WELCOME TO THE CRICKETERS ARMS HOTEL

You might’ve pulled up after a footy game at the SCG, stopped in during a local crawl or come by for the ever-popular jazz nights. Whatever the reason, you have to concede: it’s one of the few Sydney pubs that’s managed to maintain a sense of heritage. And that comes with a great deal of charm, in a city known for rapid, unrelenting renovation and development.  

So, after 180-odd years, how has The Crix managed to hold onto its character? What is it exactly that still makes the Crix such a special place to stop for a beer?  

We sat down with Janna St Leon, past venue manager of The Cricketers Arms Hotel, to hear the pub’s story. She’s also a heritage conservation specialist and historian. So, the rabbit hole went surprisingly deep… You might wanna top up your Pale for this one! 

TOUGH BEGINNINGS   

‘The pub has been here since the 1840s – originally called ‘The Pineapple Inn,’ Janna chuckles, ‘It’s not clear why it was called that. Maybe the owner was a Queenslander or something? In any case, the building burned down in the 1870s.’  

Found on Gadigal land, when it was rebuilt in its current form in the 1920s, the hotel became the ‘Cricketers Arms’ because of the proximity to the stadium. NSW brewery Tooth & Co. had leased the pub like many in the area: ‘It was them that retiled the front façade, an iconic feature of the Crix and other local venues from that Art Deco period,’ Jana explains. 

By the early 1940s, the licensee was a local named Joe Wallis, then regarded as the world’s best boxing referee. Serving what was still a firmly working-class area, ‘The story goes that he transformed what is now the beer garden into a boxing ring.’ Meanwhile, the pool room was ‘the ladies’ lounge’, Jana shares with something of a matter-of-fact eyeroll, because ‘until the 70s, women weren’t allowed to drink in the main public bar.’ 

A COLOURFUL RENAISSANCE  

With the rebirth of the pub from rubble and ash into a makeshift boxing arena, we can see the origins of the Cricketers Arms spirit that endures today. This resilience and rebelliousness changed shape significantly over time, however.  

In the 1970s, The Crix became Sydney’s first gay pub, as documented by The Sydney Morning Herald. ‘Keep in mind, the first Mardi Gras took place in 1978,’ Janna notes, placing the pub as part of a progressive movement that captured the city’s zeitgeist at the time. ‘If you sit down at the bar and take a good look, you can still see dents from stilettos dancing on it during the many drag and lesbian nights back then.’ 

The area was already beginning to gentrify. Yet after a brief period as a bikie bar, in the 90s the Crix was a landmark of the burgeoning inner-city party scene. A British couple took over the pub, which became a go-to kick-ons spot for local ravers. ‘By that point, the accommodation upstairs was gone and the space was a party venue that they called “the rave cave”. In fact, The Powerhouse Museum still has some of the old rave posters from the Crix back then, which is pretty cool.’  

Through much of this history, The Crix played host to The Golden Bone, a dog race organised entirely by locals, which took place from the 1970s all the way until 2007. Regulations in a city like Sydney were always going to catch up with the canines, however, and the race was eventually called off for good. Now, just a little taste of it survives, with Golden Bone Kölsch available at the bar – alongside a delicious range of Grifter beers, of course ;-) 

The Spirit Lives On 

While the 2000s might have blitzed through the city to put backbreaking pressure on the nightlife, The Unsinkable HMS Crix (as it’s titled on the pub’s Instagram) chugged on. And although neither sporting enthusiasts, drag queens nor ravers can lay sole claim to the space today, the hodge podge that the pub attracts makes the Crix what it is, Janna believes.  

‘It's just got a lot of different, conflicting energies. For example, there was a Sunday recently where a few big groups came in. We realised there was a table full of skateboarders, another table of young liberals, a table of Sunday churchgoers and another of queer fashionistas. And they were all coexisting in the beer garden with no trouble at all. I don’t know if that would happen anywhere else.’ 

Incredibly, the tiling and other physical features are largely untouched, yet like the city of Sydney itself, the Crix continues to evolve. You’ll still find old locals at the bar who’ve come here since forever, though, another aspect that sets this place apart. Sure, the rave cave has been replaced with a French Bistro, and fights are thankfully no longer welcome in the back garden. But what’s important about the Crix is unchanged. 

‘There's always new stuff coming in, but I think the bread and butter, you know, the formula has been set. That doesn't mean it can never change. But what’s important to the future of the pub is that people still feel connected to it. That’s why the feeling when you walk in is always the same. It might seem sappy, but I think it’s a sense of belonging.’