It's an Easter miracle! Sydney music lovers are rejoicing today, with news emerging that Sydney's iconic Lansdowne Hotel has been bought and will be restored to its former glory as a live music venue — by none other than the men behind beloved Sydney burger joint, Mary's.
Revealed by Fairfax today, Jake Smyth and Kenny Graham of Newtown's Mary's (and the Unicorn Hotel in Paddington) will be reopening Lansdowne Hotel as a 250-capacity venue.
They state the ground floor is due to be turned into a bar and kitchen selling Detroit-style pizza, with two levels of outdoor space, live music upstairs and a separately-run accommodation on the third level.
With a 3am license as it sits outside the lockout zones, Smyth says, "There's a hole in the market for an intermediate-size room."
The band room will boast a heritage fireplace, a place for fans in front of the stage, back corners able to accommodate casual listeners and the ability to record live sets and broadcast from the room. The pub will have no pokies — "We fucking hate them," Smyth says.
Graham says, "We're not expecting to make money out of live music," while the pub's new band booker, Matt Rule, says, "It's all-in-one here and multi-tiered businesses are important to punters."
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