The Toughest Doors in Sydney

Friday, November 14, 2008

Eventually, you and your buddies, wherever you are in the world, are going to be denied entry to a club, bar, or pub. You might be dressed the wrong way, you might just be two guys who are not flanked by eight women for the sake of the M/F ratio, or you might have just caught the less than intelligent doorman on the wrong night. It seems everyone in Sydney has a horrible bouncer story; violence seems to be the only alternative when it comes to telling someone politely to leave. Here are a few of the best places in Sydney to get manhandled by belligerent steroid enthusiasts.

Goodbar

11 Oxford St
Surry Hills, NSW 2010, Australia

We have a coded underground term in Sydney: "Sneaky Sound System type of place." Sneaky Sound System is a funked up musical group, formerly playing weekly at Hugo's Lounge. But now hordes of young males and females who idolize this obnoxious coked-up group have dispersed all over Sydney. Of all the Sneaky temples of worship, this club is … a place of hardcore adoration. If you don't convert to this mind numbing religion, then you really stand little chance getting into this club.[link]

S 33° 52.38254 E 151° 12.44207

The Bourbon

24 Darlinghurst Rd
Kings Cross, NSW 2011, Australia

Located in the heart of Sydney's seedy Kings Cross. This placed used to be the most controversial bar in town, full of mythical tales of shootouts and bikie wars; now … renovated, it attracts the collar-up crowd (i.e. obnoxious young rugby males). If you come out alive after being interrogated by the doorman, relish the experience![link]

S 33° 52.23106 E 151° 13.29308

Hugo's Lounge

33 Bayswater Rd
Kings Cross, NSW 2011, Australia

If you ever venture to this overglamorous place, the only way you can get in is with a wholesome bag of good ol' fashioned Charlie. Unless your name is "on the list," … then you really stand no chance.[link]

S 33° 52.30467 E 151° 13.26835

Judgment Bar

189 Oxford St
Darlinghurst, NSW 2010, Australia

After this dingy venue was renovated, they removed the entire group of original doorman due to frequent complaints about their congenital aggression. I and many others … have had many horrible experiences here. It's become a tad softer but is still prone to the odd altercation. This place ain't called Judgment Bar for nothing.[link]

S 33° 52.50545 E 151° 12.59698

Dragonfly

1 Earl St
Potts Point, NSW 2011, Australia

A high-end club with a fondness for 18-year-old girls wearing only their underwear and bleached blonde hair. Techno, bad R&B, and electro are the order of the day. … Say what you will about this club, but I can't say much, since they've never let me in.[link]

S 33° 52.19343 E 151° 13.23429

Scruffy Murphy's

49 Goulburn St
Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia

Come sober and leave sober. This place has the highest rate of ejection even when you walk in without having touched a drink. The place to go for a rough night of … drinking, if you do manage to get in.[link]

S 33° 52.40875 E 151° 12.21852

Q Bar

44 Oxford St
Darlinghurst, NSW 2010, Australia

Q Bar takes the cake for the most aggressive and least polite of the door people. You'll know Q Bar when you see it -- it looks like a bikie gang has reconvened at the … front door. But no, that's just a group of abnormally large, overweight men who look like they're fresh from hard time in the slammer.[link]

S 33° 52.39748 E 151° 12.49593