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The Observer been reborn as an English-style boozer by the team behind The Duke of Clarence, with darts, chessboards and pints alongside British pub-style dishes.
One of Sydney’s shuttered “ghost” pubs, The Observer Hotel at The Rocks, reopens this week as a luxury born-again English-style “boozer” from the team behind The Duke of Clarence in the CBD.
One of the operators behind the relaunch, Mikey Enright of Barrelhouse Group, isn’t certain exactly when The Observer poured its last a beer, but said it was just before the first COVID lockdown ear;y 2020. The reboot is full-circle moment given the current pub was built when the two colonial-era hotels that occupied the site, Observer Tavern and the Waterman’s Arms, were demolished in 1908 as part of urban cleansing efforts following an outbreak of the plague, which came to Sydney in 1900.
The site’s colourful past, and its location across the road from the colony’s morgue, saw the cellar function as an unofficial coroner’s court. The meticulous three-year restoration and renovation offered up an archeological haul.
“We have the oldest toilet in The Rocks at the back of the block,” Enright said. “It’s really just a hole in the ground with some bricks. ” With antique furnishings sourced in the United Kingdom, model ships and walls of framed portraits, The Observer treads quintessential British boozer design turf.
Enright started his career working in pubs in the north of England, before branching into cocktails and linking up with business partner Julian Train to operate a posse of Sydney venues, including The Barber Shop and The Duke of Clarence.
“English pubs feel like your living room. They’re generally cosy and comfortable,” Enright said of the design inspiration. The Observer has nooks, darts and chessboards, pints and double-fermented cast ale. The menu from chef Sam Bull lands in British gastro-pub territory.
“This is a proper locals’ pub at heart. There’s no pretense here, just real homeliness, genuine hospitality and wholesome British pub classics with a modern twist,” Enright said. The fish finger sandwich on its opening menu takes its cues from a childhood snack, but Enright said it elevates itself as “an adult thing” with the addition of higher-quality produce.
With Hickson House Distilling Co. part of the Barrelhouse portfolio, the kitchen taps distilling experience to brine spatchcock in leftover juniper and create a gin-macerated “Eton mess”. There’ll be a roast of the day, Berkshire pork sausage rolls, pigs in blankets, scotch eggs and a dry-aged steak program. While the menu is available across the whole pub via QR code, waitstaff service is offered in the pub’s dining room and conservatory.
Enright sees such changes as part of venues’ natural evolution. While he acknowledges the history of the site, including the local tour operator who swings past to tell groups the story of the one-time publican who, in 1944, accidentally shot his lover, Enright hopes The Observer’s next generation will write their own new chapter.
“You walk in, you meet people and stories are created,” he said. New regulars certainly have access to a few luxuries their 19th-century tavern counterparts didn’t enjoy. As well as the 70-bottle wine list, The Observer also has a sizeable line-up of classic and contemporary cocktails.
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