The Ramblin' Rascal Crew Is Opening a 70s-Inspired Underground Cocktail Bar in the CBD

Despite taking its name from a raucous, rundown pub in the Patrick Swayze-starring 80s flick Road House, Double Deuce Lounge won't be a dive bar. Instead, the newest CBD drinking hole from the Ramblin' Rascal team will be a refined cocktail lounge with a touch of '70s porn chic'.

"What is 70s porn chic?", we hear you say. Well, don't expect to find Ron Jeremy lounging in a booth — but do expect lots of curved wood, a furry standing booth and flamingo pink cocktails. Yep, Charlie Lehmann, Sebastian Soto and Dardan Shervashidze want to revive the cosmopolitan.

The three bartending co-owners of Ramblin' have taken over the 60-seat underground bar on the bottom floor of the short-lived Bouche on Bridge, and are hoping to open the DD — as it's expected to affectionately be known — there this autumn.

The underground bar at the now-closed Bouche on Bridge.

Unlike the trio's other bar — an award-winning cognac bar with an assortment of dildos, trophies and bras hanging from the ceiling — the DD won't have a bias towards one particular spirit and it'll have "less shit". "It'll be a lot smaller [than Ramblin']," says Lehmann. "With lower ceilings, all bums on seats and a reduced back bar."

And the booze situation will be a bit of a "free-for-all". As well as 'shit tinnies' — cheap tins of beer that are also served at Ramblin' — and a lengthy cocktail list, the team will be collaborating with other Sydney brewers and sommeliers, such as co-owner of Newtown's P&V Wine and Liquor Mike Bennie, to create an extended beer and wine list.

While there's no plan for food at the bar, the lease on the two-storey Bridge Street venue has been split, leaving space for a full restaurant upstairs. No one's locked in yet and Lehmann is hoping a certain Adelaide restaurateur will make the trip up north. "We're hoping Duncan [Welgemoed] from Africola takes over the space," says Lehmann. If you're lucky enough to have visited the fiery African restaurant, you'll be hoping he does, too.

The DD's fictional namesake, the one that has Swayze as its bouncer, has a very real live band in-house: The Jeff Healey Band. The IRL Sydney bar isn't big enough to house a band, but, instead, it'll be pumping out a lineup of smooth 60s and 70s soul and funk. "There'll be a lot Curtis Mayfield and some of the Stones' funkier tracks," says Lehmann.

The boys are looking to create a slightly more mature, more refined version of Ramblin', but DD will still have plenty of personality — and a bit of cheek. And it's opening date? "Probably April Fool's Day," says Lehmann. Case in point.

Double Deuce Lounge is slated to open 6 Bridge Street, Sydney in early April 2019. 

Top image: Charlie Lehmann at Ramblin' Rascal.