Pioneering Sydney laneway bar Grasshopper closes

One of the founding fathers of Sydney small bars has closed his venue as the movement looks to have stalled. "The number of new venues has definitely plateaued," says Martin O'Sullivan, who closed the doors of laneway bar pioneer Grasshopper.

When it opened in 2009 Grasshopper wasn't Sydney's first small bar, but it was highly influential in many ways. O'Sullivan is proud to tout it as the first Sydney venue to serve drinks in jam jars. "Now you see them everywhere," he says.

The barman says Grasshopper is a victim of the tsunami of issues facing the sector. "We had some bad advice, and increasing rents are a problem everywhere in the city. When we started the sort of underutilised spaces in the city where you could put a small bar were $500 a square metre. Now they are $1200," he says.

The former president of the Small Bar Association believes a change in the lockout laws would help, as would speedier infrastructure development. "Three years of disruptive light rail works have taken their toll. The State Government has offered no compensation and there's no end in sight even after all this time."

Despite the closure of a number of small bars, others put up for sale or moving offshore, O'Sullivan says he'd like to open another venue, but not necessarily under a small bar licence. "I'll take a break first. I haven't had a tan in nine years," he says.