The Rose of Australia holds the corner of Swanson Street in Erskineville, an inner-west village a short walk from Newtown in Sydney. The pub has stood on the spot since 1874 and was rebuilt in 1932, with the art deco interiors of the main bar still its centre. Best Restaurants calls it the social hub of Erskineville, run by the Leach family for more than twenty-five years.
Published February 19, 2026 · By Fredrik Filipsson
The room
The main front bar keeps its 1932 art deco fit-out, a classic public bar that anchors the building. Beyond it the pub runs an award-winning restaurant, an outdoor courtyard and a string of function spaces, so the room shifts from a quiet afternoon pint to a busy weekend night. Hidden City Secrets frames it as a genuine local rather than a renovated gastro-pub.
Upstairs sits Howards Cantina, a cocktail bar with an Italian pop-up kitchen and an outdoor terrace, which gives the address a second, livelier room above the public bar. The split lets the Rose carry a full evening from a courtyard beer to a rooftop cocktail. Erskineville's village setting keeps the crowd local and mixed.
What to order
The front bar pours the expected beers and pub measures, while the kitchen runs an expansive gastro-pub menu, with a poached and braised lamb shoulder and house-smoked Tasmanian trout among the share boards. Upstairs at Howards Cantina the order shifts to cocktails and Italian plates. The range means a group can drink across a pint, a wine and a cocktail without leaving the building.
The format is a proper pub downstairs and a cocktail bar up top, so the order depends on the floor. The courtyard suits a long afternoon session, the cantina a later cocktail. A beer in the art deco bar, then a cocktail upstairs, is the way regulars use the Rose.
Who it is for
The Rose of Australia fits a drinker after a genuine inner-west pub, a group that wants a courtyard session, and anyone who rates a heritage local with a cocktail bar over a polished hotel. Skip it for a quiet date in a hushed room, since the public bar is a social, busy space. It rewards a group that wants to move from the front bar to the courtyard to the cantina across a night.
Best time to go
Weekend afternoons in the courtyard are the move, when the inner-west crowd settles in for a long session. Howards Cantina upstairs comes into its own on warm evenings, with the terrace open for cocktails. A weeknight visit gives the run of the art deco front bar at its calmest.
Friday and Saturday nights are the busiest, when both the public bar and the cantina fill. For a quieter pint, an early weekday evening in the front bar is the calmer window. The courtyard is best in the warmer months, when the outdoor space carries the crowd.
The detail worth knowing
The heritage is the detail worth knowing, since the Rose has held its Erskineville corner since 1874 and kept its 1932 art deco bar through later refurbishments. Twenty-five years of family ownership under the Leach family has kept it a genuine local rather than a chain pub. Its standing as the village's social hub is why it appears on Sydney pub guides.
Few inner-west pubs carry a record this long with the original art deco room intact. The addition of Howards Cantina upstairs gave the heritage building a modern cocktail floor without losing the public bar below. For a heritage Sydney pub with a cocktail bar attached, it is a steady call.
The bottom line
The Rose of Australia is Erskineville's heritage corner pub in Sydney, on its spot since 1874 with a 1932 art deco front bar and the Howards Cantina cocktail floor upstairs. Come for a courtyard session, move upstairs for a cocktail, and treat it as a full night in one building. It is a genuine inner-west local, and the heritage room is the draw.
Keep exploring with our best pubs in Sydney guide, the full Sydney bar guide, and our edit of pubs worldwide. Pair Rose of Australia with Marlborough Hotel, The Australian Hotel, and Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel.
