5 Best Pubs in Sydney (2026)

The Baxter Inn is a below-street whisky bar on Clarence Street, tucked behind an unmarked entrance down a laneway staircase. It runs one of the deeper whisky walls in the city, covering Highland, Lowland, Speyside and island bottles, alongside a cocktail list and a beer pour that gets real attention too. It's walk-in only, seven days, with staff who know the bottles well enough to talk you through them. Free pretzels at the bar have become something of a signature.

Fortune of War sits on George Street in The Rocks and bills itself as Sydney's oldest pub. It runs a full bistro alongside the bar, serving British and Australian pub classics, plus live entertainment and function rooms for bigger groups. The heritage timber fit-out and low ceilings give it a genuinely old-Sydney feel that the newer bars nearby can't replicate.

P.J.O'Brien's is an Irish pub on King Street with a Guinness and whiskey list pulled from across the world, plus live music running most nights of the week. It's set up for groups, with function rooms and a menu that runs from pub classics to a proper Sunday roast, and it stays open late Thursday through Saturday. The upstairs level adds extra seating when the ground floor fills up, which reviewers say happens often.

The Duke of Clarence is a small British tavern tucked into a laneway off Clarence Street, built around an award-winning menu of Scotch eggs, ploughman's boards and traditional roasts. It carries a wide selection of European wines, spirits, cocktails and cask ales, and it's picked up industry recognition including a Big 7 Travel mention for its Sunday roast. Bookings are open for lunch most days and all day Sunday, with limited evening slots.

The Sporting Globe x 4 Pines is a sports bar and grill on the King Street Wharf waterfront, part of a chain built around screens on every wall and a menu of modern Australian and pub classics. It handles big group bookings and functions, and it's set up to show major matches, from NRL to UEFA finals to televised boxing. The wharf-side location adds outdoor terrace seating with harbour views.