Melbourne after dark: How to make the most of the city’s nightlife

There are few better places to watch the sun go down in Melbourne than the balcony at the Brunswick Ballroom the only licensed balcony on the busy northern escape route that is Sydney Road. It’s gritty-pretty with the dying light filtered through the crosshatching of overhead tram cables while, on warmer nights, nearby residents swing their legs out of the windows over the roofs of the shops like kids riding on Puffing Billy.

Sydney Road itself is an eclectic mix of wedding shops, hookah bars, local designers and rock ‘n’ roll coffee shops like Cafe Ray.

Catch performances ranging from rock to cabaret at Brunswick Ballroom.

The Brunswick Ballroom, previously The Spotted Mallard and before that a wedding venue, came into being mid-pandemic, borne from a strong belief that Melbourne nightlife was down but not out.

“It’s crazy the amount of talent that this city has”, says Will Ewing, venue director of the Brunswick Ballroom. “Travel to Nashville, travel to LA, travel to Berlin to any of these famous music cities. We have this cultural cringe still and it is funny when you travel to these places as amazing as they are, Melbourne is pretty special.”

Ewing programs a wide range of shows from rock to cabaret, David Helfgott to drag shows, a line-up that he feels is reflective of Melbourne diverse entertainment. For Ewing, what he loves about a night safari in Melbourne is how easy it is to find some fun.

“When I am with someone from interstate or overseas I like to take them on a bit of journey through Melbourne and we don’t start at the arts centre, we go and we find a backstreet pub and have a classic pub meal and there might be an alt country band playing in the corner,” says Ewing. “Then we head into the city, walk the cobbled streets of Melbourne and go to Cherry Bar, or we can go the arts centre and see some world-class performer or a recital and for me that’s really special because you can see a bit of everything.”

Taking Ewing’s advice you could start in Brunswick, Melbourne’s boho, inner-north burg that is a magnet for singer-songwriters and home to the annual Brunswick Music Festival and the one-day Sydney Road Festival that closes down the main artery and sets up several live-music stages in the laneways and side streets.

Camp Cope performing their last Melbourne show at Brunswick Music Festival.Credit: Rick Clifford

The whole suburb is packed with live music. There is the shabby-chic Retreat Hotel with bands most nights and one of the biggest beer gardens around that treads a fine line between being cool or being condemned. You can catch a band or comedy show at the converted warehouse that is Howler, or have a Sunday arvo session at The Union Hotel.

You’ll sometimes find jazz in the front room of The Brunswick Green (opposite the Ballroom) or every night at the JazzLab, a dedicated jazz club that has hosted performers like Prince and Harry Connick Jnr.

The beer garden at the Union Hotel, Brunswick.

Before the sledgehammer lockdowns, Melbourne was Australia’s home of nocturnal entertainment with the city priding itself on a round-the-clock vibe at weekends where you could be drinking, dining and dancing until dawn. It is no surprise then that the nighttime economy in the CBD was the first to rebound with a report showing that the city had returned to pre-pandemic levels of activity in the evening, if not the day time.

The beauty of Melbourne’s nightlife is its depth, so you can enjoy a whole night out in Brunswick, or Thornbury, Collingwood or Carlton, just as easily as in the city centre. We are heading from Brunswick to one of the newer nighttime offerings, one that recently wound up on the World’s 50 Best Bars list.

Caretaker’s Cottage was ranked 23rd in the World’s 50 Best Bar Awards for 2023.

Caretaker’s Cottage is tucked in behind a Wesley Church just off Little Lonsdale Street in the north of the city, it is a small bar with a big reputation but with one of the warmest welcomes around. Without a booking I am shuffled from perch to perch until they can accommodate me, fortunately it is right in front of the petite bar with the gigantic speakers playing high-fidelity tunes from the ’90s and ’00s; drinks are quirky, original and seasonal like the Loneliness Remembers that has Altos Plata tequila, strawberry, yuzu and salted grapefruit – quaff it with the spiced capsicum and walnut dip.

Melbourne’s bars are manifold and legendary. A reliable multi-storey hospitality destination is Curtin House where you find the modern Thai and cocktails of Cookie, the mezcal-of-the-month fun of Mesa Verde, the tram-carriage booths and banging bandroom of Toff in Town and the OG Rooftop Bar that was also the home of Rooftop Cinema.

Then there is the new multi-storey hospo complex, HER, which, like Curtin House is divided up into different spaces but with the same owners. You have the ground floor food-and-booze all day stop, the Japanese-inspired listening bar on level two, the BKK diner with Asian inspired bites on three and the rooftop bar with fresco on level four.

The sunny-hued rooftop at Her.Credit: Parker Blain

If you want to rock out you have to go to Cherry Bar for a band or Heartbreaker for bourbon on ice and a slice from Connie’s Pizza.

Get your gin on at the old guard: Union Electric gin garden, the veteran Gin Palace or cram yourself into the city distillery Little Lon.

Try a sustainable, fermented beverage at Byrdi, get a glass of top-drawer Champagne at the roaring 30s speakeasy that is Nick and Nora’s or slip into Whisky and Alement for a mystery flight of the golden stuff.

There are restaurants galore, of course, but dining is a whole story of its own with some of the world’s best restaurants and the greatest chefs in Australia plating up for visitors every night.

But even the fine diners are getting in on the late-night, party act. Gimlet at Cavendish House is a regal, booked-out-for-months affair with a New York-inspired fitout and some of the most amazing food and drinks around; you have to try the gimlet, it is worth naming a building after.

Book ahead… Gimlet at Cavendish House.Credit: Sharyn Cairns

But a sneaky hack is to slip in for the supper menu which has an extravagant caviar service, freshly shucked oysters with seaweed butter and rye or the simply named “cheeseburger” that will ruin you for any protein in the future that comes sandwiched between two slices of bread. It’s a fun vibe too; the diners have loosened up and a few have moved from the table to the bar.

“One of the things I love most about Gimlet is the palpable change in mood and atmosphere as we move through different parts of the day,” says Shane Lazzo, Gimlet venue manager. “This is especially noticeable on Friday and Saturday evenings as the dinner crowd is relaxing into their final courses and the supper crowd starts to arrive. The cocktail shakers work overtime, our supper menu is in full swing. It’s party time.”

That’s Melbourne wherever you look after dark, people out in the rain, hail, sleet or heat looking for an excuse to have a good time.

The writer traveller at his own expense.