Entertainment in New South Wales
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Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel
Built in 1841, this boutique sandstone pub has its own brewery (try a pint of Nelson’s Blood), and is just far enough from The Rocks’ tourist throng. Rooms are elegantly colonial, with stripy sheets, stone walls and dormer windows – the owners have resisted the urge to spew flowers and lace all over the place. Most of the nine rooms are spacious and have en suites; there are also cheaper, smaller rooms with shared facilities.
reviewed
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Palms on Oxford
No one admits to coming here, but the occasional queues prove them liars. In this underground dance bar, the heyday of Stock Aitken Waterman never ended. It may be uncool, but if you don’t scream when Kylie hits the turntables you’ll be the only one.
reviewed
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Lass O'Gowrie Hotel
Built in 1877 this is the oldest pub in Newcastle and has been the heart of the local music scene for the last 15 years. See local original acts here most nights.
reviewed
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Taxi Club
Chances are if you can't remember the end of last night, you probably finished it off at the Taxi Club. Refreshingly seedy after all these years, this place is a national treasure that no tourist brochure's going to tout, but that no tourist's visit should be without. Mind the stairs, which are breakneck-steep, even when you're sober.
Bring ID, because you'll have to present it at the door - this is a club of sorts, but all are welcome. Head on upstairs to the small but casual and comfy areas (which have too many pokies for our taste). At least happy hour sees cheap beer and spirits, and there's bingo on Monday nights. Taxi Club is popular with cross-dressers and gets mos…
reviewed
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Marble Bar
Built for a staggering £32,000 in 1893 as part of the Adams Hotel on Pitt St, this incredibly ornate underground bar is one of the best places in town for putting on the ritz (even if this is the Hilton). When the Adams was demolished in 1968, every marble slab, wood carving and bronze capital was dismantled, restored, then reassembled here. Musos play anything from jazz to funk from Wednesday to Saturday. On Friday’s it’s full of suits, getting seedier as the night progresses.
reviewed
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Stonewall Hotel
Nicknamed ‘Stonehenge’ by those who think it’s archaic (gay druids?), Stonewall has three levels of bars and dance floors, attracting a younger crowd. Hosted by wonderfully glam drag queens such as Tora Hymen, cabaret, karaoke and games nights spice things up – Wednesday’s Malebox is a sure-fire way to bag yourself a boy. A few years ago, the ceiling collapsed on the dance floor: the DJ yelled out, ‘I finally brought the house down!’
reviewed
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Beresford Hotel
The small old Albion Hotel (1870) has reopened as the huge new Beresford – a superslick architectural tractor beam designed to lure the beautiful people. And it works! The crowd will make you feel either inadequate or right at home, depending on how the mirror is treating you. The bouncers have rapidly gained a rep for being the most arrogant and patronising in Sydney – forget about it if you’re anyone less than Jennifer Hawkins. Red-hot DJ action after dark.
reviewed
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Mount Vic Flicks
With its isolated, unadulterated village vibe, National Trust–classified Mt Victoria was once more influential than Katoomba. At 1043m, it’s the highest town in the mountains. Crisp air, solitude, towering foliage and historic buildings are what bring you here, but if you’d rather watch a movie, try Mount Vic Flicks. This is cinema ‘the way it used to be’, with ushers, a piano player and door prizes.
reviewed
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Exchange Hotel
There’s a whole mess of venues here, mashed together under one roof. Q Bar pumps hot house seven nights a week; Spectrum is an alt-indie club with live bands; and sticky, sexy, claustrophobic Phoenix is home to alternative gay clubbers. Sandwiched in between, the Exchange is a regulation beery pub. Down and dirty: if you don’t come out drenched in sweat, you’re not doing it right.
reviewed
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Ivy
Hidden down a laneway off George St, Ivy is the latest incarnation of the Merivale drinking dream. This is a supersexy complex featuring bars, restaurants, discreet lounges…even a pool with an anything-goes change room. Despite the hype and the face police on the door, drinks at Ivy are reasonably affordable, which speaks volumes for democracy in Sydney town. Melt into a lounge, order a mandarin Caipiroska and wait for someone famous to show up.
reviewed
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Tilbury
Once the dank domain of burly sailors and salty ne’er-do-wells, the Tilbury now sparkles on Sydney’s social scene. Yuppies, yachties, suits, gays and straights alike populate the light, bright interiors. The bistro, the beer garden and the bohemian 1st-floor bar and terrace are packed on weekends (especially on Sunday afternoon); DJs play soul, funk and rare-groove Thursday to Sunday. And sailors can still get a beer!
reviewed
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Slip Inn
Slip in to this warren of moody rooms on the edge of Darling Harbour and bump hips with the cool kids: bars, pool tables, a beer garden, dance floors, pizza and Thai. Friday is breaks night at the Chinese Laundry club (before/after 10pm $15/25); Saturday is Laundry night (before/after 10pm $15/25), featuring local and international DJs. Can you believe Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark met his Tasmanian missus here?
reviewed
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Favela
This place may actually be too flashy even for Sydney. A nondescript entrance leads into a designer’s dream bar populated by dolled-up young ’uns. If you want to splash your roubles, $500 will get you and your four most impressionable friends a Gold Room table (gold-tiled ceiling and walls) with $200 worth of drinks. In the upstairs club, the ceiling’s 8000 golden light globes throb in time to the house beat.
reviewed
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State Theatre
The utterly ornate State (1929) is Sydney’s most ostentatious theatre. Originally built as a movie palace during Hollywood’s heyday, it’s now a National Trust–classified building, dripping with gilt and velveteen. Live shows (musicals, comedy, middle-of-the-road bands) take the stage, except during the Sydney Film Festival in June. If you’re lucky, you might catch one of the monthly guided tours.
reviewed
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Midnight Shift
The grand dame of the Oxford St scene, the Shift boasts two quite distinct venues. Downstairs the video bar attracts an unpretentious mix of blokes, twinks and bears, and has a musical mandate ranging from Top 40 to camp classics. Upstairs is a serious tits-to-the-wind club (open from 10pm; Friday $5 before midnight, $15 after; Saturday $10 before midnight, $25 after), with grinding beats (and teeth) and lavish drag productions.
reviewed
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Argyle
Wow! This place opened up in late 2007, and hasn’t missed a beat since. It’s a collection of five bars spread through the historic sandstone Argyle Stores buildings, with everything from a cobblestone courtyard to underground cellars resonating with chilled DJ vibes. The main bar is a displaced mod Moroccan cave, with leather booths, kooky abstract chandeliers and moody lighting. Great bar food, too.
reviewed
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Aperitif
Like a gently sloping mini–Bourbon St, Kellett St is a snaky, sexy laneway with as many bars as brothels. In no position to deny such debauchery, intimate Aperitif elevates the tone just far enough to make you feel comfortable in the thick of it. Behind a twisted arbour of branches you’ll find a superb wine list, vintage toreador posters, clued-up staff and gourmet tapas (small/large plates $15/25).
reviewed
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Greenwood Hotel
The transformation of this slate-roofed sandstone schoolhouse (1878) into a pumping bar has left it largely unchanged (except for the giant mirror ball). In fact, apart from the Friday night after-work brigade, school is a not-too-distant memory for most of the punters. Hip hop and R&B on Thursday night; Sounds-On-Sunday party ($15) on Sunday afternoon. Burly South Pacific bouncers might let you in.
reviewed
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World Bar
World Bar (a reformed bordello) is an unpretentious grungy club, unique in its decision to let ugly people in the door. Three floors of cool spaces lure the backpackers; cheap drinks keep ’em rockin’. DJs play electro, indie, hip hop and boogie house nightly: Teenage Kicks (indie classics and dance-floor anthems) on Thursday is a sure-fire head start to your weekend. Live bands on Friday.
reviewed
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Gazebo Wine Garden
A hip wine bar in skanky old Fitzroy Gardens? Who would have believed it 10 years ago? This place is awesome – supergroovy decor (wrought-iron gates, bespoke benches, eclectic couches), interesting drinkers both gay and straight, and a hi-tech vino storage system that shoots gas into open bottles (meaning that 55 sometimes obscure wines are available by the glass to join the 300 by the bottle).
reviewed
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Beauchamp Hotel
The design lords have transformed this old corner pub into something very hip indeed. On weekends it gets packed – and incredibly noisy – with stylish Eastern Suburbs 20-somethings. There’s a cool terrace upstairs and Velvet cocktail lounge in the basement (Friday and Saturday nights only). In case you were wondering, it’s pronounced Beech -um.
reviewed
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Bambini Wine Room
Don’t worry, this bar doesn’t sell wine to bambinis – it’s a very grown-up, European affair. This tiny dark-wood-panelled room is the sort of place you’d expect to see Oscar Wilde holding court in the corner. There’s an extensive wine list, slick table service, free almonds and breadsticks, and disembodied postmodern cornices dangling from above.
reviewed
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Home
Welcome to the pleasure dome: a three-level, 2000-capacity timber and glass ‘prow’ that’s home to a huge dance floor, countless bars, outdoor balconies, and sonics that make other clubs sound like transistor radios. Catch top-name international DJs spinning a homey house smorgasbord, plus live bands amping it up. Apart from special events, admission is around $20 to $25.
reviewed
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Bank Hotel
After a recent $5 million refit, the Bank is better than ever, with a rooftop terrace and cocktail bar, a back-end beer garden, a Thai restaurant and lovely loos. It still attracts a kooky mix of lesbians, students, sports fans, gays and just about everyone else – they just don’t wear their ugh boots to the pub anymore. DJs Wednesday to Sunday; Wednesday is also lesbian night.
reviewed
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Harbour View Hotel
Built in the 1920s, the curvilicious Harbour View Hotel was the main boozer for the Harbour Bridge construction crew. These days it fulfils the same duties for the Bridge Climbers – wave to them from the 2nd-floor balcony as they traverse the lofty girders. The Tooth’s KB Lager listed on the tiles out the front is long gone, but there’s plenty of Heineken and Boag’s on tap.
reviewed
