Pub entertainment in Pacific
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Builders Arms Hotel
A completely re-imagined bad old boozer that’s retained its charm despite theatrical new threads. Come for a pot by all means, but there’s also decent wine by the glass, a blackboard cocktail list and big Middle-Eastern flavours at the bar or in the dining room. Picnic style tables on the footpath outside are perfect for taking in Gertrude St.
reviewed
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Belgian Beer Café
Closed until further notice.
Are Belgian beer cafés the new Irish pub? They seem to be springing up everywhere, with the cosy wood-heavy interiors, pots of mussels and fabulous array of beers. This is a fine example of the genre, with a suitably old-world exterior and a good-looking beer menu you'd be happy to work through.
reviewed
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Union Club Hotel
A die-hard local swimming in earthy good vibes, and happy chatter from the relaxed indie crowd. The large curved bar is one of Melbourne’s best spots to park it, the food is good honest pub nosh and the beer garden is lazy Sunday begging on a hot day.
reviewed
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Grace Emily
The ‘Gracie’ has live music most nights, featuring up-and-coming Australian acts. Inside it’s all kooky ’50s-meets-voodoo decor, open fires and great beers. Cult cinema Tuesday nights. Look for the UFO on the roof.
reviewed
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Anchor Inn
A great beer garden that buzzes, especially when international sports are on. Look out for meal specials, like queue-up barbecues. It's home to the Vanuatu Cruising Yacht Club, so you'll hear all the yachtie goss.
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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O'Reillys
- Suva, Fiji
- Entertainment › Pub
O'Reillys kicks the evening off in relatively subdued fashion - relaxed punters playing pool or watching sport on the numerous TVs. But it brews quite a party as the hours tick by and come 11ish the place is generally throbbing with a gleeful crowd of locals and travellers. There's no distinct age code, and backpackers, foreign contractors, locals and expats fill the dance floor, shaking their bits to Europop, soft metal, techno, peppy country and western…basically anything that keeps the crowd moving.
Forget warm pints of Guinness; the only Irish quality about O'Reillys (aside from the name) is that it's enough fun to knock your socks off.
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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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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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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Great Britain
This big corner pub does the dingy local thing with panache. Noted for its own brand of beer called 'Piss' and a low-alcohol version called 'Piss Weak', there are few other pubs where you can ask for a pot of Piss without anyone batting an eyelid. The GB will even call in a pizza from across the road. This gladly gloomy stalwart livens up later in the week, with a clubby basement - open late.
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
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Oxford Hotel
Another year, another owner, another refit…another panic that this treasured venue may (shudder) go straight. So far, so gay. The new incarnation still attracts a beer-swilling slice of gay blokedom to its spacious street-level bar, the post-dance-party crowds to Gilligans mini–basement club, and a sassier crowd to the indulgent 1st-floor Supper Club lounge.
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Transport
This ultramodern, glass-walled pub occupies an enviable position for people- and river-watching. It’s big, brassy and busy. On Friday nights it’s shoulder to backbone with yuppies on the prowl. One floor up is fine-dining at Taxi and the 3rd floor is devoted to the decadent Transit Lounge, with gorgeous leather couches, intimate corners and a spectacular wine and spirits menu.
reviewed
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Ramsgate Hotel
Located on Henley's bustling square, the Ramsgate has a lovely green wrought-iron exterior contrasting with the cream and pale beetroot stonework. The bar inside is a riot of polished wood and is just begging to be propped up by an elbow joined firmly to a hand gripping a Coopers. Sit outside and admire the jet skis buzzing around the water and do a spot of people-watching.
reviewed
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Manacle
Descend into the hirsute, leather-clad gloom of Saturday night in the Inner West and pretend the sun will never come up. Manacle relocated from Taylor Sq a while back, but it’s still Sydney’s best leather night. Actually, it’s more about the cult of masculinity; there’s no strict dress code, but women and drags shouldn’t bother trying.
reviewed
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Courthouse Hotel
What a brilliant pub! A block back from the King St fray, the 150-year-old Courthouse is the kind of place where everyone from pool-playing goth lesbians to magistrates can have a beer and feel right at home. How ironic – the complete absence of social judgement in a pub called the Courthouse. Beer specials, decent house red and good pub grub, too.
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Darlo Bar
The Darlo’s triangular retro room is a magnet for thirsty urban bohemians, fluoro-clad ditch diggers and architects with something to read or a hankering for pinball or pool. Cult movies on Tuesday night; trivia on Wednesday. It’s pretty quiet during the day, but really fires up on Friday and Saturday nights (don’t we all…).
reviewed
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Collins Quarter
This collection of bars is like a hotel without the rooms upstairs and without the bellhop palaver or aggressive pricing. It’s a grown-up space with few rough edges but has a timeless appeal. There’s a variety of different areas and moods. A magnolia tree sprouts from the courtyard and inside there’s a wood fire burning.
reviewed
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La Bog
This often jam-packed Irish pub is in Northbridge's backpacker heartland. It may be a package Irish franchise (there's one in Fremantle as well) but it's still a reasonable and popular place to sit and sip on a Guinness amongst friends. Live bands offer a fun night of dancing and the 06:00 close means you can grab an early-morn nightcap.
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Light Brigade Hotel
Charge into this curvy art-deco pub for its relaxed ground-floor sports bar with a decent menu, pool table and lots of black tiles and angular stainless steel. Cheap pints Monday to Thursday; packed until closing on weekends. Upstairs beyond a huge clock face there’s a chic bistro and lounge bar (Thursday to Saturday night only).
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Knopwood's Retreat
Adhere to the 'when in Rome…' dictum and head for Knoppies, Hobart's best pub, which has been serving ales to seagoing types since the convict era. For most of the week it's a cosy watering hole with an open fire. On Friday nights the city workers swarm and the crowd spills across the street.
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Dolphin
This slick fish was once a small corner pub until it expanded into two neighbouring houses. The pretty things head upstairs to the smoking terrace and the ‘is this actually someone’s lounge room?’ addition; nonboofhead sports fans gravitate to the big screens downstairs. There’s a decent bistro, too.
reviewed
