End of Lockout Party

Overview

The time has come. No longer will you need to plan your night around a 1.30am curfew. No longer will you be denied shots after midnight. You might even be able to stay out past 3am. Because, from today, the five-year-old lockouts have been scrapped in the CBD Entertainment Precinct — a move that venue owners and punters alike hope will signal a new era of Sydney nightlife.

It's huge news. And we thought the best way to celebrate it was with a big ol' party at Big Poppa's. This Friday, January 17, Concrete Playground and the late-night haven of cheese, hip hop and cocktails will break out the good stuff for a good time — and a good cause, too.

Stop in for a cheesy dinner — Big Poppa's is known for its cheese and will be doing half-price burrata on the night. It comes with heirloom tomatoes, chilli oil, pangrattato and oregano — and will be an easy $11.50.Then head downstairs for the party. From 7pm, the bar will be mixing negronis (with Campari and Cinzano Rosso vermouth) and espresso martinis for just $12 and serving tins of Atomic Beer Project XPA for just six bucks. If it sways you, $6 from each cocktail — and all the cash from the $6 beers — will be donated to WIRES's Wildlife Emergency Fund, which is helping to care for animals injured and orphaned during this season's catastrophic bushfires.

Bacardi cocktails will be available, too, and DJs will be keeping things going right up until 3am. You'll be able to catch Flux-3, and VJ Spook and DJ Adverse, who will come together as CutKlipz for a special visual set that blends hip hop videos and tracks.

You've been with us as we've covered the closures, the rallies, the fight for Sydney's right to party and this bash will be an opportunity to kick off what we hope will be the re-ignition of Oxford Street.

Entry is free but let us know if you're coming (or, fine, be non-committal and hit 'interested') on the Facebook event. You don't need a reservation for the downstairs bar — it's first in best dressed until it's full.