The Baxter Inn Sydney, Down the Laneway on Clarence Street
The Baxter Inn is one of the coolest bars I’ve been to, and the entrance does very little to advertise it. A laneway off Clarence Street, an unmarked doorway, then stairs down to a basement. Inside, the bottles take over.
They run across the back wall and up toward the ceiling, with a ladder to reach the upper shelves. In the photographs, the room is dark enough that the labels and the glass catch much of the available light. The collection gives the bar its proportions. You get a sense of its depth before you have read a single name.
The space was once a fabric storehouse for Cue. That is a good history for a room like this: something previously used for storage becomes somewhere people deliberately seek out. The basement offers no view and little contact with the street. Everything depends on what happens inside it.
Opened in 2011 by Anton Forte and Jason Scott, the pair behind Shady Pines Saloon, Baxter had already reached number six on the World’s 50 Best Bars list in 2015. For a place with such an inconspicuous entrance, it had become exceptionally well known.
Whisky is the reason for the extraordinary back bar, with Scotch at the center of a much broader selection. But there are cocktails, beer and wine too. The collection can be the subject of the evening or simply the backdrop to it. There is no requirement to develop an opinion on Speyside before ordering a drink.
“Speakeasy” describes the approach well enough, although the photographs show something more convivial than secretive: people gathered along a long counter, drinks close to hand, shelves crowded with bottles. The entrance provides the suspense. Once downstairs, there is a proper bar to settle into.
The Baxter Inn, Sydney. Photographs by Nadia Bouzid.
Visiting: Basement, 152 to 156 Clarence Street, Sydney. Entrance via the laneway off Clarence Street. Walk-ins only. Check the official website for opening hours and the current drinks list.
