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Award-winning Circular Quay bar Bulletin Place closes

Scott Bolles
Scott Bolles

Sydney's Bulletin Place secured a spot on the prestigious World's 50 Best Bars list.
Sydney's Bulletin Place secured a spot on the prestigious World's 50 Best Bars list.Dominic Lorrimer

Last drinks have been called at one of Sydney's most celebrated bars. The award-winning Bulletin Place closed its doors on Friday, May 28, following a nine-year run.

The Circular Quay bar was not only a fixture on lists of Sydney's best bars but also secured a place on the prestigious World's 50 Best Bars list.

The venue was cruelled by several factors, with its pandemic-fuelled shutdown last year just one of them.

Bulletin Place in 2013. The Circular Quay bar served its last drinks on June 28.
Bulletin Place in 2013. The Circular Quay bar served its last drinks on June 28.James Brickwood
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"It was really death by a thousand cuts," says co-owner Tim Philips-Johansson. "The bushfires wiped us out for a couple of months, [plus] disruptions to the city with light rail and development."

An outflow of city workers operating remotely and CBD hotels pivoting to quarantine didn't help.

"I always admired Seinfeld finishing while they were still on top, and I think we're still producing."

Opened in 2012 by three bartenders determined to create a place with all the things they liked and "none of the things we hate" about bars, they transformed a former Japanese noodle joint on a tight budget. Famously, the ice machines cost more than the furniture.

While the Sydney CBD has taken a big COVID hit, the effect elsewhere has been less significant. Philips-Johansson says his other bar, Dead Ringer, in Surry Hills is fighting fit.

"As the crow flies it is only three kilometres away [from Bulletin Place] but it's worlds apart. There's a real support in the inner suburbs for smaller, independent venues."

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Scott BollesScott Bolles writes the weekly Short Black column in Good Food.

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