Overview
Another historic Sydney boozer has been given the makeover treatment. With more than 140 years under its belt, Surry Hills' Keg & Brew Hotel reopens its doors this week, launching into the sunny season with a brand-new look (and rooftop) courtesy of a $10 million revamp.
At the hands of owners The Good Beer Company (who also own Paddo's Four In Hand Hotel, Randwick's Duke of Gloucester (DOG) Hotel and The Commodore Hotel on the lower north shore), the former Foveaux Street terrace house has copped a complete overhaul, however a few heritage touches and its historic facade kept intact. It's the second time the group has renovated the venue, having also given it a spruce when it took over the pub in 2014.
Head in from today — Thursday, October 3 — and you'll be first met by the ground floor public bar, which still has a solid pub menu of burgers, parmas and steaks, and over 30 taps with rotating craft and mainstream beers. Another 20 beer taps feature throughout the rest of the pub. One level up, the former guest rooms have been transformed into a new 70-seat restaurant and second bar (which will open next month), while above that lies a series of function spaces with room for up to 120 punters.
The new rooftop.
But perhaps the biggest pull for the impending summer months is the Keg & Brew's new openair rooftop, which not only has its own bar and pizza oven, but some ripper city views, too. Surprisingly, Surry Hills doesn't have too many rooftop bars — save the ones at The Dolphin and The Horse — so we're sure this will become a go-to for cocktail jugs on balmy days and nights to come.
This is the second The Keg & Brew is just the latest in a string of recent big-dollar pub revamps in Sydney. Lower north shore gem The Oaks is reopening this month following an ambitious top-to-bottom makeover and in Erskineville, the pub formerly known as The Swanson was recently reincarnated as The Kurrajong.
The new-look Keg & Brew Hotel is now open at 26 Foveaux Street, Surry Hills from 10am each day.