Hankin’s Rankins: Sydney’s Best Advertising Pubs of All Time

In an industry constantly obsessed with rankings — best agencies, best CEOs, best recruiters, even best CFOs (shout-out to my agency finance friends) — I think it’s time we ranked the truly important things in the industry.

Welcome to Hankin’s Rankings, a new ten-part series for Campaign Brief. Or eight-part series. Or however many I get through before I get too roasted.

I’ll be ranking the truly important things in the Sydney advertising scene.

First up: The Best Advertising Pubs of all time.

Because if agencies really want to get creatives back into the office on Fridays, forget free breakfast, wellness initiatives and mandatory fun. Put the office near a decent pub.

Long before WFH was a thing — or even an acronym — the pub was advertising’s original breakout room. A place to escape ringing desk phones, hide from suits, or occasionally crack a brief.

Times have changed. Drinking is no longer compulsory. Neither is the Friday schnitty. But the pub remains an important part of advertising culture. A place for ideas, gossip, debriefs, interviews, celebrations, commiserations and finding out who actually won the pitch.

So, after an exhaustive judging process involving absolutely no methodology whatsoever, here are Sydney advertising’s ten greatest pubs.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

The Sussex. The Lord Roberts. The Dolphin. The Commodore. Blueberries. The Station. Grape Escape. The Hero of Waterloo (often referred to by the old Saatchi’s team as ‘the half Nelson’ as it was halfway to the full Nelson). The Lord Nelson. The Terminus.

And, of course, Singo’s Bar circa 1998–2003, which deserves an article of its own and possibly a coronial inquiry.

10. THE NELSON

We begin with The Nelo in Bondi Junction.

Is it particularly close to an advertising agency? No.

Does that matter? Also no.

Because The Nelson has achieved something far more important: its beautifully preserved old-school pub aesthetic has made it onto approximately every creative team’s location reference at some point and holds the title for most commercials shot there. Eagle-eyed advertising fanatics will be able to spot it in nearly every beer commercial for the better part of the last 30 years.

9. THE TILBURY

No list of advertising pubs could exclude The Tilbury, largely because it has hosted the unofficial second half of approximately 4,357 long lunches on the Woolloomooloo Wharf – including more than a few CB Legendary Lunches [see pics below].

While you could argue it’s more of a bar than a pub, and I’m happy to argue anytime, The Tilbury has firmly earned its place on this list purely for the stories alone. All of which have now been edited out of this article.

8. THE CRICKETERS ARMS

This is a proper agency pub. Servicing many of the new wave agencies in the Surry Hills area, namely The Monkeys and now Howatson & Co. The Cricketers earns its place as one of those pubs that understands exactly what advertising people need: somewhere nice enough to take a client, casual enough to take the creative department and conveniently equipped with alcohol for when those two groups disagree.

7. THE GLENMORE

If this were a ranking of Best Places to Hold an Advertising Farewell, The Glenmore would be challenging for number one.

The rooftop view is spectacular. There are big outdoor tables for unnecessarily large groups. And it’s been servicing agencies around The Rocks for generations.

The perfect place to raise a glass to someone you’ve worked with for eight years and promise you’ll “definitely stay in touch”.

6. HOTEL PALISADE

Great food. Great views. Great mulled wine in winter.

But perhaps The Palisade’s greatest contribution to advertising is providing neutral territory where competing agencies can accidentally run into each other immediately after a pitch and undermine each other’s confidence.

“How’d you guys go?”

“Yeah, really well.”

“Same.”

Nobody believes anybody.

5. THE CAPTAIN COOK

The Captain earns its place ahead of some considerably more sophisticated neighbours for one simple reason: It’s not particularly sophisticated.

Beer selection? Fine. Wine list? Fine. Food? Fine. Ambience? Absolutely fine.

And that’s exactly why advertising people love it.

After a week spent discussing elevated brand experiences and culturally resonant brand platforms you just want a schooner in a pub that isn’t trying to disrupt anything.

The Captain has been delivering to the likes of Ogilvy, Leo’s, Clems and Dentsu for many years.

4. THE RAG & FAMISH

This may surprise younger readers — and by younger, I mean anyone reading this not named Old CD Guy, but once upon a time, North Sydney was the centre of Sydney advertising.

Through the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, plenty of the big agencies called North Sydney home, such as George Patterson, DDB, Ogilvy, McCann, Y&R, Lintas, The Ball Partnership, Grey and Connaghan & May. The Rag was their unofficial boardroom.

Deals were done. Ideas were sold. Careers were discussed. Some people even returned to the office afterwards.

Different times.

3. THE CLOCK

Interviews. Secret meetings. Pitch debriefs. People watching.

The Clock has hosted them all.

Of course, the problem with holding a “secret meeting” at The Clock is that within approximately seven minutes you’ll run into someone you know.

Nothing says discretion like discussing your move to another agency while your current ECD is sitting three tables away.

Still, an undeniable institution that has serviced more than the Surry Hills agencies for many years.

2. THE AUSTRALIAN

The Australian has everything a great advertising pub needs: history, atmosphere, an enormous beer selection and close proximity to generations of agencies around The Rocks.

It’s also famous for serving a coat-of-arms pizza featuring kangaroo and emu that nobody has ever ordered.

Farewells, welcomes, pitch wins, pitch losses, department drinks and Friday afternoons have all ended here over a Tooheys…or two. Sorry, had to put it somewhere.

1. THE MERCANTILE

There really couldn’t be any other to top the list.

Perfectly positioned opposite the iconic former Saatchi & Saatchi offices, The Mercantile wasn’t just the local pub -It was Saatchi’s second office famously nicknamed Boardroom 5.

For decades, Friday afternoons saw agency folk dart across the road for a pint, back for a print approval, across for another pint, back to check a fax, then across again until someone eventually made the sensible decision to stop going back.

Rumour has it some of Saatchi’s greatest campaigns were conceived over beers here. For more than 30 years, The Mercantile wasn’t just somewhere advertising people went after work – It was part of the work.

And that makes it the winner of Sydney’s Best Advertising Pub.

Now there’s only one thing left to do: get everyone back into the office for a Friday beer — or a Heaps Normal.

Because for all the talk about collaboration spaces, innovation hubs and spontaneous workplace interactions, advertising figured this stuff out decades ago…sometimes the best ideas happen at the pub.

Think I’ve missed one? Strongly disagree with anything you’ve just read?

Keep it to yourself.

But if you absolutely must be heard, email me at [email protected].

Up next, we’ll stop celebrating our people and start celebrating our four-legged friends. Yep, favourite furry friend in advertising coming soon. No, Jari Kennedy won’t feature.

Hank.

Andrew “Hank” Hankin is a contributing writer for Campaign Brief and former Group Creative Director at Ogilvy.

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