined with the all-day, indoor-outdoor style of dining common in capitals such as Skopje to Crown Street Mall in Wollongong.

Opening earlier this year, the menu at Kikiees Cafe Grill includes Balkan specialties such as cevapi - small beef sausages - and pjeskavica - a spiced hamburger patty - served with the signature roasted capsicum condiment ajvar.

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All the dishes are home-made, including the slices of burek, and the walls are painted an Adriatic turquoise.

In addition to the tables and chairs inside, Mr Toskovski has placed a dozen or so settings outside and, thanks to Wollongong City Council's waiver of outdoor dining fees, is able to nearly double the size of his restaurant for free.

The business is open from 8.30am to 4pm for breakfast and lunch and on Friday and Saturday nights opens for dinner from 5.30 to 10pm.

Mr Toskovski said the pedestrian traffic on Crown Street Mall attracted him to the site and the potential to activate the street in the day and the evening.

"Council has really helped us to give us access outside," he said.

"I"m going to have barriers out there and Council has allowed us to have live music once a month out there."

Mr Toskovski also plans to hold a barbeque in the outdoor area to coincide with the Crown Street Markets.

In establishing Kikiees on Crown Street Mall, Mr Toskovski could have almost implemented Wollongong council's outdoor dining policy word for word.

The policy states, "the provision of outdoor living opportunities like outdoor restaurants encourages thriving cosmopolitan and cultural centres which increases the amenity of public spaces, improves safety by providing casual surveillance, assists business prosperity and enriches the city's image and lifestyle."

The only stumbling block however has been the antisocial behaviour that turns Crown Street on a Friday or Saturday night into "chaos" according to Mr Toskovski.

"Saturday night, for example, we were open and my chef and I had just finished dinner service and we sat outside and had a coffee."

A man who appeared to be intoxicated came up to the outdoor dining furniture and began swinging on chairs and sitting on tables. Asking the man to move on, Mr Toskovski said the man began swearing at him.

"That's disrespectful," said Mr Toskovski.

Other incidents have included passers-by attempting to steal furniture, urinating on the Uniting church two doors down and bicycle and skateboard riders flying past staff and diners at dangerous speeds.

Wollongong council employs security guards who patrol Crown Street Mall and between January and March 2022, the security team recorded a five per cent increase on incidents on the same time last year.

"The team will seek to speak with individuals whose actions may negatively impact on others in the space including by riding bikes or skateboards through the Mall. Should it be required, security staff will escalate matters to NSW Police," a council spokesperson said.

Seeing this unfold, Mr Toskovski said he's less sure about staying open in the evenings.

At the other end of Crown Street, for burger bar His Boy Elroy outdoor dining is essential, said venue manager Daniel Chin.

"It is vital," he said. "It's half of our capacity and it's absolutely vital to have people out on the street."

Mr Chin said the Keira Street business recently varied their outdoor seating plan with Council and he said the local authority was helpful in making this change.

"From a customer point of view, having the vibrancy of people sitting outside, hearing that talk and music and people, I think it brings life into the city and this area of town," Mr Chin said.

To provide a safe and pleasant environment for these diners, His Boy Elroy employs security staff of its own, in addition to the security provided by Wollongong Central.

Since moving to the Keira Street location in 2017, the security staff has only ever had to ask one patron to leave, however dealing with passers-by is a more regular occurrence.

"We notice a lot of people will come from other venues, having been kicked out for being drunk or leaving after having too many, they walk by and it's always a concern that they will interact with the customers in a negative way," Mr Chin said.

While Mr Chin has said incidents haven't observably increased, neither had they decreased.

According to statistics from the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, in the year to December 2021 there were 234 non domestic violence related assaults in the suburb of Wollongong. This trend was stable over the past four years.

The rate of non-domestic violence related assaults per 100,000 residents in Wollongong is lower than the Sydney or Newcastle CBDs, but higher than late night dining precincts in Sydney such as Potts Point, Darlinghurst and Newtown.

For the offence of malicious damage to property, the total number of incidents in Wollongong were significantly higher than in the Sydney dining precincts.

The statistics and experiences of businesses represent a challenging picture for Wollongong as the city attempts to increase patronage and foot traffic in the CBD in the evenings, and broaden the experiences available after dark.

No doubt, the city has come a long way from when the town was known for having some of the most violent pubs of anywhere in NSW, and venues have recently launched initiatives to deter antisocial behaviour, yet violence continues to occur, with the most recent brawl occurring on Easter Saturday.

Wollongong Police District commander Brad Ainsworth said the force was committed to deterring antisocial behaviour.

"Officers conduct regular patrols around licenced venues [and] Operation Consequence pays particular attention to pubs and clubs on Friday and Saturday nights," he said.

"Police want people to go out and enjoy themselves at our licensed premises - but end the night on the right terms. Those who commit serious offences such as assault, or get caught supplying drugs in a licensed venue, can expect their night to end abruptly and find their options for socialising at licensed premises limited."

Mr Chin said the Wollongong CBD to flourish, linking up a variety of different venues would be key to creating a vibrant night-time economy.

"The fact that people may be able to walk from one restaurant to a dessert place or to a different bar, that's really important, not only for the customers, but for all small businesses to all thrive after the last couple of years that we've had."

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