Newtown’s new live music bar is slated to open as early as August, a statement from hospitality crew Odd Culture Group has announced. The new King Street venue, which will be called Pleasure Club, will operate under a 4am licence – the first to be issued in the suburb by the City of Sydney council in more than 100 years.
The Odd Culture Group – which runs a host of Sydney venues including The Duke in Enmore and the Old Fitzroy Hotel – has big plans for the venue, which will be open seven days and feature free live music every night.
“We Plan to Blow up The Status Quo”
Pleasure Club will have a capacity of 120 people, and according to OCG the vibe will be “a cool pastiche of Hollywood rock n’ roll, L.A. weirdness, soulful sounds of Preservation Hall in New Orleans, blues, burlesque, and beyond”.
“We plan to blow up the status quo of what your average live music bar is presenting, especially late-night offerings in entertainment,” said OCG’s Group Operations & Entertainment Manager Sabrina Medcalf. “Pleasure Club will be a celebration, homage, scrapbook; something that ignites or reignites a pleasure in your present or past – beyond that, we don’t like to make a lot of rules.”
The owners hope the venue can offer up-and-coming bands the opportunity to get up on stage, following in the footsteps of Enmore watering hole The Duke, which hosts bands five nights a week.
It’s good news for Sydney’s live music scene, having just lost some longstanding haunts in Frankie’s and Enmore’s HiWay bar, which collapsed at the end of March with the owners owing $160,000 to creditors. In early April, Newtown venue The Vanguard was also put up for sale.
Further Reading
Newtown’s First 4am Bar License In Over 100 Years Has Been Granted
Melbourne’s Hotel Westwood, Sydney’s The Vanguard Both Up for Sale
Melbourne’s Last Chance Rock & Roll Bar Launches Pozible Campaign to Buy The Tote
