Tucked away on a side street off Oxford Street, the party had rarely stopped at Café Lounge in the 20 years since its slatted wooden doors first opened. That is until several weeks ago, when venues all over Sydney (and the world) suddenly couldn’t operate as usual.
This week the Café Lounge team confirmed that they’ve handed over the keys for good, marking the end of an era for a valued space on the cultural fringes of Sydney’s alt-arts scene.
“With recent lockout laws, rising operating costs in a rapidly changing neighbourhood, we knew quickly this pandemic was going to be our end. We hope other venues receive the ongoing support required to get through this time and hopefully we all come back stronger with a government who recognises our value,” they said in a statement shared across social media.
There was rarely a night when the Lounge’s pre-loved furniture was not packed out with punters there to eat cheap no-fuss food, sink craft beers and see the live shows that took place on the tiny stage, with its permanent sunset (in mural form) and charmingly confused hodge-podge of decor.
On Mondays, The Comedy Lounge was a reliable mainstay of Sydney’s stand-up circuit, and live music was pretty much guaranteed every other night of the week with folk, jazz, rock, indie – and pretty damn near every genre you can think of represented.
The claustrophobic toilet cubicles may have been narrower than that stage, but Café Lounge was a venue that was greater than the sum of its parts. May its reign live on, and may Sydney’s similar uncut gems survive these temporarily distanced times.