Inner West hotspot replacing Kings Cross as a Saturday night party zone
FORGET the Golden Mile. The capital of Sydney’s night-life is now in this stretch of the city’s inner west, which offers everything from a small bar with retro video games to top-shelf whiskey alongside fine dining. Here are the top 24 destinations that have become Sydney’s newest Kings Cross.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
FORGET the Golden Mile.
The capital of Sydney’s night-life is now a 5km Newtown stretch that offers everything from a small bar with retro video games to top-shelf whiskey alongside fine dining.
And the new godfather of the night out isn’t a gangland overlord, but a friendly celebrity chef who counts a string of massive venues in the area on his business sheet.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal a staggering 36,500 people now head to Newtown every Saturday night — thanks largely to tough liquor laws all but killing off the infamous Kings Cross.
City of Sydney officials say patronage in the inner west nightspot has jumped by about 65 per cent since 2012.
But while the change has been generally well received, the new crowds have brought a few problems. Assaults have risen 50 per cent in the last year and some in Newtown — which prides itself as a safe haven for the gay community — blame “homophobic bogans” from Western Sydney.
Among those ploughing millions into the area has been the hospitality giant Solotel — which is owned by businessman Bruce Solomon and celebrity chef Matt Moran, and counts Justine Baker as its chief executive.
Their incredibly popular venues include the Marlborough, The Bank and The Courthouse hotels as well as “The Erko”.
MORE: Why Sydney is so obsessed with Italian Bowl Newtown
“Newtown is undeniably Sydney’s new entertainment quarter,” Ms Baker told The Daily Telegraph.
“People love bar-hopping and going to several places in one night. Newtown offers that variety.
“Bruce decided to invest (here) 12 years ago based on where the younger market is. It’s been busy for a while … but it’s more popular than ever since the lockout laws.”
Millionaire pub tsar Justin Hemmes has also stamped his mark on the area. “You just have to walk down the street and you feel it’s amazing bohemian energy,” he said.
“We wanted to be part of that. It’s a true melting pot, with a great diversity of experiences, excitement among locals and a wonderful sense of community spirit and pride.”
PICTURE GALLERY: Fun in the sun at the Newtown Festival
Mr Hemmes said the inner west was “special” because there was “room for many different experiences”.
Newtown Hotel licensee Grace West said “2042” was “the last place in Sydney with a bit of life in it”. “Newtown accepts all walks of life, but definitely has a bit of a no dickhead policy,” she said.
In stark contrast to Newtown’s burgeoning popularity, Kings Cross’s legendary strip clubs and gritty bars have been strangled by regulation, triggering a 40 per cent drop of people on the streets over two years.
Where once The Cross pulled in crowds of 24,000 a night, Sydney’s city council estimates put a typical Saturday crowd at barely 4700 people last year. Two years previously it was closer to 8000.
SYDNEY EAT STREET: Ten thing to try in Newtown
The trend is seen at its starkest in train figures. Newtown station has recorded an extraordinary 383 per cent increase in traffic since the February 2014 lockout laws.
In the hour leading to midnight alone, an average 125,655 people last year poured out of Newtown station
in search of action in bars and pubs immune from the 1.30am and 2am drinking laws.
Locals say it is changing the character of the suburb. which lies next door to the University of Sydney and was known for years as Sydney’s unofficial gay capital and home to hard-core leftists and anarchists.
Brewer Richard Adamson, co-owner of Young Henry’s, said Newtown had become more sophisticated. “It was warming up before the lockouts. But the drinking laws have definitely pushed people into Newtown. The difference is there are no clubs or strip clubs in Newtown so it’s escaped the crazy crime rates the Cross became known for.”
MORE NEWS:
Boy, 16, charged over Glebe stabbing
NRL to crack down on player agents
50m trail of shattered glass, car debris and chunks of wood
While crime rates have not risen overall, assaults rose 50 per cent to 237 in the year to March, the highest on record since 2009, and locals say outsiders are to blame. A woman from Eagle Vale in Sydney’s southwest made news recently for a violent late-night rampage at a King St kebab shop.
Simon Shaw, of Newtown’s Business Precinct Association, said Newtown might have escaped the levels of violence that marred The Cross, but there was unrest over attacks against LGBTI victims.
“Newtown is a diverse community and was once the gay capital of NSW, where people went to feel safe,” Mr Shaw said. “It’s now mixed with drunken crazy people who come from western suburbs to party in Kings Cross. They’re verbalising comments in the street; largely homophobic bogans who need to get out of Newtown and stop upsetting the apple cart.”
Sources say the tide against Sydney’s drinking laws is turning, with Gladys Berejiklian considering a relaxation before the election in March.
Former Kings Cross nightclub owner John Ibrahim says the glitter strip might be dead but Newtown is a “sad” lacklustre replacement. “Who wants to go to Newtown? It’s full of hairy hillbillies,” he said.
“It doesn’t have the flavour or buzz of the Cross had before the lockout laws killed it.”
Originally published as Inner West hotspot replacing Kings Cross as a Saturday night party zone
Splashdown! Day of disaster for Aussies in women’s America’s Cup
The women’s America’s Cup dream of an Australian crew is over after just two days of racing, a disastrous touchdown, a broken start penalty and erratic conditions. How it played out.
Council awarded more than $600k in compo battle over park, golf club
A Sydney council has secured a legal win against the NSW Government after disputing the amount of compensation it would receive for land forcibly acquired for a major tunnel project.