“The Entertainment Quarter has always been a dog”, a colleague commented today when I told her about my experiences having a drink, and trying to get a meal last night.
Around most areas of Sydney, you can get a pretty standard domestic beer in the range of $7.00-$8.00. At my local pub, the standard price for a schooner of Reschs is $8.00, though I get a member’s discount bringing the price down to $7.30. And of course, it can be cheaper during “happy hour”, being $5,50 at my local pub.
But last night, grabbing a beer at the only bar that’s currently open at the Entertainment Centre (aka Fox Studios), the cost of a schooner of Reschs was $10.12! I was a little shocked when the price came up on the register and on my phone, but I thought “what the hey…” I mean it’s not as if Reschs is a imported beer, or a craft beer. It’s just an average beer.
A friend of mine and I were there to see the new Wes Anderson film, “The French Dispatch”.
The concept behind the film is terrific.
“Arthur Howitzer Jr., the editor of the newspaper The French Dispatch, dies suddenly of a heart attack. According to the wishes expressed in his will, publication of the newspaper is immediately suspended following one final farewell issue, in which three articles from past editions of the paper are republished, along with an obituary.”
The film dramatises these articles.
“He throws everything at it. Black and white. Stylism. Animation” my friend commented as we enjoyed dinner afterwards. Though we both enjoyed it, especially since it was so beautiful, we didn’t think it was remarkable. “I really wanted to CARE about some of the characters, but I didn’t”, I added to the conversation.
By this time, we were having dinner back in Surry Hills.
We had hoped to have dinner at the Entertainment Quarter, but virtually everything was closed. We had decided on the Mexican, which was still quite buzzy. But as we sought to seek entry we were told: “the kitchen’ closed”. “What?”, we asked, “It’s only 8.38 pm”. Yep, the kitchen was closed. WTF!
One stop on the lightrail and we were back in Surry.
No wonder the Entertainment Quarter has struggled over the years.
We are having quite erratic opening hours, opening days and some cafes and restaurants without seating. It is put down to staffing problems.
Makes sense. The backpackers aren’t around anymore.
I still think it should be about $3.50. That was probably the price of a VB at the Shift circa 1995-97. Haven’t been to the pub often since then.
I remember those prices. I’m pretty sure Stonewall is still doing 3.20 during the daytime.
Last time I paid for a schooner it was 40 cents and I can remember thinking that was expensive as I was just back from a cruise where schooners were 20cents
I’m struggling to remember the cost of a beer when I started drinking, but I think it was 70 cents
Ha! Therein lies the problem James. Ya drank so much, your memory’s shot!
Hehehe……I’m being very cheeky. ;)