Sydney pub closures see venues ripe for picking
Last drinks have had to be called for good at yet another wave of bars across inner Sydney as dwindling foot traffic forces pub owners to close up shop or relocate.
The recent closures have followed more than 70 pub shutdowns over the past three years across the inner city.
Many of the former pub sites now seeking new tenants are in the flagging nightlife district of Kings Cross, where gentrification and lockout laws have bled the area of late-night revellers.
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But there have also been closures in parts of the inner west and lower north shore.
Former pub or nightclub sites up for lease include the one-time premises of the Sapphire Lounge in Kings Cross and, across the road, a site once home to the nightclub Moulin Rouge.
The site of the Swanson Hotel in Erskineville is up for lease.
The Surry Hills site of former small bar Mr Fox is also up for lease, along with the premises of Absinthe Salon.
The premises of Mug Life — an American-style sports bar next to Kings Cross’ World Bar — is up for lease again less than two years after last being vacant.
The former site of The Basement near Circular Quay also remains up for rent after the bar closed in April.
Erskineville’s Swanson Hotel premises are for lease, while in nearby Balmain, the site of the historic Town Hall Hotel is for rent again after the original pub closed and was briefly set up as a massage business.
Pickled Possum in Neutral Bay is up for sale.
Other pub operators have put their businesses up for sale via expressions of interest campaigns — including for Redfern’s Norfolk Hotel and Neutral Bay’s Pickled Possum.
The Norfolk Hotel listing was this week withdrawn after failing to sell.
Real estate agents say the lockout laws are the main factor in the closures and sales, but shifts in the retail industry are also making the pub business more cutthroat.
Realcommercial.com.au chief economist Nerida Conisbee says there is likely an oversupply of food and beverage stores in some areas largely due to the growing dominance of online trading.
Many of these retailers would normally have opened fashion outlets but the difficulty of competing with online stores mean they are opening licensed restaurants instead — many of which compete directly with pubs, she says.
The former premises of nightclub The Sapphire Lounge is up for lease.
Oxford Real Estate leasing consultant Daniel Marano says demographic changes within inner city suburbs are also making it harder for pub operators.
“There is less of a going out crowd living there now,” he says. “Most of the landlords haven’t responded to that so rents are still high even though there are less people out.”
LJ Hooker Commercial agent Jonathon Regan says the crowds typically going out in areas such as Kings Cross now favour high-end boutique cafes and restaurants over bars.
“The late night businesses don’t last long in that area anymore,” he says.
This article originally from the Daily Telegraph originally appeared as “Fresh round of pub premises up for lease after bar closures”.
