Matt Whiley's Zero-Waste Cocktail Bar Re Has Closed and Will Reopen at The Norfolk Hotel in April

Since its arrival in 2021, Re has blazed a trail as one of Sydney's best bars and a standout spot within the South Eveleigh precinct. It's landed on the lists of the world's best bars multiple times, it's hosted pop-ups from other game-changing watering holes, and it's completely altered the benchmark for sustainability in Sydney, with cocktails made from discarded bread or chicken feet. Now, it's on the move.

The brainchild of Scout founder Matt Whiley, Re closed its original Locomotive Street outpost in February, posting an "out of office" message to its Instagram account. Three weeks on, it's now been revealed that the boundary-pushing bar will be reopening alongside Ricos Tacos at Cleveland Street's The Norfolk Hotel. The inventive haunt will fill a La Salut-sized hole at the pub, arriving in Redfern four months after the Spanish wine bar shut its doors during PUBLIC and Love Tilly Group's falling out.

Staying true to its zero-waste and sustainable ways, Re 2.0 will redirect waste from the kitchens of PUBLIC's venues, giving new life to otherwise-discarded produce from Maybe Sammy, Sammy Junior, El Primo Sanchez, Busby's, Derrel's, The Lady Hampshire and Dean & Nancy on 22.

"Bringing Re to Redfern at The Norfolk feels like the right move for the bar," says Whiley. "We never want to stop being creative in our practice, so finding this location energises us and gives us more opportunity for us to stretch into new material and work with new people."

Whiley will work with former Automata owner and PUBLIC's Creative Culinary Director Clayton Wells on both the food and drink menu, creating dishes and drinks that can work harmoniously.

While we don't have a concrete open date for the bar just yet, it's expected to begin welcoming people to the former La Salut site at some point in April. As with the original South Eveleigh space, sustainability has been built into the core of the new Re, with recycled and repurposed materials playing a major role in reimagining The Norfolk's corner bar.

"It's also great to help PUBLIC reduce their impact across their award-winning pubs, hotels and bars, as I believe this process of minimising waste is something we should be embracing across the industry."

The space when it was La Salut, Nikki To

Re will be located at The Norfolk, 305 Cleveland Street, Redfern in April 2024. Follow along at the bar's Instagram account.