The Beach Road Hotel

When you’re the size of the Beach Road Hotel you can be a little something to everyone. Sports bar, live music venue, a place you don’t even have to get out of the car to buy booze (let’s all raise a tinnie to the great Australian tradition of a drive-through bottle-os). They even offer lodgings to crash for the night – which, let’s face it, is probably something many punters have considered after a long session at this Eastern Suburbs institute. Rock up on a Saturday arvo and the front bar is full of locals and regulars having a punt on the tote, yelling at screens showing various sporting events and downing lager. It’s a beer-drinking kind of place. Out the back, however, the beer garden feels more like a rosé-tinted locale, especially when the sun is splashed over the tables and chairs. An additional outdoor space has been added to the vast upstairs level, which sits next to a cavernous band room that hosts good – and free – live music. Head here on Wednesdays for Sosueme – an indie and EDM hump-day celebration that’ll make you conveniently forget it’s a schoolnight. There’s also a light-filled bar upstairs with couches to drink your vodka, lime and soda on. While the bistro won’t be winning awards for being purveyors of trailblazing cuisine, you can get a decent schnitzel for a tenner – and in our books that’s a good thing.