Pleasure Club

Odd Culture Group (Duke of Enmore, Old Fitz, Odd Culture Newtown) has dropped more details about its soon-to-open basement bar, which made waves last year when it became the first new Newtown bar in a century to be granted a 4am licence. The group has announced the previously nameless bar will be called Pleasure Club – a nod to what will be found below King Street when it opens in the middle of this year.

The 120-capacity bar is inspired by a trip to the US the Odd Culture team took when borders reopened after pandemic measures eased. Expect an amalgam of the rock’n’roll bars of LA, the soul of New Orleans and the hospitality of the south. Pleasure Club’s priority will be its seven-day-a-week, genre-spanning live music roster. Jazz, rock’n’roll, blues and more will all be on the line-up – and Pleasure Club’s super-late-night licence means sets can kick off as late as 1am.

“It’s the first 4am licence [for a Newtown bar] since records began,” James Thorpe, Odd Culture’s CEO told Broadsheet when the bar was announced last year. “Obviously the Marly and [other pubs] have had their grand old hotel licences for 200 years, and they trade super late. But in terms of bars … there just aren’t that many.”

Odd Culture has become known for catering to both the natural wine fanatics and craft beer geeks, and Pleasure Club will be no different. Alongside craft brews from international and local breweries, and a solid natural wine selection, there’ll be a strong showing of spirits (including a big range of agave spirits and some vintage bottles), as well as absinthe fountains.

When Broadsheet spoke to Thorpe about the bar in 2022, he was adamant there’s a desire for late nights out in the area – even on Sundays.

“The Duke is usually completely full at 10pm when it closes on a Sunday,” says Thorpe. “I do think there’s an appetite for this.”

Pleasure Club will open in mid-2023 on King Street in Newtown.

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