Back in the mid 2010s, the heritage-listed pub on the corner of Sussex and Slip Streets was a CBD institution – a no-frills destination for getting down to an eighties soundtrack, schooner in hand. On Friday and Saturday nights, a queue would snake up the street as dancefloor-ready Sydneysiders waited to be admitted entry to “retro” – an abbreviation of the pub’s full name, The Bristol Arms Retro Tavern. The name was accurate for several reasons: its offering was straight-up unpretentious fun, and the pub has been around for decades. The current building dates back to 1989, but there are records of a tavern existing on the site since 1965. All that’s to say, this Sydney boozer has history, and it’s just stepped into the future with a mega five-storey renovation and across-the-board rebrand.
The latest iteration of The Bristol has dropped the “Retro” from its name, and though it nods to its past with a huge 250-person night club on the third floor, there’s nothing of the daggy drinking hole about this newly sparkling space. Set across five floors, the stunning new venue is so much more than a pub – with a Mediterranean-inspired dining room (opening in September), a moody, prohibition-style cocktail lounge, a sports bar, a sun-soaked rooftop and a disco ball-adorned night club. Interior architect Paul Papadopoulos was tasked with designing the sprawling multi-level space, and managed to seamlessly integrate a cohesively sophisticated aesthetic through the various spaces. Though each floor offers a unique experience, menu direction across the venue is consistent – with Peter Conistis (arguably the godfather of modern Greek dining in the Harbour City) in charge of all things food. As a result, even the pub menu is elevated with a delightfully flavour-forward Mediterranean twist.
“The Bristol is not your typical pub, each level has its own identity… it’s its own precinct with something for everyone,” explains General Manager Tom Corbett.
Enter on Sussex Street, and you’ll find yourself in the public bar: a casual but well-executed space, with wood-panelled walls illuminated by warm orbs suspended from the ceiling. To the back of the venue, the sports bar offers the kind of pleasant setting a lot of sports bars don’t: natural light floods through from the windows that open onto Slip Street, and there’s a refined elegance to the space. One floor up, the dining room (Ela Ela) is the kind of place you’d come for a long lunch with friends from out of town – it's not open until September, but based on Conistis' most recent venture (Ammos), we've got high hopes.
Another flight of stairs up will take you into the venue’s beating heart: Calypso night club. Here, an army of disco balls glitter above the dancefloor, which is due to come alive from this Saturday (August 24) with a funk-house focused DJ line-up curated by DJ and producer Aidan Bega.
One further level up, you’ll find a beautifully ornate, NYC-style private event space and The Bristol’s sexiest space: a dimly-lit cocktail bar with intimate booths, statement armchairs and a curtain-flanked cigar lounge opening up into the evening air. While the rooftop (which I’ll get to) is perhaps The Bristol’s calling card, there’s something about Midtown Bar and Lounge that feels transporting in the very best way: a timeless, lavish den of debauchery.
Pull yourself away from the allure of Midtown, and you’ll be rewarded with a glittering rooftop bar that feels like a Santorini fever dream. Here, pretty pink chairs gather around bespeckled marble tables busy with cocktails and plates of taramasalata and golden grilled pita. For the rooftop menu, Conistis’ focus is on offering a tight selection of casual Greek share-plates executed with care: golden skewers of chargrilled chicken souvlaki and piping hot fries laced with sumac seasoning and a side of sweet chilli tzatziki.
With more than 20 wines by the glass and an excellent selection of cocktails, the drinks menu is more extensive, but afforded the same level of attention to detail. The Martinis are on point, but for a real holiday experience, we'd suggest opting for the lychee-spiked Pina Colada, and staying until the sun sets.
With Ela Ela set to open in a few weeks and the full events line-up still to be confirmed, this is just phase one of the next chapter for the historic venue.
“We’ll have live piano every Wednesday in Midtown, and our saxophonist in every Friday evening on the rooftop as well as DJs in the club every Friday and Saturday, but there’s lots more to come,” Corbett tells me.
For now though, head to the rooftop for a taste of Euro summer in the CBD, then move downstairs to Midtown and travel back in time – just not to 2018, The Bristol’s retro days are behind us.
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