The 54 best pubs in Sydney right now

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. 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.

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?

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.

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. 

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.

Established in 1857, the heritage-listed Dry Dock is the oldest licensed pub in Balmain. And now after a year-long renovation, it’s back better than ever, with a rocking fit-out, an ex-Rockpool Bar and Grill chef leading the kitchen, and a fresh drinks list. Staying dry? Forget about it.

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.

Is it a pub? Or is it a Chinese restaurant slash 1980s-inspired beer hall slash Bob Hawke museum. It's all of the above, and it's a winning mix. Which is why it won Best Casual Drinking Venue in Time Out's Food & Drink Awards 2022. The only bad part – it's so popular, you're best off booking if you want to go in a group of four or more during peak times.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

Just over the Harbour Bridge not far from North Sydney Station is the Commodore Hotel, which has an impressive outside terrace beer garden with views of Sydney Harbour. There is also a quality bistro, great function room for 20 to 200 guests, and also a well-stocked bottleshop.

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. 

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. 

Lots of Sydney pubs are throwing out the rule book when it comes to pub dining, but when we’re talking about a counter meal there’s certain criteria that need to be met. Once you’ve locked down the classics (which they have here) you can start to get a bit experimental. At the Erko they focus on low and slow smoked meats. It’s a proposition that’s certainly earning them a lot of fans, which is rammed at dinner time any night of the week.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

The timber floors of the Taphouse have been worn smooth by the continuous foot traffic of the parched and the curious over the last five years. The number of licensed establishments spruiking local, boutique and limited-run brews continues to rise, but this corner hotel in Darlinghurst is an old hand at the craft beer game with their gleaming bank of 20 taps behind the ground floor bar promising some of the frothiest fun to be had in Sydney.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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. 

The Hollywood is full to bursting on a Friday and Saturday night – it’s easy to see where some of the old girl’s battle scars came from. She suffers from the normal complaints of old age - the stools are a bit wobbly on their feet and it can smell a bit funny – but we’ve always been told to respect out elders, and when it comes to beers and a good time in Sydney, this dame is an old hand.

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. 

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. 

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.

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. 

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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. 

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.