Shades - CLOSED

Overview

SHADES is a neighbourhood bar and multi-faceted cultural space within Central Station from the team behind Golden Age Cinema & Bar. You'll find it on Eddy Avenue, a city block previously home exclusively to kebab shops and convenience stores that's been transformed into a fresh new food, retail and entertainment precinct called EDDY.

At EDDY, SHADES sits alongside the likes of Nonna's Grocer, Nomad Radio, Condimental, Shoebox, Dust Flowers and City Oltra, a new pizza joint that's set to open from pizza party pop-up regular Oltra Disc.

As with Golden Age, food, wine, cocktails, music and film will all collide at SHADES. The bar's name even mirrors that of a bar in Jim Jarmusch's 1989 film Mystery Train.

Regular club nights, experimental film programs, wine tastings and community gatherings all pop up here. Just keep your eyes out for last-minute announcements on the SHADES Instagram.

"It's rare and exciting to be opening this kind of experimental venue in a location like Central," says co-founder of Golden Age Cinema & Bar Chris Barton. "Cities are unique because of their different layers and this is a great opportunity to provide something that we feel is missing in this part of town. We want to create a space in the heart of the city where people feel free to be themselves, have fun and take that positive energy back out into the world."

On entry, you'll find an intimate 50-person wine bar serving a curated list of east coast drops alongside disco-inspired cocktails ($19–23) and craft beers. The accompanying food is inspired by the Rail Refreshment Rooms of the past, with SHADES offering a range of mid-sized snacks like artisan pies ($16) and sausage rolls ($16) from AP Bakery and pizza dropped off from City Oltra.

In the front bat, a vinyl soundtrack will be filling the space thanks to a Pitt & Giblin speaker system. Head to the backroom and you'll discover a 100-capacity warehouse-style space playing home to resident DJs, experimental film screenings and a range of other artistic and cultural pop-ups. Back here there's also a fridge stocked up with beers and seltzers, and plenty of spots to take a seat if you need a break from dancing.

While the name harkens back to a 1980s art film, the venue also exists in conversation with the history of Sydney's nightlife. The design has been in the hands of local legend Michael Delaney who has worked on venues like Cafe Fredas, Club 77, Piccolo Bar and The Norfolk Hotel. And the backroom's speakers are a restored set of Klipschs salvaged from the iconic former Pitt Street nightclub Sublime.

Images: Thomas Huynh