Overview
SHADES is the new neighbourhood bar and multi-faceted cultural space coming to Central Station next month from the team behind Golden Age Cinema & Bar. This new venue will open inside a pop-up cultural precinct taking over the Eddy Avenue side of the station titled EDDY.
SHADES is set to open in mid-December, sharing the space with a range of cultural organisations. There will be 13 tenants at EDDY, with Nonna's Grocer, Nomad Radio, Condimental, Shoebox, Dust Flowers and City Oltra, and a new pizza joint that's set to open from pizza party pop-up regular Oltra Disc, all among the tenants.
The name for this new venue mirrors that of a bar in Jim Jarmusch's 1989 film Mystery Train. As with Golden Age, food, wine, cocktails, music and film will all collide at SHADES.
"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."
Golden Age, Cinema & Bar, Cassandra Hannagan
On entry, you'll find an intimate 50-person wine bar serving a curated list of east coast drops alongside disco-inspired cocktails 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 and sausage rolls from local bakeries 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.
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.
If you want to find out more about EDDY, the precinct is opening with a celebratory party this Thursday, November 24. The opening day will feature giveaways, discounts, demonstrations, music, food and drinks throughout the day.
SHADES will open at Central Station in December 2022. It will be open 4pm–midnight Tuesday–Sunday.
Top image: Right Angle