The Strand Hotel Sydney
Darlinghurst’s The Strand Hotel is reigniting a classic tradition to shake up the accommodation game.
The concept of Aussie pubs with rooms attached has been around at least as long as the road trip. Before the advent of motels, the budget-conscious customers would be travelling salesmen, long-distance truckers, relatives up from the big smoke for a country wedding, and suchlike. There’d be easy parking, counter meals at the bar, plain but adequate lodgings with a toilet and bathroom down the hallway, and a chance to chinwag with the locals.
The reverse was more or less true for city pubs, most of which were close to railway stations for the ease of the six o’clock swill, whereby punters would make the most of the hour between clocking off work at 5pm and the mandatory 6pm closing, and then rush for a homebound train. This “early closing” wasn’t abolished in NSW until 1955. So if you were “country folk” staying in that rather puritanical era, it would have been a dry sojourn onsite, save for a cuppa with breakfast or a bottle of beer smuggled in.
All of this whirls in my head as I dine at The Strand Bistro at street level of the pub of the same name, at the corner of William and Crown streets in Sydney’s Darlinghurst. Early closing here means 3am on weekends and midnight on weekdays and the atmosphere feels decidedly French, with sidewalk tables, booth seating, tiled floors, bentwood chairs and gliding waiters in black uniforms.
Let’s not get hallucinatory and pretend it’s the Champs-Elysees in the 1920s but there’s a real buzz and the menu tilts towards posh Parisian nosh with such menu standouts as Beluga blinis, steak tartare with burnt onion and shimeji mushrooms; “le burger” Gruyere, Toulouse sausages and mash with green beans and cider gravy, and vanilla creme brulee. Or just order a bowl of truffle mash, stick in a spoon and wash down the lot with a (philosophical) Camus cocktail. There’s an extensive selection of spirits and wine, and an excellent list of the latter by the glass.
However, The Strand Hotel, coming up to its centenary year, has also just emerged as a smartly converted establishment that sits a mere rung below the boutique accommodation category. The inventory is just 17 guestrooms across five categories on two levels, and while the chambers are all different and not exactly spacious, the cool decor and kit-out would exceed most guests’ expectations, and a few even have Juliet-style balconies. I am ensconced in No 15 (deluxe queen), located up (and up) twisting black staircases and along moody hallways, which I really think could be better lit.
The aspect is northeast over the busy William-Crown intersection, but the background sound is more of a constant whoosh, from a cacophony of crashing bottles and yelling (not in French) at midnight. When designers are dealing with awkward, almost labyrinthine, floorplans, the genius has to lie in the details. It’s not always the size of the room that matters, as the pundits say, but what you do with it.
So although No 15 has two identical but tiny bathrooms, and yet the sleeping area is tight, there’s no point wasting time puzzling over the imbalance. Interior walls obviously have been knocked out, old accommodation reconfigured, and better two lavatories than none at all. The scheme is monochromatic, curtains are thick and other plus points are plenty, from super-soft mattress and classy white bedlinen with black piping to decent overhead lighting and strong lamps. Wi-Fi is fast and free, amenities are by Grown Alchemist, there’s a GHD hairdryer and plenty of towels. The small sitting area features on-trend bouclé chairs and cushions, minibar and Nespresso machine and a stash of snacks that includes Alter Ego chocolate and (new to me) squirter pouches of shiraz and chardonnay from Adelina Wines in the Clare Valley. Extra marks, too, for the glass carafe that can be filled with filtered water from a dispenser in each hallway, and for the lavish array of apps on the big wall-mounted TV. Even the doorknob signs come with a sense of fun: Yes, Do or Please Don’t. There’s also a communal library, lounge area and workspace tucked away on level one with an honour bar (first one is on the house).
The principal architect, Tom de Plater of Public Design Studio, and collaborator George Gorrow, co-founder of “cult” denim brand Ksubi, headed the team behind the incarnation, and it must have constituted a large-scale origami project, folding in facilities and creating unexpected features such as the surprisingly large open rooftop space, with an awning, table or stool seating, plantings and festoons of coppery party lights. This is the spot for a thyme and basil daiquiri, and light bites such as gooey croquettes or porcini and Gruyere toasties, all to the beat of DJ music on Friday and weekend evenings. Happenings come to a halt at midnight up there. So not old-school pub at all.
More to the story
Other Sydney pubs with accommodation attached include the Great Southern Hotel in the Chinatown precinct, Glasgow Arms Hotel in Ultimo, and the Criterion Hotel, CBD. With excellent locations, lower rates and acceptably comfortable lodgings, the best of the bunch are challenging big-brand boutique hotels. But it was the Old Clare that set a new standard when it opened in 2015 at Chippendale on the city’s southwest fringe, merging the County Clare Inn, a 1930s corner pub, with the adjoining Carlton United Breweries administration building via a four-storey atrium and raised walkway. This conversion, with clear Art Deco elements and a north wing reconfiguration of extra guestrooms in 2020, has been a huge success.
The design-savvy 88-room Aiden Hotel at Darling Harbour sidled into the category late last year, not from pub beginnings but the restoration of a 1930s corner building block that had variously served as a cereal storage facility and office headquarters for Breville appliances. Its ground-level reception area features Wayfarer’s Bar & Cafe, with a row of Parisian-style marble-topped tables and chairs, tiled floor and a cocktail counter. Guestrooms range across myriad styles, including interior options with “mural windows”. So let’s call this one Pub Lite, within cooee of the old working wharves and mercantile buzz of the waterfront quarter.
In the know
The Strand Hotel is within walking distance of Kings Cross, Potts Point, the Australian Museum, Hyde Park, CBD shopping and Woolloomooloo. Singles from $199 a night; doubles from $229; queens, $309-$359. The Strand Bistro opens seven days; The Strand Rooftop, Wednesday-Sunday; noon-midnight.
Susan Kurosawa was a guest of The Strand Hotel.