Toot Toot! PS40’s on the Move

PS40 is a Sydney star. You’ve likely been in its orbit, or if you’re late to the party, Broadsheet ’s Hot List editor just wrote a list of reasons you should be making moves to the little CBD cocktail bar – stat. Just recently the boozer has levelled up again – growing wheels. Four to be exact: those of a 1977 Bedford RV.

“It’s been a bit of a labour of love, and a hobby as well, actually,” PS40 owner and bartender Michael Chiem tells Broadsheet. “And now it’s turned into something quite serious. I’m pretty stoked with it.”

The thing’s a blue and white striped charmer, ready to fill your liquid needs via its pop-up window. PS40’s famous Africola – the technique-driven cocktail where coconut foam tops a mix of house-made wattleseed cola and coffee liqueur – is the obvious choice, but the menu is fully customisable for each event.

Its debut at Stickybeak came off the back of a one-year restoration journey. “My mate found it on Facebook Marketplace. I was telling them about this idea that I’d wanted to do, I’d been obsessing over [the cocktail van idea] a fair bit, trying to buy an old ice-cream van. Turns out old ice-cream vans are very expensive these days thanks to people like Gelato Messina and Mapo Gelato,” Chiem says. “I was complaining to my friend about it and he’s got some secret power in terms of Facebook Marketplace – he found me this old beaten-up RV sitting in a paddock in Geelong.”

The pair flew down, took it for a spin then got it towed up to Sydney for its next life.

“I had a very patient mechanic, so that was thankful. It kind of looked like there was a fire in it – it was very raw, heaps of exposed wood and panelling. But it had some good bones, which was the most important thing.”

That patient mechanic is Damo Morris of King Julian Transport in Mascot, who refurbished the engine. On the outside, Chiem opted for blue and white stripes, nodding to his favourite vintage bus that zooms around Sydney one Sunday each month. Studio Odea designed the bubbly PSGO logo and Domus Vim whizzed up a sign.

The interior got schmicked up, too. It’s been fully re-cladded and a bar’s gone in, becoming both more structurally sound and compliant with food safety standards.

“It’s got a better stainless steel cocktail bar set-up than most bars, I reckon. It’s got a dual ice well with glass racks on either side, [and] running water, which is probably the most important thing bartenders don’t have at most events.” There’s space for a slushie machine and a back bar, and the pocket where someone would sleep in the RV is now used for storage.

When PS40 opened nine years ago, it made a name for itself with house-made soft drinks and creative flair. It’s this combo that Chiem thinks made them ripe to pop up at events.

“We’ve always done events, in all sorts of different spaces. We’re doing some work with Hermes and Van Cleef at the moment, and with Dior pre-Covid. [Fashion’s] a completely different world to what I’m used to in our bar – but I like a challenge and a brief.

“We’ve done a bunch of weddings and every single time I do an event I just think that everyone loves it so much, because it’s refreshing to have good quality things at big events, but especially out of Sydney.

“Instead of doing drinks out of three trestle tables, we’re now doing them out of a beautiful vintage 1977 van.”

Catch PSGO around town or enquire about booking it for your next event via events@psgo.com.au

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