Newtown Hotel Collapse

At first it looked like another fire; although in the end it was 'just' a collapse. Renovations for the Newtown Hotel have been delayed while repairs are done to the floor and wall collapse last month.

Watkins Street remains closed during the emergency remedial repairs; who knows, the closure may become permanent if there aren't too many complaints ! In the mean time the developers may want to think twice before applying cacky green paint.

Thanks to Detective Chow - I've updated this post with a video of the demolition of the side wall:

Newtown in 1992 Student Pub Guide - Part II

In my last post I shared an introduction from the 1992 Student Guide to Sydney Pubs, describing the 'disproportionate number of Thai restaurants' and Newtown as an 'affordable place to live'. At least one of those is still true.

This time I'll share some of the actual reviews; my OCR is rubbish so you're going to have to make do with page scans which look deceptively old. 1992 wasn't that long ago - was it !? Click on the images for more legible versions.

The Sando reads much as a review would today - apart from the band names and the beer prices. Interesting how beer prices were a feature of this Pub Guide - I guess it reflects the target audience !


The Bank Hotel review seems to confuse Sleepers and the front bar; the loss of Sleepers as a bar to drink in rather than walk through is the greatest tragedy of the recent long-running renovations of the Bank.


Nothing too exciting in the Marly review - except the fake Duck Pond ! The Royal on Abercrombie also gets a half review as the beer garden out the back is being built.


Finally - RIP the faux tudor (Germanic style wooden walls apparently) of the Student Prince on Parramatta Rd - drinking bar of choice of the Mayor's soccer team back in the day. The last day of the season coincided with the last night of the Prince and we were unfortunately obliged to drink the pub dry - free of charge.


Lastly, The Shakespeare (Coopers old name) was so gnarly back in the day it didn't even rate a mention. How times change !

Newtown in 1992 Student Pub Guide

The 1992 Student Guide to Sydney Pubs, written in those long forgotten days before the internet, features a section on Newtown, including reviews of The Marlborough, The Bank, The Newtown, The Sando, as well as long forgotten neighbouring bars such as the Student Prince and Sydney Saloon.

The relevant page is below (click on the article to embiggen):
The disproportionate number of Thai restaurants are still there, but sadly the fruit shops don't stay open late any more, and you're more likely to be visiting Crispy Inn to satisfy late night cravings. Nearly 20 years on, the Landsdowne, Annandale and Sando are still your best bet for pub rock in the area, though thankfully no-one refers to Newtown as the 'Paddington of the South' any more; you can understand why the author didn't go on to an illustrious journalistic career !

I'll try and scan post some of the individual reviews if there's any interest.

Hatches Batches and Dispatches IV

Yarn

The fourth round up of some of the comings and goings on and around King St Newtown in the last month or so. Thanks to reader Alison for some of the observations, and those who commented on Hatches III.

New Openings

• Famous Surry Hills Thai Prasits has taken over the not very succesful Thai restaurant next to the high school
• New Asian restaurant – and it’s not Thai! - Asian King, on the site of old Shaiza’s Curry House
• A Coffee and a Yarn at 413 King St - hugely popular knitting and mini-cafe
  
• The Granny Square – looks like a cute crafts store, site of old Champion Textiles – 47 King St (a theme here)
• Chocolate Dog is now a Polish restaurant, according to Twitter !

Prasits arrives in Newtown

Development Applications

• Yet another bottle shop proposed for Newtown Central (next to Townie)
• Check out the excellent Planning Alerts site to track D.A.s near you
  

Reviews

• Moose in the SMH (Facebook link)
  
• Darley St Bistro in the Botany View Hotel makes the Tele's Top 10 Pub Bistros
• Street Food blog has a few Newtown reviews
• Blog review of A Coffee and a Yarn
  

Random

• Pretty Dog has moved down the road in Brown Street; it's great to see some action off King Street.
• Popular cafe Anise has closed due to renovations upstairs
• Funky Cafe is on the market. Whoever buys it must maintain the music ! And death to the nimby who raised a noise complaint; on King St FFS.
• A new Festival proposed for Eliza St in September

Pretty Dog slides down Brown St

Hatches Batches and Dispatches III

The third round up of some of the comings and goings on and around King St Newtown in the last month or so ...

New Openings

• Wine and Dine, which opened only a month ago where Mickey's was, has already closed. 
• A new book shop Plato opened this weekend just down the road from Newtown institution Goulds.
• Inner West Live launches. Check it out !
• Mayor of Newtown turned one (148 in the real world, only two years until the sesquicentenary)
  

Development Applications

• All quiet this month. Some minor mods to the Hive D.A.
• Mostly residential applications on the council website

Reviews

• Another Iiza review
• The Bloodwood buzz continues, with reviews in Barzine, Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney Restaurant Review, Time Out, and several blogs amongst others

Bloodwood

Random

• Midnight Thai, behind the 7-11, is closed until problems with their exhaust fan are fixed to the satisfaction of council. Their neighbours at the coffee shop are still going strong
• Some publicity for the excellent Newtown history site
• Popular newcomer Luxe Bakery gets named for dodgy soy milk
• Stay tuned for some news regarding the Hub ...
  

One Year of the Mayor of Newtown

One year ago on April 19th the Mayor of Newtown announced his arrival in the on-line world with this post. It seems just a few weeks ago that I was marking the 6 month anniversary of the blog; indeed in terms of output the second 6 months have been a lot quieter than the first 6 months; roughly half the number of posts. That can be attributed to some pent up stories prior to launch, as well as the distractions of a Sydney summer !

The Top 5 all time posts has just one new entry since October, a post which discussed the popular proposed renovation of Newtown Hotel, hopefully bringing back the verandahs. The top 5 posts for the first year of Mayor of Newtown were:

• Newtown Station Renovation
• Mayor's Top 5 Pubs
• Newtown Hotel Renovation
• Mayor's Top 5 Eyesores
• What of the Hub ?

It shows that readers share the Mayor's two main interests - urban renewal and drinking venues ! In terms of absolutes, Google Analytics tells me that the Newtown station had a total of ~ 500 unique views; and that the site overall has had 5000 'unique visitors' for a total of around 16,000 pageviews; and that a quarter of my visitors now arrive from Google (in the early days it was almost all Twitter).

A recent popular addition has been the Hatches Batches and Dispatches series; an occasional round up of new openings, closures, Development Applications and random news from Newtown. The first edition is the third most visited post of this year; happily there are two Mystery posts (one bar, one photo) in this year's top 5, and the Mystery Photos continue to be popular.

Six months ago I also kicked off the Mayor on Posterous and Facebook, to accompany the Mayor's Twitter presence that was launched simultaneously with this site. They've proved less popular - I've more or less given up on Posterous, as the gap I thought it filled possibly doesn't really exist. I might give it another go; maybe for three line reviews of new bars, restaurants and cafes. The Facebook presence has also drawn little interest - under 200 'fans' compared to the 800 Twitter followers and 6000 members of Facebook's much older I Love Newtown group.

To celebrate my birthday I got myself a present - some mini-cards from Moo.com. There are 5 varieties in all, all with the same obverse. I've started leaving them around the town, so keep your eyes open and let me know if you find them.

What's next ? More of the same I'd say - although, as always, I welcome your suggestions. In terms of the main interests of my readers Newtown Station, The Hub and the Tram Sheds all remain unresolved, although it looks like The Hive will become a supermarket development still hasn't started. The last year has finally seen some bars joining Madame Fling Flongs in providing an alternative to Newtown's pubs; and hopefully that trend will continue.

Thanks for your support and Happy Birthday to me !

Hatches Batches and Dispatches II

The second round up of some of the comings and goings on and around King St Newtown in the last month or so ...

New Openings

• Kick Lounge has opened on Erskineville Road near the still closed Imperial Hotel
  
• Metrobus 30 - Newtown to Enmore, started March 28, garnering surpising support from the Mayor's followers ;)
• Red Cross vintage boutique opened at 359 King St
• Old Aboriginal art gallery on Mary Street is for lease
  

Development Applications

• Newtown RSL to be replaced by 63 room boutique hotel
• The Sando applies to maintain extended trading hours

God drinks here

Reviews

• Bloodwood in the SMH
  
• Iiza in the Tele
• Corridor in the SMH (cliche alert) and TimeOut
• Soffrito in the SMH (5.4 on the Mossop cliche scale)
  

Bloodwood

Random

• Rumour has it that Funky cafe is on the market
• The Vanguard is for sale; with current owner John Cass looking for a new owner who will maintain the vibe
  
• Mickeys (next to Daniel Motsyn) has closed and has been replaced by Wine and Dine, a slightly sterile looking cafe/bar (but welcome nevertheless !)
• The old Allan's Cakes in Erko will re-open as a dessert bar (pending licence approval)
• The same owner has plans for a shared plates style bar next door. Finger's crossed ! Take time to do his Erko survery
  

Mystery Bar I - Chesterfield

The Mystery Photo series, popular with visitors (albeit shy ones, very few of you leave comments), continues to struggle to last more than a day without being identified. However I will persist and one day create a Mystery Photo that lasts more than 48 hours !

In the meantime, it's time to introduce the first of the Mystery Bar series. There still aren't so many bars in Newtown; sadly more people in Darlinghurst and Surry Hills seem to be taking advantage of the new small bar laws than here in Newtown. Still, things are slowly improving here; and hopefully as this series progresses there will be more and more candidates.

I won't be giving too many hints; especially at this stage. The photo above is taken in a Newtown Bar. Where is it ? And what is the bar's name ? And for a bonus point; what did it used to be called (yes, a hint of sorts).

Newtown Hotel Renovation Proposal

Image - Humphrey Edwards Interior Designers and Architects

It's been a while since I've been as excited about a development proposal as this one. The main reason (apart from the re-opening of a venue that's been closed for way too long) is that this proposed renovation includes the reconstruction of the original verandas. There are several diagram of how it might look, including a front view here (pdf).

I'd like to complement the consultants on the detailed preparation done for this D.A; I've never seen such a well researched application. Anyone interested in local history should take a look at the Heritage Appendices (Appendix 3.x), and there's a lot of information on how the renovated hotel will look in other documents.

Gleeson Grocers - (c) City of Sydney Archives

Those of you familiar with old photos of Newtown will know that these verandas were once commonplace along King Street. These days however they're virtually non-existent - instead mostly replaced by awnings and occasionally (C.B.A. building for example) nothing at all.

Hopefully this D.A (if approved) will be the start of a trend; I imagine one of the motivators for this is the provision of smoking area - an unfortunate consequence of the indoors smoking ban in pubs (which the mayor loves) is that the best areas of many bars (the outdoors ones) now resemble ashtrays - but these verandas provide a neat solution for those bars that don't have outdoor areas; as well as extending table space for dining areas.

More positively this could increase the utility of the first floor of the buildings along King Street; hopefully some first floors could become small bars or even restaurants if verandas become more prevalent. I'd love to see official council policy encourage recreation of verandas along King Street - someone should speak to the Mayor !

I'm not aware of all the details of the dispute between the building owners and Newtown Hotel operators; although there is some good background here and here. The most recent news suggests that a compromise was brewing - here's hoping that's the case. I'd be interested if anyone has some inside info - drop me a note.

The trading hours requested are only to midnight - personally I think this is a shame; with the restriction on using the King Street entrance only after 11pm I can't see why the bar can't stay open until a few hours later. The proposed design also seems to include private dining rooms - and even a function area (see the 2nd floor plans), as well an internal courtyard and outdoor dining area.

All in all, a promising looking D.A - let's hope it gets up, and sparks a trend for the re-veranda-isation (there's a neologism for you) of King Street.

Newtown's Sando in the press re Hoey Closure

People who move to the inner-city and complain about noise from pubs that have been there for 100+ years are a pet hate of mine. Great that the Sando is still going with the venue, but absurd that we were close to losing it.

http://bit.ly/7tuRH

Posted via email from Mayor's posterous

Pub Talk II - ZanziBar / The Oxford

ZanziBar - or the Oxford as many locals prefer to call it - occupies an important location in the history of Newtown. It was here in 1832 that Sam and Eliza Webster opened New Town Stores, from which Newtown takes its name. The owners quickly discovered that alcohol was more profitable and the New Town Store became the Daniel Webster Hotel, Newtown's first. While that building has long since been replaced, the Oxford also holds the honour of being Newtown's oldest pub.

ZanziBar was the first cab off the renovation rank. Unlike the Bank, the Oxford was kept open while it slowly and painfully transformed itself into a Moroccan themed bar - in fact there was a box on the counter for a while to suggest the bar's new name. As well as a new name, the Oxford got itself a new floor and Newtown's first rooftop bar from the renovations. The rooftop bar is the highlight; although thanks to the neighbours, numbers are strictly limited which means that access is often denied on a Friday/Saturday night, even though the bar appears empty. Pet hate - people who live in Newtown and complain about the noise at 9pm on a Saturday night. Move to Wahroonga.

The Moroccan theme divides locals - some find it tacky (which it is) but I appreciate the effort to distinguish itself from other bars in the area - and the middle floor in particular, with its middle eastern tapas bar, and lounges, is a welcome addition to the Newtown scene. Best of all, the tradition of late night cheese gerkins and bikkies was alive and kicking the last time the Mayor ducked in.

At one stage, the downstairs bar seemed exclusively for out-of-(New)towners, however Zanzibar has recently undergone a second, less drastic renovation that has toned down the more wacky Moroccan-ness and as a result the locals have returned, and indeed there's almost a Darlinghurst feel to it these days. It's still reliably tacky on Friday and Saturday night, and the bouncers are a lot more human than the trogdolytes across the road at the Townie.

Two mayoral thumbs up for the rooftop and one each for the lower floors.

ANZAC Day in Newtown

Where do Newtowners go to celebrate ANZAC Day ? In the eyes of the Mayor, the best two-up is to be found at the Coopers and the Courthouse - not surprisingly two of the more authentic old-school bars in the area. Further afield, the Duck and Swan in neighbouring Chippendale (definitely within the Newtown sphere of influence) has a great outdoors two-up on the street, at least until the cops roll around at sundown to close it up.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Townie and the Carlisle Castle also were good places to be - has anyone spent ANZAC Day there in the past ?

So what's the verdict ? Anyone got comments on the above pubs or experiences anywhere else ?

PS Don't forget the Newtown Jets will be playing at home (Henson Park) on ANZAC Day at 3pm, against the Shellharbour Dragons (who walloped us 42-10 earlier this season) - a great post two-up option, complete with KB long necks and a real grassy hill.

Pub Talk I - The Bank Hotel

The new NSW anti-smoking laws, as delayed and watered down as they are, have been the trigger for a wave of renovations of the bars up down and just off King Street recently. That and the fact that some of them were getting pretty tatty (not that that's necessarily a bad thing).

Over the next couple of weeks, the Mayor will cast his eye of the evolution of Newtown's drinking establishments over the last 3-4 years.

1. The Bank Hotel

The Bank has copped the most severe make over, and by all accounts the most expensive. The bar was closed for more than a year, the owners recently saying that Railcorp approvals were a a significant factor in the delays. Fundamentally there's been a rebuild from top to bottom. Thankfully Sumalee Thai is back; but the chaotic tropical jungle of yore has been replaced by a boxed in neat courtyard, which seems much smaller and more organised, losing that 'lost in the wilds' feel it had. The food however is as good as it ever was - those who complain about the price of the dishes tend to overlook the size of them - it's a great place for sharers.

The extensive new outdoors areas illustrate perfectly the good and bad of the new smoking legislation. On the plus side, Newtown now has two/three great new outdoors locations for afternoon drinking, even in winter thanks to the heaters. On the other hand, these areas are so choccas with smokers it's almost impossible to breathe there. Unfortunately the most appealing outdoors places in pubs are now practically 'smokers only' zones.

The indoor mid-level (front bar, and Sleepers cocktail bar - now pretty much a walkway to the deck) has been done up in a pretty sterile Surry Hills kind of way; the upstairs lounges are more original but certainly a change from the usual Newtown feel. At least Wednesday nights are still Wednesday nights at the newly christened Velvet Room - boys be warned.

The Bank was always the 'classiest' bar in Newtown (no great achievement that) - with this renovation it's now more Surry Hills than some Surry Hills bars. The good news is that it's no longer necessary to take a taxi out of Newtown to get a dose of eye candy. The bad news, though (not unrelated) is that the wanker factor is definitely on the up. Overall a mayoral thumbs up for the new upstairs areas, and thumbs down for the downstairs.