Flashback on the right track at HP Bowlo in Hurlstone Park

HP Bowlo is down a hill, a few minutes from Hurlstone Park railway station, which explains why descending waves of relieved-looking customers arrive every 12 minutes or so after work hours.

Trains parp softly up the hill and, minutes later, people with sensible shoes and all-weather satchels step inside this small suburban bar to forget about Tony in Accounts and sip a middy of White Bay pale ale on a high padded leather stool.

Karl Setter and James Sommerlad, who co-own and run HP Bowlo, the first small bar in the Canterbury-Bankstown LGA, always know when a train strike is on because foot traffic drops in the late afternoon. 

Industrial action or not, HP Bowlo, which opened in April and is decorated and named in tribute to the now-demolished Hurlstone Park Bowling Club, is burgeoning in popularity. 

Locals flock to its warmly lit two rooms, timber-panelled, edged with grass green kick-boards and doorframes and decorated with suspended lights, stencils of bowlers on the green and rescued bowling club Life Members plaques with gold lettering on varnished wood.

A spree of gravity-defying bowling balls fixed to the wall resemble black thought bubbles hovering above two women sipping negronis amid a line of two-seater tables.

Food is not the focus at HP Bowlo, an over-18s only venue, but Setter and Sommerlad have welcoming approaches to it. There are popular meat and cheese platters, chips and nuts, and people order in for takeaway from nearby Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese and pizza restaurants. Customers are also free to bring their own food, including still-warm dinner ferried from home. Cutlery, plates and napkins are supplied.

"We made the decision a kitchen would have taken up a third of our available seating, along with the costs of setting up and staffing," Setter says. "We're happy for people to order whatever they want, eat whatever they want and we'll look after the drinks and snacks."

There are four craft beers on tap, including White Bay lager and pale ale, 7th Day's IPA and Slow Lane Brewing's Dunkelweizen, plus 25 more in the fridge. Ten wines by the glass, including Australian and French red, white, rose and sparkling, accompany six wines by the bottle and four canned cocktails from Curatif in Melbourne. 

There is little as satisfying as sipping a citrus peel-doused negroni, alongside slabs of aged cheddar and peppery salami, amid the hum of solaced suburban burghers contemplating the day's end. Outside, foot traffic is slowing, cars are close to zilch and kookaburras are going off as the sun recedes.

High demand for the bar's quiz night, held on the last Wednesday of each month, has meant added dates and Setter and Sommerlad have rewarded customer requests for live music. The first acoustic gig, with bluegrass musicians wedged into a corner, was held recently. The bar's busiest time is the end of the working week.

"Friday nights used to be big in the city but I think they're bigger in the suburbs now," Setter says. "Our instinct is people work from home more on Friday or, if they're a tradie, knock off early."

Friday is also meat tray raffle night, $5 for one ticket, $10 for three. The prizes, impressive, often artistic, arrangements of chops, steak, chicken, bacon and sausages framed by broccoli, herbs and lemon, come from famed Chilean butcher Theo's Cecinas Butchery and Smallgoods two shops down. "Last Friday the butcher did a little flower arrangement with the sausages," Setter says. "An origami of meats."

Setter and Sommerlad hold regular tastings from local independent producers and they are working on council approval for footpath seating, with support from Summer Hill MP Joy Haylen. Their aim is to give Hurlstone Park a bar that forgoes vast, bright and loud spaces for an affable low-key cantina celebrating community.

"I sometimes call this the suburb that time forgot," Setter says. "It's more like a country town in that everybody knows and waves and talks to each other, even if they don't really know them by name. It's one of those little secret pockets."

The low-down

HP Bowlo

Open Wed, Thur, Sat 3pm-10pm; Fri noon-10.30pm; Sun 3pm-9pm

Vibe Village small bar with craft beer, bowls memorabilia and Friday meat tray raffle

Go-to dish Cheese platter with Curatif Negroni or White Bay lager