Brooklyn, Bowling, Bands and Beers Inspire New Hangout The Standard Bowl

Sometimes it's hard to convince your friends to do anything other than grabbing a drink and having a dance on a Saturday night. Bowling? Not usually how people want to spend their precious few hours of fun during the weekend. But pinheads — or those who just want something decidedly different to go with their beers — can rejoice now that the Standard is reopening its doors under a new name, Standard Bowl. The best part? It's free.

Inspired on recent trip to New York by two Brooklyn mainstays, Brooklyn Bowl and The Gutter, part owner and CEO of the Standard Paddy Coughlan and former owner of the Annandale Hotel Matt Rule (whose new company Music Booze & Stuff will handle all musical bookings for the Standard Bowl) found a way to combine their love of live music with their wish to differentiate the Standard from other venues in Sydney.

"It's more like The Gutter," says Coughlan. "It's a lot smaller, a bit more industrial, a bit more edgy."

For those who will be missing the bigger acts that previously played at the Standard, Coughlan expresses that he never wanted it to permanently stay a ticketed music venue. He first converted the upstairs space that originally housed junk into a street and graffiti art gallery. Then 12 months later, he reinvented it as the Standard. "This is like the third incarnation of what it is, so still with live music but free, bowling and a cool bar," he says. "I like the space to always be changing, you know, so it doesn't get stale."

Though it's moving away from the ticketed venue format, Standard Bowl continues to have live music, with a slew of local, young, up-and-coming acts on the lineup. "We're huge supporters of the live music industry in Sydney ... but what I want to get away from is this kind of idea where live music is in one room and that's all that happens in that room," says Coughlan. "Across all our venues we're trying to blend the offerings so that these bands are playing in cool spaces."

Coughlan believes his format takes pressure off the local bands to produce a crowd, with the appeal of a cool environment doing that job for them. "The onus isn't just on the band to bring a crowd, the crowd would like to go there anyway. So who's playing probably becomes less important, just the fact that there is someone playing," he says.

The aim is for the bowling to be casual and non-competitive; more of an entertaining activity while listening to some live music. "I don't think anyone is going to bother scoring or any of that stuff, it's just a social thing," says Coughlan. "I mean we've got all the touch screen things up there to score, so you can if you want to, but my gut feeling is that I don't think people will bother."

If competition is more your style though, Standard Bowl plans on eventually introducing Wednesday night bowling tournaments. As for germaphobes who hate the thought of sporting shoes that others have worn before them, fret not, as no special footwear is required.

In addition to the live music and bowling, Standard Bowl is outfitted with pool tables and vintage pinball machines. Playing at the opening on Thursday will be Wolf & Cub, with Palms and Jenny Broke the Window playing Friday and Saturday night respectively.