Sydney pubs blow up the pokies for live music

"This was supposed to be the pokie den" says publican Jake Smyth, drinking a lager in the back room of Chippendale's Lansdowne Hotel and adjusting his Newtown Jets cap. "But we said 'f--- that'. Now it's a space to drink beer with mates and have an awesome time. We're even having male and female go-go dancers in here for the opening weekend. We want this place to be a lot of fun."

The City Road hotel will start slinging schooners and counter meals again this Thursday , having sat vacant since the previous owners called last drinks in April 2015.

Smyth and business partner, Kenny Graham, who also co-own Paddington's Unicorn Hotel and Mary's burger joint in Newtown, are determined to restore their new pub to the legendary live music venue it once was, where bands such as You Am I and The Living End windmilled guitars on a regular basis.

The pair believe that giving poker machines the boot is essential to reach this goal.

"Pokies are one of the major reasons why live music has suffered in Sydney," says Smyth. "So how could we, in any good conscience, put in a live music room that holds 250 people upstairs and have pokies downstairs?"

Indeed, many of Sydney's pub rock venues from Back In The Day now focus on pokies and discounted beer to get punters through the door.

"In the 90s, a lot of joints starting making easy money from the pokies so they didn't have to try as hard on the food and entertainment front," says Tim Freedman, The Whitlams songwriter responsible for the 2000 hit Blow Up The Pokies which detailed the destruction caused by gambling on the life of a close friend and band member.

"Then, about 10 years ago, they started hiding the gambling rooms because they were ruining the atmosphere. It's just not pleasant watching someone blow the pension while you're trying to have a convivial drink."

Australia has more pokies per person than any other country (excluding casino-dominated destinations such as Macau and Monaco) and almost half of these machines are in NSW pubs and clubs.

"Poker machines are a major problem in Australia," says Dr Charles Livingstone, head of the gambling and social determinants unit at Monash University. "Gambling harms include financial catastrophe, divorce and separation, neglect and abuse of children, crime, mental and physical health problems and, in extreme cases, suicide."

Smyth says more publicans need to make a stand and engage customers without pokies. "It's not a matter of waiting for the government to intervene."

The Bald Faced Stag in Leichhardt is also booting pokies to focus on music. The pub's new owner, Scott Mackenzie, says removing the machines was part of the business plan when he took control of the hotel three months ago.

"We knew we would be losing revenue, but there is a need for more live music venues in Sydney. Now, without the machines, we can fit 500 people in the bandroom."

The Parramatta Road pub has a "Proudly Pokies Free" banner fixed to its facade, supplied by a youth-focused campaign bringing the anti-pokie conversation to a venue level.

"We want to talk to Australians about why we need to change our culture and attitude towards pokies," says Tom Lawrence, who co-founded Proudly Pokies Free with his sister, Anna, in 2016. "The biggest way we're working towards that is celebrating venues that don't have pokies. They're the heroes in the community."

Proudly Pokies Free-approved venues are issued with stickers and signage to be displayed on premises. Other Sydney pubs championed by the campaign include The Unicorn, Alexandria's Lord Raglan Hotel, The Oxford Tavern in Petersham and The Carrington, Surry Hills.

"It's time for Sydney to support the movement," says Smyth. "To support pubs doing the right thing and saying 'I'm not drinking at that pub because there's 20 pokies out the back. I don't care if they discount their beers'.

"You can't have both. You can't drink at the pubs with cheap beers and never question why the schooners are priced so low."