Gay Bars In Sydney

When the sun sets over the sparkling harbour a new dawn begins of stylish restaurants, traditional pubs, trendy bars and clubs to knock your socks off. The most popular with the gay boys are the not-really-gay venues, Lotus (22 Challis Ave., Potts Point, 011-61-2-9326-9000) is a concealed golden treasure box and is onf of our favourite bars in Sydney.

Tip! The word "Pub" is used in Australia to indicate a bar, also known as "the local". They are often called "Hotel", the reason for this dates back to the days that licenses only allowed pubs to provide alcohol to traveling public, the presence of a few rooms ( which might never be used) gave some impression that the rules being followed.

Gazebo Wine Garden (2 Elizabeth Bay Rd., Elizabeth Bay, 011-61-2-9357-5333) is stylish and eclectic, with sexy straight waiters and a mixed crowd, says Kane.

Bennelong Bar (Sydney Opera House, Bennelong Point, 011-61-2-9241-1999) is right under the sails of the architectural wonder, with views of the harbor.

Icebergs Dining Room and Bar (1 Notts Ave., Bondi Beach, 011-61-2-9365-9000) must surely have one of the best views of any bar in the world.

For a more gay and casual atmosphere, get thee to a pub. The eastern suburbs has the Beauchamp (267 Oxford St., Darlinghurst, 011-61-2-9331-2575), which is the favorite low-key gay and lesbian pub Green Park Hotel (360 Victoria St., Darlinghurst, 011-61-2-9380 5311); and the Tilbury (12–18 Nicholson St., Woolloomooloo, 011-61-2-9368-1955). The latter two heave with boys on Sunday evenings, especially on the terrace when the weather is fine.

Sol's Deck Bar (191 Oxford St., Darlinghurst, 011-61-2-9360-8868) pulls in the lesbians on Fridays, but if you really want girl-on-girl fun, go west and dive into the Newtown Hotel (174 King St., 011-61-2-9517-1728), which is a friendly local. Otherwise, @ Newtown (52 Enmore Rd., 011-61-2-9557-5044) is more clublike and has regular gay and lesbian nights; the Marlborough (145 King St., 011-61-2-9519-1222) has a popular cocktail bar upstairs; and ZanziBar (323 King St., 011-61-2-9519-1511) has a fab rooftop cocktail bar.

The swankiest club is Tank (3 Bridge Lane, Sydney, 011-61-2-9240-3094), "a beautifully designed venue with a fairly regular gay night," . Slide (41 Oxford St., Darlinghurst, 011-61-2-8915-1899) is perfect for lounge divas. It is one of the hippest and hottest sports on the gayest strip in Sydney. The venue’s décor mixes the historical elegance of this former bank with designer chic to exude a trendy atmosphere. Slide is more than just a nightclub and bar - it also boasts an excellent restaurant too! An anchor of the gay scene, at some point everyone ends up at the and "for a gay Sydney experience, you can't go past the Mother Ship…er, Midnight Shift [85 Oxford St., Darlinghurst, 011-61-2-9360-4319]. It's been around forever, as have some of the punters.

Arq (16 Flinders St., Darlinghurst, 011-61-2-9380-8700) is all high-tech lights and thumping sound. There’s no sign in Arq which says ‘Leave your singlet / shirt / T-shirt at the door’ but there may as well be for this is the home of the original Sydney disco tit. On a Saturday night this place kicks off big time.

A multi-leveled club with two dancefloors you can let your hair down as the lasers come up, the light fades and the music gets dirty. There’s probably enough room to dance without bumping around between two semi-naked bodies but what’s the fun of that? It’s so notoriously good that even the straight boys from Kings Cross head down here to really have a good time.

If you saw Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, it should be no surprise to you that drag is popular in gay bars. Another activity popular with the local gay and lesbian community is the "recovery" party, which is thrown the day after major events. Yep, it’s just another excuse to drink and play! Recently renovated, the Beresford Hotel is hot again. It’s a real scene on Sundays.

Manacle (1 Patterson Lane, Taylor Square, Darlinghurst, 011-61-2-9331-2950) is "down and dirty" and has "cold beers and hot men, while Stonewall (175 Oxford St., Darlinghurst, 011-61-2-9360-1963) is full of young boys wearing makeup with a ghetto punk look. It's also "where you too can find a boy who won't remember your name or his own in the morning. Indeed, the Stonewall Bar (in the Stonewall Hotel) is the screaming queen of gay bars. If this pub was a teenager it would be like that guy at school. You know the one – when you were hiding so deep in the closet you could feel the chill from Narnia - he was walking tall in the playground with perfectly spiked hair, a too-tight T-shirt and a gaggle of fag hags already. As you stand outside you’ll notice picture windows of the bar framing a multitude of homos, the amps floodlighting the stone columns, the pop dance music blaring out, the drag queen on the door who’ll either shout you down or lap you right up and the name – the gayest name a bar could have. Inside the story continues; loud, thronging and about a hundred floors high. An essential stop on any pub crawl.

Occasional Fag Tag (www.fagtag.com.au) and Bad Dog (www.baddog.net.au) parties, which take over a different straight venue for a night, attract a slightly more offbeat gay and lesbian crowd, and are not to be missed.

And remember, don't leave Sydney without seeing the best in the biz at the Imperial Hotel (35 Erskineville Rd., Erskineville, 011-61-2-9519-9899), immortalized in Priscilla the movie.

Don’t miss out the sleek elegance of Colombian during a night out on Oxford Street. But if drag queens and sticky carpets are your thing, this is probably not the place for you. Rather it’s a sophisticated establishment - all dark brown wood, cream walls and spot lighting. Subdued, however, it ain’t. Seemingly constantly busy the cheery crowd is the first thing that hits.

An icon on the Oxford Street scene for over 25 years, with something for everyone in its two distinct venues, known locally as Shift Upstairs (Nightclub) and Shift Downstairs (Video Bar). The Video Bar is spacious but on most weekends fills up to capacity with mostly men dancing to the resident video DJs who play the latest pop and dance music. The bar is open daily and one of only a few places you can play a game of pool on Oxford Street. Shift Video Bar attracts a crowd of young and old faces and is known to draw a large Asian crowd on weekends. Upstairs usually attracts a small entry fee but the drag shows here make the entry fee worth it. With a modest size dance floor the place fills quickly and you can lose yourself amongst the hot and sweaty buff bodied crowd throwing their hands to the lasers.

If the epicentre of gay Darlinghurst, Oxford Street, is getting a bit too exhausting and you want a break from the promenading and thumping tunes the Green Park on Victoria Street is a good bet.

Tucked in the heart of leafy Darlinghurst away form the melee of the traffic it’s a lovely old pub with a big beer garden.This is a place where gay guys and their straight friends hang out to have a few beers and a gossip. Sexy but not sex crazed is the Green Park. You can also sit down and have a fine meal.

Newtown

The Bank Hotel on King Street, next to Newtown station, has had a multi-million dollar revamp and been turned into a dowdy institution of the gay scene into a shiny, sexy, seductive institution on the gay scene. DJs serenade in the moodily-lit interior, whilst a multi-level beer garden lets you watched the all year festival that is Central Newtown wander past.

.A place for the girls to call home is the Sly Fox, just a stones throw from Newtown at 199 Enmore Road, possibly the world’s only lesbian suburb. All the essentials are here – a stage at the front for drag shows (kings and queens) as well as the odd guitar strumming female soloist, and, towards the back, a good few pool tables where the serious business of drinking, potting and pulling is underway. Like all Sydney bars this place is refreshingly attitude and ‘membership only’ free. So, boys can get in and see how the other half lives.