Sydney - Finally It Can Get Funky!

Written by Ian Robertson on 18th November 2007

The Sydney / Melbourne rivalry gets talked up a lot more than seems to be reality I find. As a Sydney –sider (well, closer to Sydney than Melbourne anyway!) I tend to find that Sydney-ites really don’t mind too much if someone prefers Melbourne. Maybe a joke about the weather, but that’s about it. Pry a bit more why someone usually prefers Melbourne, and the topic of the “cultural scene” comes up.

I have long suspected that this does not refer to Art Galleries, Museums and the like – Sydney has plenty of those as well. The often spoken about cafes are not really it either – Sydney has plenty of great cafes too.

They are referring to mainly the difference in two areas – live music, and bars.

Yep, Melbourne has a huge amount of great, funky, small bars catering to all sorts of different clientele. The ability to give smaller venues these sort of licenses then has a knock on effect of encouraging a vibrant live music scene in these smaller venues that are not able to fill rooms full of poker machines. But, this is a wine website, so I need to take the focus away from music and concentrate on what this means for the wine drinker, and it is very easy to understand – Melbourne has a huge amount of great, fantastic wine bars. Sydney does not.

All that may be about to change though.

Recently, after years of lobbying, the NSW government introduced a new small venue liquor license aimed at encouraging these sort of niche bars. $500 a year after approval is certainly more sustainable than $15,000 a year and having to serve food as the majority of your revenue. Now bars can focus on providing a nice range of quality wine without having to be a restaurant. NSW had resisted this for a long time citing a fear of encouraging alcoholism – strange that small, quality focused bars were being restricted whilst big money pubs and clubs which could be argued encourage it more were free to reign supreme. Finally, a step in the right direction.

Sydney has many characteristics that could point to a funky bar culture renaissance – the harbour, beaches and weather all point towards a good fit for some great venues to be created.

Having not had the time to read the full rules around the changes yet, I can’t help thinking that there is a catch somewhere…but I sure as hell hope not. Sydneysiders deserve these sort of venues, and I for one can’t wait to see some innovative businessmen and women start to create some alternatives for the wine drinker to the bar at the Hilton Hotel.

Look out Melbourne – were coming to out-funk you!