Sydney's New Laneway Bars
Just like 1917, revolution is in the air. For too long, Sydney's potential small bar culture has been crushed under the jackboot of prohibitive entertainment and liquor licensing laws. This week the old laws are being replaced. Time Out takes to the streets
Bodega - THE TATTS & TAPAS PARLOUR
Who Two rock ‘n' roll young gun chefs, tattooed to the teeth
What An Argentine-influenced diner by day, a tapas and tattoo-friendly cocktail bar by night
Where Surry Hills
When Early July
Why "The kitchen is only big enough to service the restaurant as it is. We always wanted to get some really good drinks on. It's an extension of our style"
Since opening their whirling dervish Spanish-South American diner, Bodega in 2006, owners and chefs Elvis Abrahanowicz and Ben Millgate have blazed quite a trail. The vibe at Bodega is electric, the critical and crowd reviews are all raves and the heat in the kitchen is hotter than a bullfighter's brow. Now they're waving a new red rag to Sydney's thirsty set with the addition of a new adjoining bar serving South American drinks and Spanish beer.
"During the day it'll run as an Argentinean-style diner run by Elvis's folks," Ben explained to Time Out. "They'll be busting out churros and empanadas and it'll be licensed to serve liquor, but there won't be any coffee - we're not interested in doing that in the slightest. At night it'll be a bar for the restaurant."
"People will enter through the front door of the restaurant and a mate of ours will be mixing some cocktails and a few bar snacks. There's a new mural happening as well - a female matador done as a sort of pin-up incorporating art styles you find in Argentina called filete and portenjo. The face of the bar will be hand-done by Elvis's old man who's been etching glass since he was 13."
Small Bar - THE LITTLE LANEWAY BAR
Who Two Sydney boarding-school mates who are now a Bavarian bar manager and high-flying solicitor
What A small bar in every sense serving small drinks to small groups from a small venue in a small street
Where A prominent laneway near Wynyard in the CBD
When August 2008
Why "Big plasmas, music you can't talk over, long queues, nothing dark and intimate and romantic - in Sydney there's been no happy mediums... until now."
Chris Lane and Luke Heard's bar operates on the KISS principle: "Keep it simple, Keep it safe, Keep it sexy, Keep it small."
Simply titled Small Bar, their venture will be one of the first to exploit the City of Sydney's Live Laneways project, which looks to reanimate derelict alleys in the CBD.
"Small Bar is just that," says Chris, "a small intimate space built on word-of-mouth and tucked away as a private sanctuary for all-day drinking catering to every demographic."
Believing it's easier to keep a customer than get a new one, Small Bar's svengalis have a firm vision for their imbibing hidey hole: small lounges, high and low tables and a fireplace. A kitchen will pump out tasty bar food: antipasto plates, dips and chips, and chorizo and prawn fry-ups for under 10 bucks a pop.
House wines especially made for the bar will preside for what is predicted to be a female-friendly forum. To appease both boys and girls and further amp the quality over quantity vibe: a house beer - Small Beer - will be served in 175ml ‘throwdown' bottles of pilsner, wheat, blonde and lager varieties.
"Most Sydney bars try to outdo each other on vibe, volume and the entertainment they offer," says Chris. "Small Bar will be a conceptually simple, quiet and self-contained space - a bar promoting conversation and facilitating longer nights out between small groups and couples."
Rooftop - THE SILVER SCREEN SALOON
Who A 30-something "poster boy for the slasher generation" - publisher/adman/marketeer/web mogul
What An open-air rooftop bar screening arthouse flicks and serving niche tucker and booze under the Sydney stars
Where A skyscraping rooftop terrace by the Harbour or art deco digs on the city fringe
When Mid-2009
Why "It worked a dream in Melbourne and theobstacles are now down in Sydney"
Barrie Barton's Rooftop Cinema Bar has been a triumph in its Swanston Street, Melbourne HQ but Sydney, he says, is where the concept is destined "to be touched by the hand of God".
Barton's aerial film enterprise is exactly the sort of left-of-centre innovation the new liquor licensing laws are hoping to attract - a small-scale hospitality site offering a variety of services in a civilised setting with food and entertainment thrown in.
"Sydney's bar scene has been choked by legislative red tape up until now," says Barton, a former marketing guru at Moonlight Cinema and founder of the counterculture site NowNow. "But now it's the laws in Melbourne getting draconian and Sydney is shaping as the liberated frontier for drinking - it's an exciting time."
Barton's Rooftop Cinema set-up is deceptively simple. In 2006, inspired by a guerilla cinema enterprise in New York, he established a 5x3 metre screen on the roof of the six-storey Curtin House above Cookie Bar and started screening cult classics like Labyrinth and The Goonies while hosting special events such as the premiere of the Michel Gondry's Science of Sleep.
Carpeting the courtyard with Astroturf, he laid out 200 deck chairs, forsook Fantales and Coke to serve the downstairs kitchen's gourmet burgers, papaya salads, garlic and chive dumplings and yakatori skewers and started serving quality wine and beer to full houses.
Two years on, Barton claims to have "broken the paradigm of the static hard-top cinema" in Melbourne and is ready to launch in Sydney. "In many ways Sydney's weather and cityscape are much better suited to the concept," says Barton. "Combined with this new wave of bars, it's an idea that's fun, safe, sexy and has the potential to transform the city... see a movie in a venue like ours and it adds something amazing."
The Beach Bunker
Who A trio of hospitality veterans - a Kiwi, a South African and a Manly boy
What A low-fi beachside bar open to art exhibits and skate and surf events
Where Downtown Manly on Sydney's northern beaches
When August 2008
Why "A lot of Sydney bars look the same - they're pretty sterile and the comfort factor's not there. We're working on a classy lounge bar that's still rock and roll"
Tour managing rock bands around the country, Matt Woo knows bar life inside out - what works, what doesn't, what pulls groupies and invokes cars being driven into swimming pools... and, most important, what punters want.
And Sydney needs a bar like the one he's hatching. "It's not a dive," says Woo. "It'll be built on that Melbourne model: cool, dark with lots of weird things to look at. We want to bring that ‘duck in and drink and get comfortable' vibe to Sydney."
Woo is an ex-chef who six years ago managed a Byron Bay restaurant. His two partners run the popular Café 2KF in Mona Vale. Phil Golombick is "a crazy South African who's mad as a cut snake but very cluey. He's been in the restaurant game a while and before 2KF ran a successful boutique pizza place in Avalon." Nigel Park works for Phil and "is super-knowledgeable on all things food and wine. He's an all round good guy and the best coffee maker you'll ever meet."
After scouting city locations, the boys settled on a site closer to home. "The CBD was definitely an option but we all live in Manly and we're totally ingrained in the culture. This site just popped up and we're now in the process of going through the legalities. The location is the right size for 40-60 people and it's downtown, where there's so many tourists and passers-by and a really strong culture of food and drink - perfect!"
Long Room
Who A PR maven, an architect, a builder and a Melbourne bar operator
What A stretched bar - equal parts Spanish taverna and NY saloon
Where In Surry Hills around Goulburn and Reservoir Sts
When Late 2008-early 2009
Why "Sydney's too often obsessed with creating bars that are cool. We want a small, local, friendly neighbourhood bar that's all about warmth"
Bonded by a love of booze, a four-man confederacy has birthed a dream: to build "a high quality, uniquely featured, authentic yet uncomplicated bar which everyone would want to be their "local".
"If these new laws have the impact they're supposed to then ‘small', ‘local', ‘friendly', and ‘innovative' will become bywords in Sydney's new bar vernacular," says Stuart Gregor, director of PR and events firm Liquid Ideas and an advocate of "service is key".
The Euro-styled bar-counter, says Gregor. "would run at least 10 metres with 16 stools. There'd be banquettes along the wall, a big cellar and lots of interesting beers on tap, no kitchen but very simple food available - soups and sandwiches."
But it's not reality yet. Gregor's designs on a Surry Hills site recently hit a wall and the hunt is on anew. "The biggest challenge facing small bar licensees in Sydney is rents. Melbourne worked because the city was full of disused spaces where any rent was better than none. There's not much of that in Sydney... but we're looking."
Artery Bar
Who Inner-city street artists and independent publishers, all Sydney boys in their mid-20s
What Artery, a gallery/gargling space for young culture vultures
Where 55 Enmore Rd, Enmore - smack bang on the drinks and theatre strip
When July 14 with a launch party in August
Why "A social space to give back to our local community without the financial constraints of a commercial gallery"
Young, hungry, talented, community-minded and ambitious, Jamie Nimmo, Daniel O'Toole and Max Berry - a whip-smart trio of stubbly doughboy street artists in their mid-20s - must be the most unlikely, yet
compelling, future publicans in Sydney.
The boys have a strong concept for their space, nattily titled Artery - one steeped in the ‘Drink Local, Act Global' credo the new laws advocate. "Artery will be a Sydney gallery that supports Sydney art," says Nimmo. "It will be really local - local artwork, local music, local beer. For us, this is an opportunity to build a social space to give back to our community without the financial constraints of a commercial gallery."
While most of the talk about the changes to the NSW liquor laws has revolved around hole-in-wall saloons and kooky wine bars, the Small Bars Bill's main thrust is encouraging diversity in our drinking scene. For these three musketeers, a bar is simply a bonus in their quest to create "a hub for local artists and musicians".
Artery will offer free wall space and charge 30 per cent commission on sales plus hold "grassroots community events" like workshops, mini-festivals and artistic happenings. "Instead of charging the artists and musos in the area for the wall space we'll use the revenue from bar sales to give spaces to people cheaper."
How to get a licence to swill
Michael Marr was a licensing sergeant with the NSW Police for 25 years. So many people asked him for the
inside track on how to get a licence to serve alcohol, he went and set up a company that provides this expertise: Liquor Industry Consultancy Services. He expects to be pretty busy man in the coming months.
"The government has been very vague about the specifics of these new licensing laws," he says. "No one really knows how it's going to work in practice because we have new laws, a new board of control, and very little frame of reference."
However, if you want to apply for a new bar licence and have decided on suitable premises, Marr offers the following general advice:..
1 Satisfy the legal requirements
"Contact your council and ask them what boxes you need to tick before they can grant you a licence, then systematically work your way through them. It's not just a case of coming up with a great bar concept and that's it - there are a few legalities you need to negotiate."
2 Get the neighbours onside
"Basically, the council only need to receive three objections before they have to investigate and that can hold things up considerably. But if you can consult your neighbours and convince them that your plans will not adversely affect them, you shouldn't have any problem with the crucial Community Impact Statement."
3 Enlist the help of a licensing expert
"Give me a call on 0411 139 457 and I'll try and help you out!"
You've read what we think. Now tell us what you think.