Newtown Hotel set for $2m revamp, expanded entertainment

Longtime publican and proud lesbian Sue Cameron is set to breathe fresh life into the three-storey Newtown Hotel as its new owner, with an estimated $2 million renovation, expanded entertainment, and a renewed focus on its role as an inclusive space for Sydney’s queer community.

The historic King Street venue – which dates back to 1854 – was recently acquired by Cameron from the Universal Hotels group as part of an unusual $20 million pub trade.

The deal, first flagged by Gay Sydney News in June, saw her take over the leasehold of the Newtown Hotel from Universal Hotels in exchange for selling to Universal the freehold of another venue she had long operated, Darlinghurst’s Lord Roberts Hotel.

“I think it was probably one of the most stressful things I’ve done in my life,” Cameron said in a phone interview with Gay Sydney News this week, reflecting on buying and selling a pub on the same day.

“It certainly was not something I would recommend, but we did it in the end.”

Deal originally turned down

Cameron said she initially turned down Universal Hotels’ offer for her to buy the Lord Roberts and have her take over the Newtown Hotel, but changed her mind after giving it more thought and realising it could be the creative change she’d been looking for.

“I initially rejected it, and then it got offered to me again, and I actually had a really hard think about it,” Cameron said, adding that she was first approached about the swap late last year.

“And I thought, oh, it’s probably not a bad idea. I needed to free up some capital, and [so] I did the numbers and I looked at the hotel and I just thought, look, you know, something I’ve always wanted to do was to actually have a pub in Newtown. And I just thought, well, yeah, I’ve probably still got another pub in me.”

After years running the Lord Roberts, Cameron said the venue had started to feel a little stale. Keen to take on something more dynamic, she saw the Newtown Hotel as an opportunity to try new ideas and reconnect with a “more vibrant street” in Sydney.

Newtown Hotel set to be renovated

Although the Newtown Hotel has stood for more than 170 years, Cameron believes it’s ready for a new chapter.

“I’m certainly not going to do anything drastic, but I think the pub itself is a little bit tired,” she said. “The bones are good, most of everything that’s in there is pretty good.”

She plans to repaint, update the artwork, and revitalise underused spaces upstairs – including a warren of small rooms near the top-floor performance space currently used by The Laugh Inn Comedy Club, which runs shows from Wednesday to Saturday.

Cameron hopes to convert the area into a flexible function space for parties and events.

“We’re going to probably expand it [the comedy club] and probably try to double that as a space,” she said.

“So we have some plans just to knock down a wall and to put some more permanent chairs and things in there. But it’s a nice little cosy room, and that’s what you need in comedy.”

Entertainment to be expanded

Entertainment programming at the pub will remain largely intact, with drag shows continuing on Friday and Saturday nights, and Breko’s music bingo and karaoke on Thursdays.

But Cameron is planning to expand the offering with the launch of Key’d Up, a duelling piano night, on two nights of the week.

Key’d Up will feature two baby grand pianos and rotating pianists who sing and take requests. The first event, on Wednesday August 13, will run from 8.30pm to 11.30pm with Kylie Fisher on keys.

On Sunday August 17, John Mulligan – who just hosted the Big Gay Piano Bar at Ginger’s in the Oxford Hotel on Friday – will take over from 7pm to 10pm.

“It’s kind of taking off all around Sydney at the moment,” Cameron said of the idea of live piano bars where the crowd sings along.

“We’re planning to do that on Wednesdays and Sundays,” Cameron said of Key’d Up, “which are two nights of the week that we don’t have anything on at the moment.”

“The Sunday is definitely going to be gay focused,” she added. “We’re looking for a nice, gay, funky crowd on a Sunday to take you back in time and sing up a storm with some of the old hits from the dance era.”

Trivia on Mondays and Tuesday industry nights will continue. The geek-inclusive community group Sydney Gaymers also continue to host board games at the venue on some Sunday afternoons.

Cameron is in talks with Monique March from the lesbian group Limes about potentially bringing their events – previously held at the Lord Roberts – to the Newtown Hotel too.

Cameron also says she’s keen to open the venue to more queer organisers. “My door’s open … to listen to what people have got to offer,” she said.

Cameron acquires Newtown leasehold

The pub trade, reported by The Australian Financial Review to be worth around $20 million collectively, gave Cameron the leasehold of the Newtown Hotel for “16–17 years, something like that”, she said.

“I’ll be spending up to about $2 million on it,” Cameron said of the Newtown Hotel’s renovations. “You have to keep up with capital investment in pubs. It’s really essential.”

She also plans to use funds freed up from the sale of the Lord Roberts to upgrade another venue she owns – the heritage-listed Federal Hotel in the Northern Rivers town of Alstonville, just west of the Big Prawn near Byron Bay. In late 2023, NBN News reported the cost of upcoming renovations at Federal Hotel was $6 million.

Since taking over the Newtown Hotel, Cameron, who lives near Byron Bay, said she’s been travelling to Sydney more frequently.

“[Before the sale] I’ve been coming down probably once every month,” she said. “But more recently, now that I’ve taken over the Newtown [Hotel], I’m coming down every couple of weeks.”

While Cameron brought a few staff members from the Lord Roberts to the venue, most of the Newtown Hotel’s existing team stayed on – something she said made the transition much smoother.

“Quite a few people stayed at the Lord Roberts as well,” she said. “Most of the staff, the core staff, are staying at the Newtown Hotel because they love it, and that really helped me because they know the people, they know the hotel, they know how things work.”

The Lord Roberts Hotel’s history

Cameron had operated the Lord Roberts – a bright yellow, three-storey corner pub on Stanley Street in Darlinghurst – for decades. Her family took on the lease in 1975 and she acquired the freehold around 2017.

Reflecting on her decision to part ways with the Lord Roberts, Cameron said it was more than a business move – it was about creative renewal.

Lord Roberts set for refresh

Now under the ownership of Universal Hotels, the Lord Roberts is set for a subtle refresh too.

“The Lord Roberts is a well-known Darlinghurst institution, and we appreciate its reputation,” said Universal Hotels chief executive Harris Kospetas in an email to Gay Sydney News.

“Universal Hotels also has a long standing relationship with the Darlinghurst community which we believe will be of value to the venue.”

He confirmed that the swap came out of a listing process in mid-2024.

“During this process, an opportunity arose to sell Newtown to the owner of the Lord Roberts,” he said.

“We have proceeded with a deal where we purchased the Lord Roberts freehold and sold the Newtown leasehold to Sue Cameron.”

While entertainment at the Lord Roberts is “under consideration and will be revised”, Kospetas said the offering would “definitely focus on an inclusive and vibrant direction”.

As for changes to the venue itself: “We plan to reinstate the heritage features of the property but will not make too many changes,” he said.

“A new menu has already been introduced, focusing on great pub classics and elevated share plates. We will take the time to settle into the venue and consult with the local community.”

Universal Hotels operates several queer-focused venues across Sydney, including the Oxford Hotel and Universal Sydney on Oxford Street, as well as the Imperial Hotel in Erskineville. It also runs The Riley, an Oxford Street venue that isn’t specifically pitched to the queer community.