320-330 George Street, Sydney
02 9240 3000
Mon-Sat 11am till late

By Tom Lazarus

Photography: Courtesy of venue

“When people enter, they are completely removed from ‘out there’.” - Justin Tynan, GM

The canary yellow hoarding announcing Ivy’s imminent opening has come down. The buildings behind it have gone up. Phase one of Justin Hemmes’ exuberant ‘lifestyle precinct’ is just about complete. Behind Ivy’s minimalist George Street façade are running beer taps, pumping speakers, flushing toilets, glowing barbeque coals, a sizzling teppan, chuckling water fountain, bustling staff and creeping plant life. The delays and all the million dollars have evidently been worth it. “You can tell the first timers,” smiles GM, Justin Tynan from a balcony overlooking Ivy’s heaving Patio Bar. “They come up the stairs and you can just see them stop and go ‘wow’.”

Phase two of Merivale Group’s $150 million “urban oasis” is due to open in late June, taking the capacity of the two buildings to a sociable 4,500. The full list of Ivy indulgences is approaching folklore ’round these parts (if you live in Sydney, look away now), but will include 18 bars, a 25 metre rooftop pool, two rock star hotel suites, restaurants for all tastes, a spa and new offices for Merivale Group and Mr H himself (the latter called Ivy League).

Ivy concept

A big scale project needs big scale planning, and Ivy brought together architects, Woods Bagot, interior designers, Hecker Phelan & Guthrie and both Justin and sister, Bettina Hemmes over a four year process. “We were a power house,” says Justin of the brainstorming sessions between himself, Paul Hecker of HP&G and Nik Karalis from Woods Bagot. “If you plugged into us, I think you could have run a small city off us - we were locked away for days at a time. Some awesome ideas came up and never eventuated, as it all had to be functional.”

Ivy was thus forged in the heat of over 80 full day, intensive workshops, yielding 29 volumes of sketches, ideas and changes. Recalls Nik Karalis; “We’d have this running joke that every time an idea emerged, we all competed for it. There was an air of spontaneity, but the genius of Justin is applying his commercial eye and being able to see which part of it was relevant. His memory for detail is incredible.”

In a climate of small bar fetishism, Hemmes strived to create something larger than life, and quintessentially Sydney in form; the “big house worshipping the sun”, as opposed to the tiny, windowless club. “We researched the notion of the ‘ideal house’,” explains Karalis. “We decided on a 1950s-style house on the west coast of America - with that indoor-outdoor environment. A house that has been eaten out on the inside.”

Acclaimed US designer, Kelly Wearstler’s book, Modern Glamour is cited by Hecker, Phelan & Guthrie as an influence, as is Philippe Starck’s work, “in terms of found objects and an eclectic furnishing style”. Other inspiration came from 1950s pavilion-style architecture, along the lines of Hollywood Hills residences with “breezy, open plan interiors”.

The 6,580 square metre venue, incorporating the heritage frontage of the former NAB bank at the southern end, was created with a void at its centre, through which as much natural light and heat could be harvested from Sydney’s 300-plus sunshine days. This was to be a “breathing building”, with as many balconies, shutters and open air areas as possible, and a living interior covered by creeping plantlife (a rooftop nursery will act as ‘rehab’ for tired and emotional greenery).

Three full time gardeners and a full time florist are employed by Ivy, to keep on top of plant damage and to produce beautiful flower displays for Ivy and Establishment. The plants, incidentally, are fed with rain water from two giant storage tanks. “The greenery is expensive,” affirms Justin Hemmes. “We’re changing plants every few days at the moment - it’s like the customers eat them!”

Ivy spaces

Justin Hemmes has a knack for dividing up space into functional ‘areas’, and Ivy, with its ‘big house’ concept, exemplifies this logic. Each of its areas has domestic roots, whether it’s the conservatory-style grill, Mad Cow, or the boudoir vibe of cocktail bar, The Den, with continuous movement possible throughout. This itself provided one of the major challenges of the project; not only to allow for this relaxed drifting between rooms, but to “force domesticity into a POPE licensing arena,” as Nik Karalis puts it. “POPE plays a major part in it in terms of regulations,” confirms Justin. “It almost makes you boring… you have to find ways to adapt and somehow make it interesting. Sometimes I think we’re so safe we’re actually dangerous.”

“POPE plays a major part in it all in terms of regulations. Sometimes I think we’re so safe we’re actually dangerous.” - Justin Hemmes

Starting at street level, the Royal George pub has an intentionally separate feel to Ivy Bar & Lounge, shrewdly positioned to catch the schooner, pub grub and pokies crowd who’d rather chalk up a pool cue than queue for a pool. This venue can also act as a holding area for when Ivy proper is at capacity.

Down the newly created Palings Lane between Ivy’s two edifices, up the grand entrance staircase and you reach the Patio, a retro-styled beer garden set around a lantern-strewn Japanese maple tree. Ivy Bar, off to the side, boasts a ‘conversation pit’ seating area and a long bar, with a tap beer and wine focus (although some simple cocktails are available). There are two dining options; The Kitchen is an open servery dispensing classic bar food, while its opposite number across the patio is Mad Cow, the “steakhouse with a twist” (ie. the big lampshades and seating booths remain, but asking staff to ‘take the horns off and wipe its arse’ when ordering your wagyu is not the done thing.

Up the raw concrete spiral staircase is astro-turfed Lawn Bar, where you can suck down a Caipirinha from a white wicker bar chair, while a randomly placed shower head gives Sydneysiders an excuse to flaunt the six pack (and that’s just the ladies). There’s a Willy Wonka factor to this area, morphing into Dr No’s lair when you round the corner into Ivy Lounge.

The Lounge is Ivy’s main cocktail-focused bar, where the exclusivity is upped a notch in order to preserve the elegant surrounds. Foodwise, it offers share plates from Shaun Presland’s neighbouring Teppanyaki restaurant. Past the dining area and you’re sinking into tortilla-thick carpeting in the Den, the cocktail lounge which tends to go the latest and party the hardest, with the option to acoustically seal off the room from the rest of the floor.

The fourth side of the square is the Balcony, a seating area hung with house ferns and other potted greenery, sort of Walter Mathau’s Palm Springs retreat. As with the rest of the venue, roaring George Street is tastefully obscured with candy striped awnings, drapes and white plantation shutters, throwing the visual focus back into and across the central void. “When people enter, they are completely removed from ‘out there’,” explains Tynan. “Once inside, people gravitate to whichever areas suit their needs.”

Ivy detail

For the interiors, Justin Hemmes jetted to the US with Paul Hecker and sister, Bettina Hemmes to source unusual furniture, lighting and other oddments from top end suppliers, junk stores and flea markets. Quirky domestic-style elements await discovery throughout the rooms, reflecting Hemmes’ original vision of a sort of mass house party, a way to “invite the whole city” to his legendary Boxing Day poolside bashes at his Vaucluse mansion. “Together with Bettina, we chose every single piece of furniture, art and all of the soft furnishings,” recalls HP&G’s Hugh Lane. “She is so in touch with the ‘feel’ of Ivy and has an intuitive knowledge for textures, lighting, decoration and planting.”

All the lamps were found stateside, as was most of the loose furniture in Ivy. “The Americans really know how to do outdoor furniture, lamps and upholstered seating especially,” reason HP&G, who designed all of the joinery and tables. Added to the mix were choice items such as funky wall sculptures by the American duo, Curtis Jere. “I was basically my sister and Paul’s handbag on that trip,” jokes Justin Hemmes.

The more you look in Ivy, the more you find, from the ornaments hiding amongst the bottles on the backbars, to the Andy Soma-designed uniforms (staff pad about in Ivy label denim), to the precision with which the lights and music fade up at night. Says Tynan; “Initially, my days were 90 per cent ambience… Justin (Hemmes) and I would spend hours setting all the lighting - it’s all on pre-set, so we’d have to go round to every single lamp and make sure it was perfect for an afternoon setting, then a night setting, then late night. There was about three full weeks of that and I’m now finally starting to drive the business.”

Ivy hype

Anything this big was always going to have its detractors, and as Ivy took shape, green eyes swivelled expectantly towards Merivale Group’s evergreen Establishment complex just a few hundred yards away. Surely, they reasoned, Ivy was too close for comfort. Says Tynan; “Everyone kept asking us; ‘Aren’t you going to cannibalise (Establishment) down the road?’ We had to come up with a way to make it separate. Now Ivy is open, we’ve looked at the figures closely and Establishment is on exactly the same dollar turnover as it was last year. We gauge it constantly… we’re kicking some pretty solid goals.”

“We’re still going through a bit of a honeymoon period at the moment,” continues Ivy’s GM. “But hopefully it doesn’t flatten out for the next 10 years or so!”

Say what you like about it, Ivy is a daring experiment in hospitality. Concludes Justin Hemmes; “I’m happy with the way the customers are enjoying Ivy so far - especially when you consider it’s still an under-construction environment - the street side isn’t finished yet. In eight months Ivy will be a very, very different place.”

Ivy: Other features

Since publishing this story in May 08, the following features have been finished:

Ash Street Cellar - Euro-style wine bar on the eponymous laneway (opening end of May)

Pool Club - a 25 metre rooftop pool with surrounding bars, private cabanas and floating stages (opening end of June)

Restaurants Sushi Train and Ucello, an Italian restaurant from acclaimed chef, Massimo Bianchi (opening end of June)

Ballroom - ‘garden themed’ functions space with capacity for 800 + 400

Penthouses - two ‘rock star’ rooms including sunken lounges and balcony spa baths

Selected suppliers:

Architects: Woods Bagot 03 8646 6600
Interior designers (with Justin & Bettina Hemmes): Hecker Phelan & Guthrie 03 9421 1644

Selected lighting: DJ Coalition 02 9690 2877

Stainless steel (kitchens, bars): Stoddart Manufacturing 02 8846 5999

Audio installers: Avsound 1300 66 31 66

Audio consultant: Innova-Tech Consulting 02 8090 2053

This article appeared in the May/June 08 issue of Industry magazine.

Photography: Courtesy of Luxe Bar

In 2001, famed WA operator, Geoff Hayward opened a new type of cocktail bar for Perth. It stood out like a dingo’s nether regions in the isolated state capital, offering truly international quality drinks, chi chi interiors and a very cool, music-driven profile. It even had its own CDs, Buddha Bar-style.

Michelle Freeman was GM and Andy Freeman tended bar in those early days, before Andy branched out to set up bar consultancy, Venue Vision with fellow ‘tender, Sam Astbury. Five busy years later, Michelle was approached to take on full ownership of the bar, and she went to Andy with the proposal, the pair in agreement that bartenders know bar business better than some pin-striped pen pusher.

It’s a rare thing when two people with such a personal love and operational knowledge for a business get to write its next chapter. We caught up with the duo while over in Perth, our heads still throbbing from flying over all that desert with little more than lukewarm beer and peanut grease for lubrication. As we soon discovered, these first time bar owners have done quite a bit to their new home already…

How did you both start out in hospitality?

Andy: Sardi’s, the place for ribs! I started as a drink waiter.

Michelle: Fast Eddys Cafe, in 1988. I was a restaurant waitress on the weekends, while still in Year 11.

What lessons did you take away from these early years?

M: The entire staff team was exactly that – a team. We all got on really well, and were such a motley crew of people. It really opened my eyes as a 16 year old to the real world.

A: I learned that hard work does pay off.

Tell us how you came to be involved with Luxe Bar and why you decided to take over the business.

M: Within months of Luxe opening, I was invited to become a partner. It was my first time in business and with Geoff as my partner and mentor, the experience was priceless. After I came back from a year traveling around the world, Geoff and the other partners approached me to buy Luxe. It had always been spoken about, but I was never sure I was ready to do it.

A: Having worked there on and off through its early years, and having known Michelle for 14 years, when she approached me to see if I would be interested in being a partner, it seemed too good an opportunity to let go.

So the bartenders took over the bar! Was it a difficult transition?

A: I suppose we both had the luxury of seeing Luxe perform intimately over the past half dozen years, so we knew what we were getting into. It is the dream of all bartenders – and a lot of other people too - to own a bar. To be honest, it wasn’t a difficult transition. We were both ready to work for ourselves, and Luxe was the perfect avenue for us to be able to reach this dream. We just get paid better than before!

How has the Perth scene changed in Luxe’s lifetime and are you conscious of the need to keep innovating?

A: Sure. The scene has changed. The consumer is a lot more knowledgeable than they used to be – they are travelling interstate and overseas and seeing what is happening around the world. When they come back home to WA, they want the same experience. So we are constantly trying to see what we can do to stay in tune with that.

M: Perth consumers are definitely more discerning now than ever before. Our Luxe vision of educating and challenging the public is welcomed by our customers. They notice when a new spirit is on the gantry, and they are hungry to be taken on a ‘drinks journey around the globe’ if you like. Our staff help with that evolution.

Tell us about your new BamBOO bar at Luxe.

A: When we took Luxe over, it was always a number one priority to capitalise on the dormant space, the amphitheatre, and make it a sexy haven of an outdoor drinking space. Venues that can offer indoor and outdoor spaces do very well in our climate – it’s an Australian way of life!

M: The amphitheatre is such a seductive space. It’s an extension of Luxe Bar, so whatever we put on is in line with our vision of quality. With our balmy evenings, who wouldn’t want to sit outside with a cocktail watching a flamenco band, fashion parade, or aerial performance?

A: The aim is to expand BamBOO into an outdoor cultural space, where we are open during the week and offering live entertainment, and capitalising on our long summer with longer trading hours on the weekends.

The Luxe music compilations are a big part of your branding. How do you manage this and do you sell or give the CDs away?

A: Yeah, our CDs have fast become an important part of our brand. We give them away to our regulars and partners. We try to share the love and allow all of our resident DJs a chance to record an album when we feel their music will suit the particular CD, which all follow music briefs, and seasons.

M: Andy and I give a brief of the mood we’re after. The first CD we get is just a collection of songs, like a quick sketch. We go through the tracks and veto any that we really don’t like. Then we get the first draft mixed, and often, the DJs nail it first time. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have them on as residents! Music is very important to us. We may not know the jargon, but we know what we want it to sound like and feel like.

A: Every quarter we do a seasonal party – Luxurious. These are themed and that’s when we give out the Luxurious CDs.

M: As well as the Luxurious party attendees, the CDs also go out to select retailers around Perth; groovy fashion retailers, hair salons, design offices and even other bars and restaurants… the Luxe vibe is spread around. The CDs have become collector’s items here - because they can’t be purchased, they are sought after.

Do you see the current climate of late night lock-outs and crack-downs on ‘binge drinking’ impacting on your business?

A: I don’t feel that they will affect Luxe Bar directly. Most of the heat is directed at Northbridge, and venues that attract a younger crowd.

M: It will be interesting to see how the 2am lock-out policy will affect venues in Melbourne - currently in WA, Northbridge is being threatened with it. It does not directly impact on us, as we are not in Northbridge, but a lot of our customers go there after Luxe, so they may choose to end the night with us, or alternatively, leave Luxe earlier to get into those venues.

Any gripes with the powers that be?

A: Negative – touch wood!

M: We have a pretty good relationship with the Authori-tah!

If you quit the bar industry, what would you do instead?

A: Focus on our other investments, in hair salons… and family.

M: I always joke to Andy that we should have bought a pet store! No really, I would probably focus on other creative avenues like my long-neglected art degree, or open a little beachside café serving organic things. And most definitely having babies.

Which other operators do you admire?

A: Geoff Hayward has always been a mentor of ours, both having worked with him over the past years. Every day was another lesson.

M: Yes, Geoff has done such fantastic things for hospitality in WA. Vernon Chalker in Melbourne is quite an original and always so inspiring. Babs and Josh (Collins) at Hula Bula (Bar) and DeVille’s Pad are always wowing us with their energy and imagination.

Are you both maintaining a presence behind the stick at Luxe?

A: Yes, we share the load quite nicely between us. We are working towards other things in the future. Things that take up most of our time would be staff mentoring and training, and marketing and events. We are constantly doing things with our team and parties… we love to party.

M: I think it’s important to connect to staff and customers, so Andy and I are very hands-on and always front of house, mingling and talking to our customers who have become friends.

Any advice for bartenders and managers looking to buy a bar business?

M: Be patient. There’s no need to rush your first venue. Make mistakes at someone else’s expense for as long as you can. And choose your partners wisely.

A: Partners can make it so easy… or so, so hard! Ultimately, who knows how to have a good time – a bartender, or an investor? Do it with confidence!

How many staff do you have at Luxe?

A: 20.

How easy is recruitment in Perth? What’s your secret to making the good eggs stay?

A: We invest a lot in our staff. Recruitment is tough in Perth, because there are only a few venues that offer anything similar to Luxe. We hire on mainly on personality. We do so much training that eventually they will be up to scratch and able to work to our standards. We have a good mentoring programme.

M: But on the whole, we have always attracted the right people because of the simplicity of our vision. We make great drinks. So we have rarely had to advertise in the past. With recruitment, this has been the scenario for us in Perth - professional bartenders get off a plane and come straight to us and say ‘I hear this is the best cocktail bar to work in Perth’. And that is enough for us to know that they are serious bar professionals. I know we can learn from them as much as they can from us.

What would you like to see change in the industry in the next 10 years?

A: More bars and more selection for WA consumers.

M: More relaxed licensing laws in WA, so that the general public can make their own decisions about what time and where they drink, and not having to buy a meal to have a drink. To be more like our Asian neighbours and European counterparts.

Are the new small bar licences starting to deliver this diversity?

A: Not yet. The licences are still taking their time to pop up. There are only a couple of venues with small bar licences that are trying something different. It’s taking a while for more of the applications to come to fruition. There’s still a lot of red tape.

Visit Michelle and Andy at Luxe Bar, 446 Beaufort Street, Mount Lawley, Perth, 08 9228 9680

Debuting at the number three spot in the Australian Bartender magazine World’s Top 20 Bars feature in ‘08, this subterranean speakeasy-style bar proves that you don’t need a red carpet, a VIP room or even a doorway onto the street to attract the most discerning drinkers in the big apple. You need good drinks, personable bartenders, and stuffed wildlife.

Entrance to PDT is gained through a slightly sleazy looking, but evidently successful hot dog joint next door, Crif Dogs (‘knuckle sandwiches are free!’), where you can get your New Jersey-style fried wiener served with bacon, avocado and sour cream, then proceed to get mustard all over the vintage Pac-Man machine.

If you’re here for cocktails, however, check no-one is following you and slip into the Hitchcock-era phone booth on the left hand wall. You dial, you wait, and hopefully you’re admitted by the maitre’d through a secret door in the back of the booth, which is monitored by a camera. Inside, bartenders/managers Jim Meehan (ex-Gramercy Tavern and Pegu Club), Don Lee and John Deragon are doing wonderful things with all manner of fine hooch, so our judges say, and you can order up Crif dogs by way of bar food.

Doggy style

The two halves of this improbable twinset share an owner in Brian Shebairo. The hot dog joint came first, starting life as a joke between Brian and his friend, the owner of a kosher bar on the Lower East Side, that they should “sell hot dogs in the alley”. A few months later, Brian was tooling along St. Marks Place in the East Village on his motorbike and happened across an open basement storefront, which was to become Crif Dogs. Six years on, Shebairo took over the neighbouring tenancy, formerly housing a “bubble tea, egg roll and dumpling joint” called Jenny’s Café, and opened PDT, which again, he designed and project managed on his own. It just celebrated its first birthday on 24 May.

Originally, Brian had planned a simple “offshoot of Crif Dogs, serving beer and shots to quench the thirst of hot dog hungry clientele”. He gutted the space, exposing the brick walls and fireplace, and installed a herringbone wooden paneled ceiling to cover the soundproofing, black leather seating booths and a 13 seat bar with four beer taps and enough shelf space to open “a focused operation”. This became considerably more focused when Brian brought in Jim Meehan to outfit “the guts of the bar”, set up a beverage programme, and hire and train staff. Two became four with the recruitment of the talented John Deragon and Don Lee, who helped develop the drinks to the standard they are today.

PDT is perhaps best described as old school refinement with an art school twist. The tables, for example, are lit by mini lightboxes, and the bathrooms are decorated floor to ceiling with fractured mirror tiles. Brian’s pal Billy sold him a selection of oil paintings, “found objects” and taxidermy to decorate the nooks and pedestals of the room, with extra stuffed animals coming from a house Brian purchased in Vermont.

Dial-up connections

The space comfortably seats 43, the operative word being ‘comfortably’ – tables are reservation-only and numbers are capped to ensure guests can always move around freely and wait staff can get to the tables. “We were fond of Milk & Honey and Angel’s Share, so it felt like a no-standing policy would work with our concept,” explains Meehan.

“We wanted to attract a mix of locals, industry and bar hoppers and felt that the best way to do so was by taking reservations for tables and leaving seats open at the bar for folks in the neighbourhood. The goal was to build a business that rewarded those who really wanted to come.”

The phone booth, says Meehan, is just a “manifestation of Brian’s sense of humour”. “We did out best to make sure that the people who come through the door are there for drinks,” he continues. “The anything-goes attitude at Crif Dogs is curtailed in the bar by the etiquette policy posted in the bathroom. At first, we were concerned that the dynamic between the spaces might cause tension, but as time has gone by, a number of cocktail geeks have found a greater appreciation for hot dogs, and vice versa.”