Posted by kluster on December 21, 2010
It seems that no sooner were we bemoaning the lack of a decent beer garden in Sydney than our prayers were answered in the form of The Norfolk, which has (re)opened just in time to be the Christmas present we were hoping for. Taking over what was well and truly a pub past its prime, team James (Wirth and Miller) has revamped and reinvigorated this Cleveland Street venue, revealing what will be the place to be this summer. We caught up with one half of the team in the wake of the launch.
Covered: sleepless nights, untapped potential, beer gardens and queer Mexican dance parties.
Kat Hartmann: The Norfolk opened to the public with a bang last week. I hear it was a bit of a process getting the bar from old-man dive to the retro European-inspired, rancho relaxo you unveiled. Can you tell us a bit more about that?
Jaime Wirth: We basically had eight weeks to get the place from derro pokie pub to where it is now. We had really great builders and tradesmen but it was a pretty mad scramble at the end to get it open. There was 20 years worth of crap to get out the place, walls to paint, roofs to build, floors to replace, seats to install and trees to plant. Sleepless nights, very early starts and some tense moments but we managed to stick to our opening date. Phew.More...
the norfolk, bars, jaime wirth, james miller, surry hills