Sydney’s pubs need a facelift!
Dear Sydney, it’s best you hear this from a close friend. Your drinking culture isn’t what it could be. Boiled down to its essence, most oversized drinking holes in NSW seem designed for two things: to pick a fight, or pull a chick.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Take Melbourne, a city not – how do I put it politely – overblessed with natural good looks. To wander Melbourne’s fabulous lanes at night is to relish a labyrinth dotted with tiny bars. In Sydney you find similar laneways smelling of chunder and pee. Melbourne has a vibrant CBD that makes it a joy to visit and live in. Sydney has, well, that harbour.
Why is NSW so far behind? We could blame teetotal former premier Bob Carr for not modernising the laws despite repeated requests before the Olympics. Grown-ups deserve a grown-up drinking culture and in NSW we get bogan-style drinking because we encourage bogan-style venues. We’re genetically no different from the Europeans or Melburnians that our local branch of the Australian Hotels Association goes out of its way to deride.
There seems to be plenty of Sydneysiders, let alone its visitors, who would be quite chuffed to find a quiet place to sit and have a glass of wine. Maybe even have a conversation away from the sound of the housekeeping money vanishing into poker machines. What do you think? Have your say!
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