Pub and club owners were doing their own happy dance too, relieved to get back to some kind of normality after a difficult six weeks.

Blind Pig owner John Vandenberg said it was a "fantastic" weekend with a good crowd enjoying the live music earlier in the evening, then dancing the night away to the DJ's 80s dance music.

There were good times at the Royal Hotel, too, with patrons enjoying live music from Dubbo musician Duncan Ferguson.

"It was so nice to have everyone up dancing and singing and having a good time again," said licensee Kristen Foliaki.

The NSW premier's decision to re impose singing and dancing restrictions in venues on January 7 had a big impact on patronage, local venue operators say.

Mr Vandenberg said his revenue dropped by almost 40 percent.

Staff were also faced with the difficult job of managing the bans.

"I always felt such an ogre telling people to sit down," Mr Vandenberg said.

"And especially when people have had a few drinks it's pretty hard to stop them."

While Mr Vandenberg continued with live music, he had to pause his DJ.

"People seeing a DJ standing there correlate that to dancing. I had two weeks without a DJ, but thank goodness they lifted the restrictions," he said.

The Royal Hotel decided to put all of their live music on hold for the six weeks.

"We decided that we didn't want to have to police people - it's really hard when good music is on to not want to get up and have a dance," Ms Foliaki said.

Hotel Orange owner Vijay Bohra said the pub enjoyed a busy weekend with the easing of restrictions also creating "less stress for the staff and customers."

"These restrictions easing off is really welcome. It's been a challenge for us for sure."

Operators are now hopeful they'll see their patronage continue to improve.

"We believe going forward, more people will be coming out," Mr Bohra said.

Ms Foliaki agreed: "The nights had sort of quietened down a little bit over the weekend without having that music. I think everyone loves to have a bit of music to listen to while they're having a drink."

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