America’s Cup bar is on the market

The bar from the Patonga Beach Hotel — formerly the centrepiece of the Sydney Hilton Hotel’s America’s Cup Bar - is up for sale.

Northern Beaches power couple Andrew and Pip Goldsmith, who acquired the hotel in 2017 for $10 million are selling it via eBay auction with a starting price of $2000.

The bar is famous for its curved shape and was a popular spot for Sydney drinkers from the 1970s. And it became part of history when Australia memorably won the America’s Cup in 1983. That saw drinkers at the hotel rushing to grab souvenirs with the bar briefly renamed the Australia’s Cup Bar.

“We really like the bar, but the issue is that it’s not very practical,” Mr Goldsmith told the Daily Telegraph.

“It was originally designed as a sit around bar and it’s not great for service.

“It creates bottle necks when things are busy and you can only get a maximum of five staff behind the bar.”

As Goldsmith explained it, the hotel was now undergoing a major renovation which would not include the bar.

The lucky person who score the bar in the eBay auction will be able to pick it up from the pub — now called The Boathouse Hotel in Patonga.

The Goldsmiths are the creative couple behind the Boat House Group which operates several venues at Palm Beach, Shelly Beach and Balmoral, as well as Moby Dicks Whale Beach.

The plan is to sell the bar and racks with all of the money raised going to Patonga Volunteer Fire Brigade.

The bell however will be retained.  It will be there continuing to remind drinkers of impending closing time when the hotel reopens in spring.

As for the sandstone underneath the bar, it will be remodelled in a water feature.

“We like the idea of the bar going to someone who will appreciate its history,” Mr Goldsmith told the Daily Telegraph.

Leon Getler 4th May 2018.