LOCAL CUSTOMS · SYDNEY
How happy hour works in Sydney
A New South Wales happy hour: legal, early, and not allowed to turn into a drinking game.
The rule
NSW allows a posted discount and forbids the ones designed for speed — all-you-can-drink bursts, beat-the-clock, skolling ware. GST is already in the price. A Sunday surcharge is a wage custom, printed separately.
The custom
The CBD and Barangaroo do a sharp 5-to-7. Surry Hills, Newtown, and the inner west do a longer neighborhood version. A schooner, not a US pint, is the beer. Oysters and a glass of wine are the other civic deal. “Happy hour” is spoken in English and printed on boards; a pub may just say “schooners $X from 4.”