The beer garden at the  Courthouse Hotel
Photograph: Supplied/ Courthouse Hotel
Photograph: Supplied/ Courthouse Hotel

The 59 best pubs in Sydney right now

Here's our list of the best Sydney pubs right here, right now

Avril Treasure
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Spring 2024 update: The warmer weather is here, so it’s time to ditch your jumper (and Netflix) and get outside for a coupla cold ones in a sunny beer garden with mates. From mid-week feeds to trivia nights and live music, Sydney’s best pubs are sure to set the stage for good times. Below, you’ll find the ones well worth their salt.

There's a lot that goes into making a great pub. They need to furnish you with an excellent meal and friendly service, and a game of pool or darts doesn't go astray. On a sunny day, it's all about having a welcoming beer garden, and on a Sunday, it's all about a cracking roast.

There are a lot of rock-solid pubs in this city, and these are our picks of the bunch, pulled together by Time Out Sydney critics including Food & Drink Editor Avril Treasure. Cheers!

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For something a bit less pubby, a bit higher end, see our picks of the best bars in Sydney.

Hungry? Check out our ultimate guide to Sydney's best restaurants

Sydney's best pubs

  • Pubs
  • Surry Hills
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended

This classic old Sydney pub has new owners and has had a refurb – but the team have managed to retain the bar's vintage charm. With a great menu, a brand-new pool table, budget-friendly offerings and space for the locals, families, the hip young things and the revellers, Bat & Ball 2.0 is no longer just a stop off on the way to and from the SCG, but again worthy as a destination in its own right. Oh, and dogs are welcome, too. Woof woof!

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Alice Ellis
Editor in Chief, Australia
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  • Marrickville

A killer courtyard, weekly live gigs and top-notch drinks and food makes this old Marrickville boozer one of the best in town. On a sunny day there are few greater places to be than at The Vic, armed with a beer and deep in the weeds in a convo with your mates.

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Avril Treasure
Food & Drink Editor, Time Out Sydney
  • Pubs
  • Woolloomooloo
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended

The three-storey brick and butter building looks well-worn yet strong – which makes sense when you consider the Old Fitz is around 150 years old. The pub is surrounded by leafy green trees and punters sit out the front to knock back cold ones. Just from the exterior, you can tell the old boozer has more character and charm than a new opening could dream of (and that's why they won Time Out's Best Casual Drinking Venue Award 2023). Fun fact: The Old Fitzroy Hotel is the only remaining theatre pub in Australia (it’s found out the back and down the stairs). Plus, you can get a cracking feed there. Here’s hoping the show goes on for another 150 years.

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Avril Treasure
Food & Drink Editor, Time Out Sydney
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  • The Rocks

A lot of fuss gets made over the Glenmore’s unbelievable harbour views. It’s an easy sell, especially because it proves you don’t need to fork out for the kind of Sydney vista that belongs on a postcard. In fact the Glenmore is the sort of place you could make your local, at least for post-work drinks when the rooftop bar gets packed with people loosening their collars and clinking a Peroni.

  • Surry Hills

Housed in a heritage-listed Art Deco building on the corner of Foster and Hunt Streets in Surry Hills, Hollywood Hotel is a Sydney icon. Former Hollywood actress and cabaret artist Doris Goddard opened the watering hole back in 1977, making her one of our first female publicans. She owned the pub until her death in 2019, and in 2021, it was snapped up by the owners behind the Village Inn in Paddington and the now-closed Riley St Garage in Woolloomooloo. Thankfully, straight-up booze list, ’70s memorabilia, cracking toasties and live music remains at the heart of this watering hole.

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Avril Treasure
Food & Drink Editor, Time Out Sydney
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  • Surry Hills

Respecting your elders is very, very easy when the lessons they’re doling out are ‘how to have a good time without being a twat’ – and when the teacher is one of the best old boozers in Sydney. The Crix deserves a medal for its diplomatic skills that mean a truly confusing cross section of drinkers are all happy to pal it up around this ancient, ancient bar. Hungry? Head upstairs for excellent food at the not-French bistro, Chez Crix.

  • Pubs
  • Manly

With unbeatable views, cold beers and a fresh menu by a former Rockpool chef, Wharfy is one of Sydney’s greatest seaside pubs. Positioned right by and over the water at Manly Wharf, with an outside Jetty Bar and an inside wrap-around space featuring expansive glass windows that look out onto the big blue, Wharf Bar is as part of Manly’s DNA as the seagulls, the Steyne and the barefoot surfers. It’s long been the spot locals go to for just one beer after work, to cheer on their local team, and for a Sunday sesh. Got visitors in town? An Aperol Spritz at Wharfy should do the trick. 

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Avril Treasure
Food & Drink Editor, Time Out Sydney
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  • Petersham

This pub has it all: great beer gardens (yes, plural – they're out front and back), great grub, strong community vibes, family-friendly dining rooms, a sports bar, a pool room and even pinball machines. Plus the dining room walls are decked out with pics of cockatoos. And it's right behind Petersham Train Station. What's not to love?

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Alice Ellis
Editor in Chief, Australia
  • Pubs
  • Watsons Bay

Sure, the drive to South Head is no picnic, but once you’re sitting on the terrace of the Watsons Bay Boutique Hotel with a glass of dry rosé, you have to admit that this is a bloody nice place to cash in some down time. Happily, it’s not merely the domain of wealthy boomers with moorings – Watsons Bay Hotel is also an extremely family-friendly venue, helpfully located next to a park and a habour beach.

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  • Woollahra

Like Narcissus staring adoringly at his own reflection, Sydney is a city enamoured with its own good looks – hence our obsession with rooftop bars. Happily, the Light Brigade's top-floor bar has undergone a swanky refurbishment, evoking the sunny days of a Miami pool club with playful cocktails, big beach umbrellas and pastel furnishings (though down on the ground floor, it's still staunch Swans territory). Soak up the panoramic city views with a Chilli Watermelon Margarita and a woodfired pizza and we reckon you’ll leave pretty stoked. 

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Melissa Woodley
Travel & News Editor, Time Out Australia
  • Pubs
  • Enmore

Inspired by the classic pubs and sports bars of the ’80s, The Magpie features sports heroes on the walls, TV screens blasting the game of the day, and ice-cold pints. Whenever you stroll in, you’re bound to catch a handful of people watching a game, catching up, and hanging out. There are six beers on tap, all from local breweries, as well as Guinness and straight-shooting cocktails, including a Bloody Mary. Wines by the glass are a cut above your standard pub vino—like a Chablis by the glass. And while there is no kitchen, if you feel peckish, you can order from the chicken shop down the road and eat it at The Magpie.

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Avril Treasure
Food & Drink Editor, Time Out Sydney
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  • Paddington

Located at the Oxford Street end of Glenmore Road, The Village Inn first became a pub sometime around 1888, meaning it's possibly Paddington’s oldest watering hole. It's got a beautiful sun-kissed balcony, $12 happy hour Aperol Spritzes, no pokies – and even a seriously good Scotch egg on the menu. But the historic pub is under threat by developers. Locals are understandably outraged, as it's very much an integral part of the community. Save The Village Inn! (You can keep up to date on the Facebook page here.)

Helen Foster
Contributor
  • Surry Hills

This old corner boozer has had an extreme makeover into a fashion party pub. Not surprising given it’s fairy god-parents are an impressive rollcall of Sydney hospo identities. There's a public bar for afternoon Spritz sessions, a high-end dining room for an Italian feast, and a dedicated wine and charcuterie bar for when you only want the best bits with no filler. Our tip? Order a pizza – they are are good as they come. 

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  • Woollahra
  • price 1 of 4

The Woollahra Hotel has been keeping Eastern Suburbs folk well fed and hydrated ever since it was built in the 1930s. In the last few years the pub – which is located next door to French institution Bistro Moncur – has undergone a massive renovation, sporting a polished timber bar, terrazzo floors and lush vertical garden in the open terrace, while still maintaining its classic Australian pub vibe.

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Avril Treasure
Food & Drink Editor, Time Out Sydney
  • Pubs
  • Freshwater

In 2020, Freshwater’s Harbord Hotel underwent a massive glow up, and it now sports a fresh white-washed look and polished interiors – a far cry from those that remember the buttery yellow OG Hilton. Though, regardless of the name and lick of paint, the Northern Beaches’ watering hole is a much-loved institution. Hit the beach for a swim or surf, and then stroll on over for a Stone and Wood or Margy with your friends. When the sun is shining, this is pretty much as good as it gets, in our books.

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Avril Treasure
Food & Drink Editor, Time Out Sydney
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  • Paddington

There’s no room for cultural cringe, because at the Unicorn they have a deep and enduring love for Australiana. Please help yourself to some Jatz crackers and French onion dip. While everyone else is trying to be a European wine bar, a fine diner or a Montauk holiday home, here they’ve got a huge map of Australia across one wall and a prawn cocktail en route to your table. Plus, you won’t find a better schnitzel in town. That's why we love it so much.

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  • Pubs
  • Newport

It’s a famously huge venue and that hasn’t changed, but it’s looking like several million bucks what with the fresh juice cabana, the paddling pool for little humans, the raw bar dishing up Sydney rock oysters and buckets of prawns and the mesmerising twirl of the chickens, porchetta and a whole salmon in the rotisserie. Get in early on weekends for any hope of scoring a table.

  • Paddington
  • price 1 of 4

An Eastern Suburbs favourite, the Royal Hotel Paddington continues to draw in punters en masse – and for good reason. On the ground floor you’ll find a heritage pub with classic plates, and the next two floors offer an elevated drinking and dining experience. But head all the way up to the fourth floor and you’ll find our favourite part – one of the city’s best rooftop bars.

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Avril Treasure
Food & Drink Editor, Time Out Sydney
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  • Pubs
  • Millers Point
  • price 2 of 4
The Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel
The Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel

Being the oldest continuously licensed pub in the city, the Lord Nelson has had a lot of practice at being awesome. They brew their own beer here and a fresher pint in Sydney is a tall ask. There are six mainstay brews: the summery beginners’ Quayle ale, the bright 3 Sheets, the British-inflected Trafalgar pale ale, the full-flavoured, spicy Victory Ale, Nelson’s Blood for the Guinness/porter fans, and the complex, full o’ flavour Old Admiral. 

  • Surry Hills

There’s not much we like more at Time Out than a well-worn boozer that still remembers the frenzy of the six o’clock swill. But sometimes the smell is so ingrained in the beer-soaked carpet that there’s nothing left to do but rip it out and start again. While you’re there you may as well throw 30 craft beer taps behind the bar, a whole shelf dedicated to bourbon and as many taxidermy beasts as you can lay your hands on. Our favourite section is the rooftop bar, right at the top.

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  • Surry Hills

Surry Hills watering hole Forrester’s has been serving locals comforting meals and refreshing pints for more than 100 years. Now overseen by Applejack Hospitality (also Rafi, June’s Shoppe and Bopp and Tone), the beloved tavern underwent an extensive refresh in 2021 by Guru Projects, complete with lush greenery and a light-filled cocktail bar. Now, it's ready for the next 100. Head of culinary Patrick Friesen (formerly Queen Chow) helms the kitchen, which slings wholesome and comforting plates. Perhaps the most generous is the aptly named Big Yorkie – a giant Yorkshire pudding filled with Forrester’s roast of the week, golden potatoes, peas, carrots and gravy. Get that with your pint.

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Avril Treasure
Food & Drink Editor, Time Out Sydney
  • Erskineville

The Imperial was first ordained a safe space for the LGBTQIA community when Dawn O’Donnell, the mother of gay Sydney, bought it in the '80s. It has opened and shut with many different faces in the years since then, but at its heart it has always been a place for queer identities to thrive on the sticky carpet of the much loved pub.

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  • Pubs
  • Newtown

The beautiful thing about this old boozer is that it’s a pub designed to facilitate a good time on your terms. Want to sit up at the bar with a huge plate of fish and chips and watch back-to-back AFL games? This is the best place for it. Prefer to sink your tip money in pinball machines while you annihilate jugs of Stone and Wood Pacific Ale and Young Henrys Newtowner? Right this way. It's no wonder it took out the Favourite Pub title in the Time Out Food & Drink Awards 2022: People's Choice.

  • Surry Hills

A lot of Sydney’s pubs play a single trump – tender steak, good times trivia, clean beer, golden schnitzel – but it’s a truly special boozer that can show a full and winning hand. Dove and Olive is that place. It's pub for all occasions where the beers, food and vibe are were ace and the mounted deer horns came with googly eyes. 

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  • Neutral Bay
  • price 2 of 4
The Oaks Hotel
The Oaks Hotel

There's a reason why the Oaks Hotel in Neutral Bay won the people's choice in the 2021 Time Out Bar and Restaurant Revive Awards. From its open grills, polished service and expansive beer garden, the Oaks has the lot. The lure of this shady beer garden has always been a key element of the Oaks’ appeal, but following a recent refurbishment this sprawling establishment now boasts a spruced-up lounge bar, Alala's, and their very own in-house butcher.

  • Pubs
  • Enmore

Maybe you never bothered to venture into the Queens in her former days, which is not surprising, but now it’s an impressive sight. Downstairs the public bar at the front and the dining room up the back are lined in dark timber and lit with an antique, golden glow, making it the classiest spot for a Coopers on tap on this stretch of the Inner West. But upstairs is where they keep the mud crabs for when you want to spalsh cash on dinner.

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  • Erskineville

The Erko is a reliable go-to for afternoon beers with mates in the sunshine, family lunches and a casual vino. Plus, dogs are welcome. If you’ve noticed they’ve stepped up their food game of late, you’d be right. Solotel – the hospo group who have run the pub since 2014, and also oversee Sydney spots Opera BarThe Abercrombie and The Golden Sheaf, among others – have brought on former Chiswick chef Ethan Robinson to inject freshness and flavour into the menu. Now, everything is pretty much made in-house – including bread, and they are cutting all the chips by hand. Plus, the chefs are growing their own veggies in a local community garden. If this is pub dining in 2024, bring it on.

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Avril Treasure
Food & Drink Editor, Time Out Sydney
  • Pubs
  • Petersham
  • price 1 of 4

Even on a Monday night, there’s a friendly buzz inside this spacious pub. The best seats in the house are undoubtedly those out in the plant-filled beer garden, which is covered over to keep the warmth in on a frosty June evening, and strung with colourful lights for that backyard cantina feel. The food is yum, and there's a surprise, standalone bar right out the back, too – a Batch Brewing Co joint, complete with beer tasting paddles and even a shuffle board. Don't know what shuffle board is? Try it.

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  • Woolwich

This grand old establishment on the Woolwich peninsula is how we imagine a country club would be minus the golf or horses. A raised terrace built in the shade of a great tree is where weekly high tea happens. The first-floor cocktail bar boasts a wraparound verandah that looks over the river, but it’s in the cavernous main bar, trussed in golden timbers, that people congregate. 

  • Darlinghurst

We don’t need to tell you how much Sydney loves a rooftop bar, and the top floor addition to the East Village Hotel (previously the Darlo Village) is an A-grade, lofty drinking perch. Sure, if cardio isn’t your friend you may even find you have to take a breather at the second floor, but that’s not going to be a problem because that’s where they added the Athletic Club, a vintage sports-themed bar.

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  • Enmore
The Warren View Hotel
The Warren View Hotel

The big advantage of this Enmore favourite can be summed up thusly: the beer garden, which has a gate off Enmore Road. For those used to negotiating through poky pubs with a pram, this is happy news. It's big, it's leafy, it's covered, and the food's decent pub fare.

  • Bars & Pubs

The multi-level heritage-listed Abercrombie has undergone an incredible transformation, with three venues now under the one roof to create one big, 24-hour party palace that opened back up in December 2022 (after a 2014 shutdown). On the ground floor is the Abercrombie’s public bar, beer garden, performance and club space. Up a level is Casa Rosa, a playful, late-night Italo-disco cocktail lounge and rooftop terrazza with DJs. The adjoining terraces house an aperitivo wine bar and shop, Lil Sis, also open until the early hours.

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  • Marrickville

This is undeniably the most family-friendly watering hole in the Inner West. The front bar is all the best parts of an old school pub without the weird smells, and the beer garden is enormous. There's a games room with pinball, old-school Big Buck Hunter machines and Pacman, and the kids get their own rumpus room in a converted garage, complete with a Mr Men mural and shallow ball pit. 

  • Double Bay

There are two very distinct sides to the Sheaf. On the left of the hall is the public bar where serious East Sydney Roosters fans gather. So far, it’s exactly what you’d expect to find inside a hundred year old pub. But we’re in exceedingly well-heeled Double Bay, and once you get to the beer garden it’s very clear clear that the Sheaf is more blue ribbon than blue collar. 

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  • Darlinghurst
Darlo Bar
Darlo Bar

A night at the Darlo is as close to a guarantee of good times as Sydney is able to give. This community living room on a Darlinghurst corner is the first port of call for mid week pool comp, they boast a trivia night that has been stumping smart-phone cheaters for five fact-filled years and there’s a weekday happy hour that helps you stretch your booze budget just that little bit further. 

  • Paddington
The Lord Dudley
The Lord Dudley

There’s no shortage of pubs in Paddington and Woollahra, but few possess the old world charms of the Lord Dudley. This vast, red brick hotel looks more like a British country manor than an Inner East establishment, and the vibe is similarly relaxed. Out on Quarry Street locals and their faithful hounds get a solid lean on. If it’s a bit nippy for alfresco boozing it’s time to battle for seats as close to the proper wood fire as you can get.

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  • Marrickville
  • price 2 of 4

Is there a more enticing smell than buttered slices of white bread crisping up in a hot sandwich press? It's a pertinent question for anyone walking into the former Smart Dollar space on Marrickville Road that’s now home to the charming, fairly-lit Marrickville Hotel, complete with covered courtyard. Porcelain animals lurk in corners, faded still lifes and landscapes sit on shelves, and framed vintage photos of speedboats are hung on the walls. Dogs are welcome, as are children. As the night rolls on, those sandwich presses start working overtime, and the aroma becomes harder to resist.

  • Balmain

This colourful hotel is like one of those children’s party venues where each room has a different theme. The public bar is all breezy open space with solid timber foundations; downstairs things get more tropical with cocktails and vintage décor. There’s the sitting room with lounge settings and frond print walls, but outside goes full garden party with rainbow umbrellas, festoon lighting and a frangipani tree. 

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  • Craft beer
  • Rozelle

It’s a truly great pub that manages to strike an easy balance between being a familiar, cosy watering hole and raising the bar where it counts. We don’t much mind what old timey art sits on the walls, or if the playlist forgoes Chisel for the Natalie Imbruglia on occasion, so long as a degree of extra care has been taken so that the craft beers on tap reflect the evolving boutique brewing scene in Sydney.

  • Millers Point
The Hero of Waterloo
The Hero of Waterloo

The Hero was built in a no frills era, and they haven’t added any in the intervening 170 years. Timber floors, convict-hewn sandstone walls and lantern light create the shell in which Guinness is to be drunk and songs sung by the fireside. Things can get a little rowdy if a bar crawl comes through, but it’s always got a strong crowd in attendance for cold beers and generous counter meals.

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  • Craft beer
  • Newtown

When it comes to full-throated support of craft beers, few do it better than the Union Hotel in Newtown. On our visit they’ve got beers from Akasha, Modus Operandi, Nail, Hopdog, Rocks, Hart and Hound, Sierra Nevada and Van Dieman in the house, and before you get all “dude, where’s my lager?”, there’s Reschs too. Plus their gin and whisky collections are nothing to sneeze at.

  • Darlinghurst
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended

Darlinghurst pub The Taphouse was acquired by Applejack Hospitality (also Forrester'sRafiBopp and Tone) who have breathed new life into it (while retaining its old school charm). Come for Cantonese classics, more than 20 beers on tap, and a fresh and fun rooftop bar, which we reckon is the perfect spot to sink a few beers on a sunny day.

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Avril Treasure
Food & Drink Editor, Time Out Sydney
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  • Newtown
The Bank Hotel
The Bank Hotel

There are four main quadrants to this late-night hotel at the tipping point of King Street. The front is a quiet sports bar most nights, and a seat in the open window is tops for people watching. Up the back and down the stairs is a beer garden with a retractable roof and heaters. Upstairs is a late-night music venue, but our favourite perch is the craft beer bar in the heart of the pub.

  • Forest Lodge
Forest Lodge Hotel
Forest Lodge Hotel

The Forest Lodge is a diamond in the rough. From the outside this brown brick local doesn’t look like much, but inside there’s a decent feed, plenty of space, a warm welcome and a surprisingly excellent craft beer collection. They focus on local brews like Modus Operandi, Wayward, Gang of Four, Murray’s and Badlands, while Coopers, New and Reschs keep the lager dream alive.

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  • Glebe
Friend in Hand
Friend in Hand

The Friend in Hand should be the subject of a Slim Dusty song. It feels like someone uprooted an outback pub and replanted it in the back streets of Glebe, complete with a public bar decked out in more Australiana tat than you can poke a stick at. There’s the famous cockatoo that sits happily at one end of the bar; a model train set runs along the back of the bar and there's an impressive collection of foreign currency pinned up. 

  • Pubs
  • Chippendale

Sydney might be struggling to keep the late-night vibes pumping, but there’s a rebel force of party people and most weekends they are congregating at the Lord Gladstone. The ability to squash so many Sydney scenes inside a modest space is one of this pub’s most impressive attributes. On an unremarkable Saturday night you’ve got Bondi babes, queer indie kids, footy fans and hip-hop heads cramming into the concrete courtyard for a good time.

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  • The Rocks
The Australian Heritage Hotel
The Australian Heritage Hotel

The Australian Heritage Hotel strikes a comfortable balance between historic tourist stop, and a pub that hard-bitten Sydneysiders still want to frequent, thanks in no small part to their impressive beer collection. They have zero interest in your traditional pizzas here, preferring bizarre flavours like Peking duck, tandoori chicken, and the famous coat of arms pizza with emu and pepper kangaroo meat. 

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Avril Treasure
Food & Drink Editor, Time Out Sydney
  • Kirribilli
Kirribilli Hotel
Kirribilli Hotel

The Kirribilli Hotel is not an ostentatious pub. Its rounded, Art Deco, red-brick façade tucks neatly in among the shopfronts lining Broughton Street without drawing too much attention to itself. But we’re always told it’s what’s inside that counts, and what’s inside this amiable local just north of the Bridge is an impressive craft beer selection. 

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  • Killara

The Greengate Hotel isn't just a neighbourhood pub; it's a rite of passage for anyone legal and living it up in Sydney’s Upper North Shore. You can eat for $18 on almost every weeknight, including burgers and fries on Monday, schnitty and chips on Tuesday, a trio of tacos on Wednesday, and pizza on Thursday. Rally the crew for after-work bevvies with $5.70 schooners of house beer and glasses of house wine during happy hour, every weeknight from 4-6pm.

 

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Melissa Woodley
Travel & News Editor, Time Out Australia
  • Surry Hills
Hotel Harry
Hotel Harry

You’ve probably already been hitting this hot spot for a boogie thanks to the kickass DJs they book for their free Friday and Saturday night parties. But now there’s a whole new set of reasons to visit, and it involves a little bar snack called johnny cakes – piping-hot cornmeal pikelets with a creamy pimento cheese spread melting on top. They're part of the mod-Southern menu on offer here. 

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Avril Treasure
Food & Drink Editor, Time Out Sydney
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  • Ultimo
The Lord Wolseley
The Lord Wolseley

In a leafy pocket of Ultimo you’ll find this old timer that strikes a comfortable balance between the old ways and the new. Traditional pub fixings still have pride of place in the public bar. There’s the requisite Reschs posters, the windows are painted in peeling Celtic script, and out the back they've got Pub ife Kitchen taking slinging their experimental take on American classics.

  • Surry Hills

When a hot dog and a craft brew is all your heart desires then it’s time to cannonball down the slopes of Surry Hills to the Royal Albert Hotel. You will not be the only one making a beeline for this compact taphouse so expect to squeeze inside the front bar to get amongst the good-natured carousing that happens here every evening at quitting time. 

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  • Surry Hills
  • price 1 of 4
Shakespeare Hotel
Shakespeare Hotel

The Shakespeare Hotel does some of the most reliable and cheap pub food around. The whole menu is under $20, which means suddenly your options at the lower end of the scale are far greater than chips – we’re talking pork ribs with plummy barbecue sauce, two big braised lambs shanks on a bed of mash, or even a simple rump steak with mushroom sauce – and the portions are generous.

  • Alexandria
The Lord Raglan
The Lord Raglan

Being spoiled for choice is a nice problem to have, and with the rise of dedicated craft beer bars around Sydney, it’s becoming endemic. The Rocks Brewing Co have their very own pub in Alexandria with a bar constructed from old doors, 12 taps, fridges for the fancy bottled stuff, old arcade games and no pokies in sight.

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  • Sydney
Edinburgh Castle Hotel
Edinburgh Castle Hotel

This popular CBD pub is exactly where you want to go to loose that light blue collar and make short work of your first, cold beer. The downstairs area can get packed after knock-off, so it's worth forging ahead and making for the back stairs that lead to the first floor. A gentle refurb has made this a comfortable, relaxed spot for a drink, a chat and a classic counter meal.

  • Pubs
  • Parramatta
Albion Hotel
Albion Hotel

What’s the point in having a dependable, temperate climate if don’t you take every opportunity for an al fresco drink you can? We assume this was the thinking behind the design of the Albion Hotel in Parramatta, because this place is mostly beer garden, which gets two thumbs up from us. They also have some of the friendliest staff in the city. 

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  • Pubs
  • Chippendale

Beloved live music venue the Lansdowne Hotel reopened after closing for a hot minute, and then reopening again, after being saved by the legends from the Oxford Art Factory. Refreshed and revitalised, the new Lansdowne is still the same pub you’ve always loved, now just with a new retro-inspired rooftop, a New York deli-style menu from an award-winning chef and a late-night free music program. Sounds pretty good to us.

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Avril Treasure
Food & Drink Editor, Time Out Sydney
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