5 Best Bars To Enjoy Nights In Sydney

Sydney’s ‘lockout laws’ might have poured bucketloads of cold water on the Harbour City’s nightlife, but there are still cracking club nights to be found around town every night of the week. Whether you’re looking for live music, backpacker bars, uni nights or LGBTQI venues, you’ll spot a night out for you in this list of Sydney’s best club nights.

* The World Bar, The Wall, Wednesday

Get your midweek fix of bass at this Kings Cross institution, which has hosted The Wall on Wednesdays for a decade now. What began as an evening of hump day hip hop has blossomed into a self-described “mid-week rave not for the weak”, filling World Bar’s four storeys with a young university crowd slurping back the venues signature cocktails out of teapots.

* The Reef, Crab Racing, Monday

For years, backpackers in Sydney wouldn’t consider heading anywhere other than Scubar on a Monday night for cheap jugs of beer and lively crab races and although the beloved basement bar has reinvented itself as The Reef in 2017, complete with fresh nautical-themed decor, that Monday night fixture hasn’t changed.

* Ivy, Ministry Of Sound, Saturday

MOS transformed London’s clubbing culture in a derelict bus depot in 1991, and although the salubrious surrounds of the Ivy Complex in inner-city Sydney are somewhat different, the super-club is hoping the impact of their 2017 foray into the Sydney scene is equally profound. Ministry of Sound Club Australia launched to much fanfare in June and has lived up to lofty expectations by attracting the country’s biggest DJs, such as Peking Duk, Tigerlily and Will Sparks.

* Beach Road Hotel, Sosueme, Wednesday

This Eastern Suburbs stalwart delivers something for everyone: a sports bar for the locals to down schooners, a beer garden for Sydney’s social elite to see and be seen, plus a huge upstairs band room that plays host to Sosueme on Wednesdays, a midweek party night that serves up cracking live music for free.

* Stonewall Hotel, Drag Nights, Friday and Saturday

This Oxford St institution has been one of the jewels in the crown of Sydney’s vibrant LGBTQI scene for two decades, delivering live entertainment seven nights a week. But the highlights of Stonewall’s weekly calendar are the legendary drag shows on Friday and Saturday nights, when all three levels are routinely packed to the rafters.