The Beauchamp
The Beauchamp may have changed a fair bit over the years, but it remains an undisputed heavyweight champ of Darlo
By Jonathan James
The Beauchamp used to be a pub for bloke's blokes, with a clientele invariably straight, elderly and fond of filterless Camels or Champion Ruby roll-ups. But as the decades have passed, the sexuality of the Beauchamp has ebbed and flowed like Oxford Street itself - either so straight it's dishing up $1 schooners and serving free meat pies at fight and footy nights or it's so get-medieval-on-your-ass gay the windows are painted black to protect the public.
Today the Beauchamp (pronounced Bee-chum, or if you're a goose, Bo-shomp) is a seriously cool and unpretentious bar frequented by real people who actually live and work in Paddington and Darlinghurst, along with the usual blow-ins from the suburbs. It was majorly renovated a few years ago and now maintains three bars. Our favourite is upstairs where one of Sydney's best remaining outside beer drinking arenas (it doesn't seem right to call it a beer garden) looms large.
Filling this wonderful space are salary-girls, area managers from the suburbs, yartzy types, boho scenesters both bent and otherwise, and Oxford Street shopaholics hankering for a Cosmopolitan while massaging their tired tootsies after the big walk down the retail strip. And let's face it, if you've made it from say, Jersey Road to South Dowling, girls, it's time to dump the Alannah Hill and Zomp bags, kick off the heels and hop into something cold and alcoholic.
There's the usual selection of hooch behind the bar from Advocat to Sambuca. The Beauchamp does a good line of Kirin on tap, bottles of Piper and a nip of cognac for the price of a small holiday home. The bar staff know their poisons too, and are happy to recommend drinks and chew the rag. The pub also has a bistro with above average blotting paper at reasonable prices.
Comfy chairs abound and there's a cool pool table on the top level. On the main floor, windows open onto Oxford Street and allow views of blue skies and pink guys, while downstairs there's a small bar called Velvet that seems to be always booked for functions.
Our biggest complaint is the crapulariums. There's only one set and they pong (the gents at any rate) and if you're drinking upstairs, it's a three-day ride to sweet relief.
Similarly, smokers shunted onto the street feel they're in the middle of the F3 with 45-wheelers thundering past regularly en route to Darwin.
But, schooner in hand, it's a fine place to soak up the sky and enjoy the serenity.
The Beauchamp 265-267 Oxford St, Darlinghurst 2010 (02 9331 2575) Mon-Sat: 12 midday-2am, Sun 12 midday-12 midnight.