The Lord Gladstone

The Gladstone was once a spectacular place, one of the few proper dive pubs in Sydney and the kind of venue where toilet cubicle doors were a luxury.

I used to sing (if you want to call it that) in a punk band at "The Gladdy" every few weeks. Top memories include sculling $7 jugs of house beer, a bloke performing on stage in a wetsuit, and one staff member rolling a sleeping bag across the bar and bedding down for a kip after close.

The pub was taken over in March by the same crew responsible for revamping Enmore's Vic on the Park and Glebe's Toxteth​ and while things have changed (there's carpet and the toilet cubicles have doors), the denim-jacketed heart of the old Gladstone is still there.

In July, for example, the pub hosted Boxfest: A Festival of The Goon Bag, a fundraising event where wine bladders sparkled in the winter sun and Snapchatting students downed frat-party cups of Stanley Rosso, Fruity Lexia​ and that fancy-pants Yalumba​ chardy sold in two-litre casks. This was followed by Beerfest, a celebration of non-craft beer featuring tinnies of VB, Tooheys Red and XXXX Gold.

Note the new Gladstone also serves real-life bottled wine and local craft beer – it's not the Deni Ute Muster every weekend. The two events are a beaut example of Gen Y's drinking culture today, though, a culture that swings between traditional white and blue-collar boozing with the ease of a Tinder swipe. Just look at how many high-end bars now offer "shit tinnies" for $5 a pop, a product of budget, or irony, or both. And nothing says look-at-me like mixing Fanta with organic pinot grigio.

If you wanted to drink that pinot grigio ($9) and soft drink in the most street-credible vessel going – a Macca's cup with customised logo – the Gladstone can facilitate. The cups are actually designed to hold The Lord Drummer – a $15 mix of Ketel One vodka, agave syrup, Angostura bitters, ginger beer, passionfruit and lime juice. Whack a lid on, pierce it with a straw and dance as hard as you like without summer juice flying over your mate's vintage Stussy​ jumper.

There's a decent amount of dancing here on Friday and Saturday nights, too, with a vibe and crowd similar to the old Purple Sneakers parties at the Abercrombie​ (nee Australian) Hotel a few blocks over. If you still have a scratch only a Chippendale dance party can itch, put down that Pixies vinyl and head on over.

Oh, and there's food here now! The Lord's Burger ($18) uses a Brickfields sesame-seed bun to control a medium-rare beef patty, bacon, cheese, lettuce, tomato, beetroot, onion and pickles. It's your classic counter-lunch pub burger and Dave Chang would hate it. I love it.

As Chippo becomes increasingly gentrified through the happenings at Central Park and the Old Clare Hotel, I say it's a great thing The Lord Gladstone exists. Natural wine and foraged fennel is all well and good, but sometimes you just want a longneck, a burger and a laugh with good mates.

THE TAKE-AWAY

Go for… a schooner in the beer garden while the sun's out.

Stay for… footy, live music and local DJs.

Drink… the Lord Drummer.

And… LP's Quality Meats supplies the badge-draw trays. Chippendale represent.