SydneyPubGuide - blog

We've just got back from a night out in Newtown, and by 'just got back' I mean just got back. It's 3.13am, and we're sorely unhappy.

Let's just fill this in from the beginning. Myself and my partner, who for privacy's sake we'll call "Miss E", had been to a 21st birthday party in Pyrmont. I'd had several beers, Miss E herself was about two, maybe three white russians in over the space of four hours. A white russian is a shot of vodka and a shot of Kahlua topped up with milk. Often these are built as half-shot drinks, especially in short glasses as Miss E was drinking.

 

Now, to fill in a gap, Miss E has some medical issues. Specifically, she's recovered from acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, by the means of a bone marrow transplant. this life saving procedure has some side-effects. Among these side effects are things such as shortening of tendons or tightening of muscles, skin discolouration and various other essentially superficial problems such as eye discolouration. Keep in mind eye discolouration and tightening tendons - these are important.

 

so, we're enjoying an evening at the Town Hall, upstairs for much of the visit. we moved downstairs with the intention of leaving, but came back at the brink because we liked the music on at the time. After I ordered a drink, Miss E was approached by a staff member, who we think was some kind of manager, and asked to leave, because "it was time for her to leave". Miss E at this point was drinking water, and was certainly the most sober member of the group. Her behaviour was low-key and she hadn't been to the bar, though she had walked to the bathrooms and back from the middle of the pub.

 

Being the SydneyPubGuide.net guy, I had a camera on hand. I was told in no uncertain terms, in fact in threating terms, that I could not take shots at this point. So I left, and started firing off shots outside on public land. At this point I was threatened by a bouncer who attempted to take my camera away from me and threatened to smash the camera if I didn't hand it over. Luckily, I know that the bouncers have no chance of touching anything off the premises and made this fully clear, so I didn't lose the camera and wasn't beaten to a pulp. Nevertheless, I shot some pictures and told the staff in no uncertain terms that they had no rights out on the footpath and road, which is utterly correct. I did not reveal that I was the proprietor of SydneyPubguide.net until I was asked exactly what I was doing with the camera. It should be enough to say "I am a journalist and I know my rights", but that doesn't seem to affect these apes.

 

After some 'discussion' with bouncers and management, we moved on. No way were we going back into the Town Hall at this point, so we moved on to the Zanzibar. The exact same issue surfaced at this pub, Miss E was told her eyes were bloodshot, therefore she was too intoxicated to enter. Much the same discussion ensued, and to be fair, we should have just given up. Newtown pubs are connected via a communication network among bouncers.

 

Again at the Zanzibar, I was physicially threatened for having a camera and attempting to take shots with it, despite the fact I was on public land. The Zanzibar at least made an effort to talk to us via a manager, but still took exception to a picture being taken on public land. Even though it was being taken to prove a point. A representative was good enough to attempt to chat with us, but was pretty short and trook exception to my occasonal peppering with swear-words, as if working in a pub meant he was suddenly sensitive to this crap.

 

At this point, we'd had entirely enough. Two sets of bouncers had, frankly, been assholes enough that there was no way we were going to enter any pub or bar in this area after this fiasco. But to add to the insult, the Newtown jungle drums were made abundantly clear by the bouncer at The Bank shouting across the road to "fuck off with that camera". Yes, shouting across the road. Highly professional behaviour, no?

 

At this point, Newtown became less a good night out, and more a den of snakes.

 

Well, I say snakes. I actually mean apes. Or possibly fuckwits.

 

I must say, one bouncer at the Town Hall had things under control. I didn't get his name, but I'm sure if i say "black guy with glasses", that'll help. At the Zanzibar, one particular bouncer lost his cool and had to be held back by colleagues just because I was carrying a camera. I felt threatened, but I knew I was in the right, legally. Had this guy rushed out and hit me, I would have won in court without a shadow of a doubt, but why the hell should this guy have got to this point in the first place? Poor training and lack of brains? Bouncing is not a high-IQ job, let's face it, but there are clear shortcomings in the apes being employed in Newtown. Again, possibly luckily, there was one sensible bouncer holding back the simian fuckwits. Thank you to that guy. Maybe I have his photo, which of course I won't be publishing, but his halfwit colleagues? Oh those will be published.

 

Oh well, screw them. The Town Hall has certainly lost a few hundred bucks from us over the next year, as has the Zanzibar. The Bank, despite its big-ass renovations, is still going to lose our trade, and hopefully our readers will feel the same. Don't go. you may be discriminated against by the door staff for reasons not mandated under law and policy. Just Don't Go.

 

 

Thank You

 

J
SydneyPubGuide.net

Rather a cute little summary of the Boags/Cascade rivalry up on today's SMH. I know which side I'm on.

Nice to see the SMH blatantly ripping off the Disneyland analogy I drew on SydneyPubGuide.net several years ago.

 

I said: "Like a pubgoer's Disneyland"

 

They said: "Kiddies like Disneyland. Adults like the Newport Arms."

 

OK, so it's not direct plagiarism, but I think inspiration was due to SydneyPubGuide. And where's my credit? Nowhere.

 

Will Swanton, you owe me a beer. Get in touch and we'll organise when and where you can get the round in. Thank you.

 

[cross-blogged at personal blog]

WATERSIDE HIDEAWAY WELCOMES ALL SYDNEYSIDERS FOR SUMMER

 

The licensed hotel and restaurant outlet, Newport Arms, overlooking Sydney’s Pittwater is inviting all Sydneysiders to come and enjoy a true taste of Summer dining this season in one of their 3 food outlets; The Terrace on Pittwater Restaurant,’ the grill’ or alternatively their famous Garden Bistro & Bar.

 

Expansive views of Pittwater offered by The Arms has made the Northern Beaches Newport Arms beer garden and bistro escape one of Sydney’s family and social visitor icons, frequently making the property’s spacious precincts a special retreat after a day on The Northern Beaches.  

 

Following major renovations last year, including the upgrading of its original upstairs lounge and bar areas, the property emerges as an expanded multi-layered bar, restaurant, and family-oriented hideaway, whether local or from interstate as well as extending a welcome for international guests also.

 

Within a 40 minutes’ drive from the Sydney CBD the overall Newport Arms site also offers sweeping views of Bayview, Church Point, Scotland Island and Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park.

The White Cockatoo in Petersham was last night's review venue. Nice.

In news for today, this blog will now be entirely reserved for pubguide-related posts, while my new personal blog can be found at http://www.mycolleaguesareidiots.com/ or http://blog.stopthatastronaut.com/

 

Some extra pub visits have been carried out recently, with Star City, The General Gordon, The Earlwood Hotel and a few others scheduled for reviewing, just as soon as the internal development server is fixed.

Arrived Back from Byron Bay late on monday night, after a weekend of music, alcohol and mud at Splendour In The Grass. Aside from that, we managed time to check out the Pub With No Beer, which will get a page on the site pretty soon, just as soon as I've caught up with everything I'm behind on after the weekend. There're also a couple of north coast pubs which we can drop into the guide - keep your eyes peeled.

 

In other news, the move to St Peters is ON. Yes! we'll be changing address in a few weeks and the web server will be moved onto something horribly fast in place of the current slow-as-hell internet pipe