Old venues reimagined and relaunched has been the theme so far for 2024’s drinking scene, with three of the boozers listed below calling a heritage building home.

But there’s also the return of a James Street classic after a temporary closure earlier this year, and a homely wine bar hidden inside a garage down a CBD laneway.

Here’s what’s caught our eye so far in 2024.

The Rose & Crown, South Brisbane

English-themed gastropub the Rose & Crown occupies the heritage-listed Collins Place in South Brisbane, which since 1889 has, among other things, done time as a private residence, a police station and, during Expo 88, a spaghetti restaurant. Most recently, it was Little Big House, a Queensland-themed pub, which closed in December.

The Rose & Crown retains the bones of Little Big House, with its brick and timber fit-out, downstairs and upstairs bars, and latticed wraparound verandahs and outdoor areas with views across Grey Street, but husband-and-wife owners Alex and Bella Derrick have given everything a very English vibe, with a white and teal paint job, walls decorated with plates and old-school paintings, and heavy timber tables.

Each bar has 12 taps pouring a mix of European and Australian beers and ciders, including Magners and Guinness. There’s also a Euro-centric 40-bottle wine list, and a clutch of cocktails. Alex is particularly proud of a traditional cask ale the bar is serving that’s produced by Capalaba’s Bacchus Brewing.

Food is just as important here, with the kitchen producing a menu that mixes British classics with more modern dishes. For snacks and starters there’s a Scotch egg with mustard mayo, pork sausage rolls, and smoked mackerel pate with toast.

Mains include beer battered fish and chips with mushy peas, a braised steak and Guinness pie, and Cumberland sausages with leeks, mash and onion gravy.

There’s also a Sunday roast menu that features beef, chicken, and nut roast served with Yorkshire pudding, roasted vegetables and gravy.

Club Felix, CBD

Upstairs, on the first floor of the newly reopened Naldham House, is Club Felix, a 110-seat lounge bar pitched as a CBD supper club.

Here, it’s all about a champagne list available via Coravin and signature cocktail list, accompanied by a late-night food menu.

For cocktails, you might order a Brulee Flip (Martell VS Cognac, Madeira fortified wine, burnt sugar syrup, chocolate bitters and grated chocolate), Raspberry Tea Julep (black tea-infused Buffalo Trace bourbon, raspberry syrup, mint and Peychaud’s bitters) or a Newton’s Law (Ketel One vodka, Old Kempton apple liqueur, Granny Smith apple juice, citric and milk).

Food is a menu of shareable Euro-inspired comfort eats such as a jamon and Comte toastie, fried whiting sandwich fingers with herb mayo, potato pave fingers topped with caviar and creme fraiche, bacalao (salted cod and potato) croquettes, and caramel profiteroles.

Celebrated designer Anna Spiro has given the room an International Klein Blue colour scheme with large velvet banquettes and a restored original bar built from silky oak.

Cru Bar, Fortitude Valley

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it – just make it larger. That might be your initial impression of the reopened Cru Bar, but the devil is in the detail.

Sure, this Valley classic still has its signature chandelier, sheer curtains, breezy courtyard and glass-topped high tables (now refurbed), but a partial expansion into the old Spoon Deli space (with restaurant Emme taking up the rest of that tenancy) has allowed for a much larger open kitchen, new tables along its flank opposite the Aesop store, and a series of lush velvet booths at the back of the venue. The onyx bar tops have been reworked, and there are terracotta-tile floors.

Think Cru Bar, but a higher resolution take on the original.

What hasn’t changed is the focus on wine, with the venue’s award-winning wine list now surpassing 2000 bottles. There’s also a by-the-glass selection that changes weekly, an imaginative cocktail menu, and the Cru Cellar is present and correct.

The larger kitchen means chef Richard Ousby has expanded his food menu to include a set option. A la carte dishes include Mooloolaba prawns with lobster bisque and cherry tomatoes, char-grilled spatchcock with roasted eggplant and picada, and wagyu sirloin steak frites served with a butcher’s sauce.

Milquetoast, CBD

You’ll find Milquetoast hidden in a garage down the end of a laneway opposite the Hilton Hotel on Elizabeth Street. It makes for a neat two-hander with Alice, a dive bar, just next door.

Inside, it’s homely rather than fancy, owners George Curtis and James Horsfall scouring Facebook Marketplace for vintage timber tables and leather and velvet chairs and bar stools. A bar and open kitchen runs down one side of the venue, and exposed girders are lined with wine bottles.

It’s the vino that takes centre stage here. Horsfall has put together a 50-bottle list that covers both Australian and international drops and focuses on small producers, grower champagnes, limited allocations and the like.

For cocktails, venue manager Aidan Perkins has written a list that focuses on higher end spirits.

There’s also a martini menu that each month showcases a different distillery and presents house interpretations on dry, wet and dirty martinis, as well as a retro riff on an espresso martini, a mini martini, and a martini highball served with tonic.

For food, chef Solenn d’Heilly (formerly chef de partie at Bennelong, at the Sydney Opera House) is cooking seasonal produce that taps into a revitalised interest in British food (Curtis is from England, as are Horsfall’s parents). It will change regularly but the launch menu features devilled eggs with bacon and leek cream, a cured fish crumpet with curry aioli, Urban Valley mushrooms on toast, and Cumberland sausages with Puy lentils and gremolata.

The Alliance, Spring Hill

The changes at the relaunched Alliance might initially feel subtle, but then co-owner Peter Hollands explains that there was a lot of low-hanging fruit at this iconic 1864-built pub.

In the beautiful old front bar, he and co-owners Emma Hollands (Peter’s wife), Kat Makarov and Nick Winter (who between them are known for slick CBD bars Frog’s Hollow and Alice) have replaced the bar top and beer lines, covered the walls in Australiana – think old Foster’s, Fourex and Four’n Twenty pie posters – and thrown open the windows to better catch the sun as it tracks across the old Spring Hill workers’ cottages to the north-west, filling the venue with a lovely afternoon light.

On tap there are 10 beers that split the difference between big box drops such XXXX Gold, Toohey’s New and Guinness, and a rotating selection of craft brews.

Out back, the old bistro has also been given a new bar top and renamed The Whisky Warren. There, head chef Julian Oliver is cooking a menu of Australian game dishes that changes depending on what he can get his hands on. You might order kangaroo tartare served with onion and bean puree on toasted brioche; butterflied harissa-marinated whole quail with cauliflower puree, sautéed kale and crisp enoki; or a slow cooked rabbit stew with mushroom, potato and tomato.

The rest of the venue has been given over to a series of private dining rooms and function spaces. Upstairs, there’s the light-filled Leichhardt Room with capacity for 160 guests.

Downstairs, beneath the public bar, there’s the Actress and the Bishop Bar, with capacity for 45 people; and the 60-person Mirror Room, which features a mirrored ceiling. There’s also a 14-seat private dining room in the venue’s wine cellar.