‘I’ve seen the harm they can do’: New wave of Sydney pubs go pokie-free

When Joe’s Kitchen opens today at Paddington’s Captain Cook Hotel, the new restaurant will swallow the pub’s now redundant poker machine room. The historic hotel is the latest in a growing fleet of Sydney pubs forging new business models, unshackled from the pokie dollar.

The pizza oven at Joe’s Kitchen stands where slot machines once rattled, cold-fermented pinsa dough and Roman-style pizza just a couple of the ingredients in a bag of culinary tricks introduced by the hotel’s new operator, hospitality group Bird & Bear.

Inheriting a pub that had jettisoned its pokies, Bird & Bear co-owner Adam Marshall understands it takes more than pizza or a great pork cotoletta to survive.

Bird & Bear cut its teeth on the poker machine-free pub model three years ago, when it began operating The Village Inn, also in Paddington. Tripling clientele at The Village Inn, Marshall relied on basic community engagement. Good food is part of the equation, but The Village Inn listened to locals, providing outdoor seating where they (and their dogs) felt at home to congregate.

Bird & Bear will mirror that strategy at Joe’s Kitchen (no connection to Joe’s Table in neighbouring Darlinghurst), with an application lodged to increase the outdoor seating fronting Josephson Street, creating a hub for locals.

James Thorpe, chief executive at Odd Culture Group, has taken a similar pokies-free approach. “Powerful clubs and pubs tell you it’s impossible to run a profitable food and beverage operation without poker machines,” he said.

His group created waves in the industry when it went poker machine-free at venues such as The Duke of Enmore and The Old Fitzroy Hotel, in Woolloomooloo. “We’ve demonstrated you can do it … 100 per cent we’d do it again, I think they [poker machines] are a moral hazard, I’ve seen the harm they can do,” Thorpe said.

Wesley Mission chief executive Stu Cameron said NSW was in the grip of a “public health catastrophe impacting every postcode and community”, with data from NSW Liquor and Gaming showing poker machine losses soared to $2.45 billion across the third quarter of 2025.

A spokesman for the hospitality outlet Regatta Club at UTS Haberfield Rowers Club said the club’s decision to operate without poker machines had “resonated with families” and driven it as a go-to venue for that sector of the dining market.

Last month, The Lord Gladstone Hotel in Chippendale got rid of the last of its poker machines. Lord Gladstone’s owner, Mitch Crum, said it’s too early to properly gauge the effect of the move on his bottom line, where bumper days with the machines occasionally outstripped revenue for the rest of the pub, but he’s heartened by the feedback.

“We’ve had over 50 emails in support. I’ve had a mum in here in tears, her son had lost his house … [and] people from interstate saying they want to come and support us,” Crum said.

The Lord Gladstone isn’t simply relying on the largesse of supporters to help it prosper, however. There are longer-term plans to make up for any shortfall in revenue by expanding the courtyard into the gaming room space. Crum said it would provide more area for hungry patrons to sit on busy days.

Other notable pokie-free venues in Sydney include Darlinghurst’s Taphouse, White Cockatoo Hotel in Petersham, Bat & Ball in Redfern, The Annandale Hotel and Good Food Guide Pub of the Year The Dry Dock.

While Crum remains hopeful of broader support for his stance, poker machines remain big business. In December, the Herald reported that Club Rose Bay had doubled the number of pokies in the Merivale-run venue.

Marshall said Bird & Bear’s experience in the cafe sector – where they’ve run a number of venues, including Navy Bear at Rushcutters Bay – taught the group how to operate venues without a large alcohol spend, so surviving without poker machine revenue is easier for them to navigate.

The group wanted to balance the old and the new at the Captain Cook, and aimed to be inclusive, serving [non-alcoholic] Heaps Normal on tap alongside regular beers such as Resch’s. “These places just need love put into them,” he said.