The Courthouse Hotel

Overview

Popular with students, artists and the battered men who've been frequenting it for the past forty years, The Courthouse Hotel — better known as The Courty — is a beloved staple of Newtown's drinking spots. It is grungy, relaxed and unpretentious with one of Sydney's finest beer gardens.

Inside The Courthouse Hotel, you'll find pool tables, a collection of pinball machines and a couple of vinyl couches with the stuffing falling out of them. The interior of the pub is exactly what you'd expect: dark wood on scruffy walls, well-trodden carpet and a gallery of old Sydney Swans posters. A pair of arty student types with silly beards sit at the bar alongside a bloke in a Bonds singlet, nursing a schooner, sporting an entirely un-silly beard.

During AFL season expect not to be able to hold a conversation anywhere near the football-scarfed fans surrounding the televisions. The bistro menu is exactly what you would expect: carb-heavy favourites like schnitties, wedges and nachos to soak up the beer.

But the real drawcard at The Courthouse is the beer garden. From the wooden veranda, you gaze down onto a maze of long wooden benches surrounded by frangipani trees and tropical plants which, bafflingly, still manage to grow amongst the spilled beer and cigarette butts. The courtyard is what really makes The Courthouse, packed wall to wall even in the middle of winter.

Appears in: 

The Best Pubs in Sydney