TGI Weekend! Nightlife in Newcastle Debunked

Most people remember Hotel Delany as a charmed and slightly dilapidated pub full of people thinking about drowning themselves in their lager. But those days are long gone! After a total facelift of a renovation, Hotel Delany is now a modern and vibrant pub in the heart of Newcastle’s culture-centric Darby St. The calibre of the crowd is wide and varied, with ages ranging from 18-50 – you may spot a few cougars on the prowl as the sports bar is always populated by lots of young men, betting on the favourite or sinking a few casual beers post-work. Saturday nights are sure to entertain, with a thick crowd of people dancing to local bands playing the favourites we only sing along to while slightly (heavily) inebriated – Brown Eyed Girl, Billie Jean, don't pretend you don't know the ones. Complete with a relaxed dining experience, accommodations upstairs from $115 and two separate bars full of young, friendly staff, Hotel Delany is a bursting nightspot every weekend. Be sure to check out the glassed-over well, built into the floor in the middle bar – but you’ll have to throw your pennies into the red tip jar instead.

This glamorous snake-in-the-grass pub and restaurant is located in the up-and-coming district of Carrington – an area predicted to rival the hottest suburbs of Newcastle as it is developed over the next ten years. Leave your preconceived ideas of Carrington at home – this newly developed venue is a gorgeous nod to a chic Sydney bar, complete with an exquisite dining room seating 80 and premium accommodation above. The elegant wine bar now hosts five tap beers including Peroni, and a range of local and imported wine. Carrington Place was recently featured in Sydney Morning Herald’s ‘Good Pub Food Guide’ for 2011, describing “a wonderful sense of occasion as you enter the dining area and are ushered to your church pew style seats... the muted tones are positively glowing thanks to some clever lighting [and] three stone hearth ovens work[ing] overtime in the open kitchen. The flames adding to the ambience and the food they produce is sublime.” Carrington Place is an inspired and refined venue to spend a night bonding with both your friends and your taste buds, but strictly no sleazy boozehounds permitted, ladies and gentlemen!

If you’re looking for the perfect place to wear your oldest black jeans and catch up with your quirky friends, the Lass is your best bet. The pub is populated by approximately 60% pained musos, 20% hipsters smoking hand rolled cigarettes, 10% femme fatales and 10% retired tattooed bikies. As a result, they are renowned for an impressive and constant lineup of local and national talent from every genre, who always put on a fun, easy-going and interactive show for the crowd. The warmer months provide the perfect opportunity to enjoy the large beer garden, chock-full of heavy wooden dining tables groaning under scores of classic schooners and easy-drinking bottles of wine. The pub has also been known to host the occasional kebab stand on a busy night, creating a carnival-atmosphere that is contagious and cheerful. Dress down and chill out, this friendly and casual pub is an alternative to headachey dance music and teeny weeny disco dresses - a vibe closer to the laidback atmosphere of a backyard BBQ.

Novocastrians have been watching in awe as the metal palace that is the Mirvac complex has come to be over the past few years. Now it stands majestic overlooking Newcastle Beach, and hosts a bunch of quaint little spots for delightful food and drink. A lovely little London-esque pub has been operating within the complex for around a year now, aptly named Bar Petite. Hosting a range of delicious top-shelf liquor and boutique wine, cozy squashy armchairs and palates of warm shades of browns and coppers, Bar Petite is like relaxing in your great-grandfather’s drawing room. Beautifully-designed cocktails starting at $12 are sure to inspire you beyond your staple Cosmo, with innovative recipes such as Chanel No. 6: Champagne, Belvedere vodka, Chambord liqueur topped with icy pineapple juice. Sip your crisp cocktail or boutique wine and beer amongst an ambience provided by live music sets of a weekend, ranging from cool jazz to sweet, humming acoustics. The venue was designed by owners Benjamin Young and Luke Heard to make you feel like you’re in an extension of your lounge room, but without all the cat hair and blaring television. Tres magnifique!

Ideally located with a million-dollar view of the harbour, Isobar is a generously-sized bar and restaurant which provides a well-designed spot for drinks and nibbles in the lazy afternoons and evenings. The bar is fitted with a modern and relaxed layout split over two levels - incorporating spacious outdoor seating, undercover high tables with and intimate cosy alcoves. Cool DJs set the mood on the weekend with laidback, undemanding beats and cruisy, mellow remixes that don’t overpower your evening, which allows conversation to flow freely without raising your voice to compete with volume. Isobar also employs a mixologist, or cocktail specialist, who is more than happy to mix up a creative concoction to suit any tastebuds. They are also renowned for running a host of specials – stand-outs include absolutely delicious $10 pizzas on Sundays (P.S. the veggie one is the best!), $4 selected schooners for poor and derelict students and a very happy hour 4:30pm – 6:30pm every Friday. Isobar is the perfect place for a laidback catch-up with friends but beware! After a few sneaky special drink deals you may be tempted to wander over for dancing and shouted conversations at Fanny’s Nightclub, just across the way. Must... resist...