My Favourite Places for a Sunday Session in Melbourne

Updated: 23 April, 2017.

As I write this the clock has just ticked over midday on Sunday here in Melbourne. The mercury is at 25 degrees Celsius and rising. The sun is shining, and I’m thirsty. This can mean only one thing. It’s time for a Sunday session.

My adopted home town is renowned for many things, and a great bar scene is very much one of them. From thumping nightclubs to grungy old man pubs, and everything in between, finding somewhere for a drink is never difficult. I’ll happily have a beer pretty much anywhere, but there’s something about the combination of sunshine, a few friends, and an outdoor setting that brings a smile to my face every time.

Here’s half a dozen of my favourite places to kick back with a pint, and studiously pretend Monday is merely a distant vision on the horizon…

The Standard Hotel, Fitzroy

With one of the least assuming frontages you could imagine, you’d barely know The Standard was a pub if you walked past it. You’d certainly have no idea that once you ventured past the cramped main bar area, you’d find one of the best — and certainly one of the largest — beer gardens in inner Melbourne. I was lucky enough to live just down the road for 18 months, and the minute the sun came out, this place always sprang to mind.

Despite its size, it still fills up on sunny weekend afternoons, which to me was the perfect excuse to get there nice and early and settle in for the day. If you’d like to fill up on something other than pints, the food is a step above typical pub grub too.

 

The Espy, St Kilda

An absolute institution in Melbourne (and now sadly closed for renovations since 2015), the Esplanade Hotel in St Kilda is incredibly popular with locals and tourists alike. It’s a reminder of what St Kilda used to be like before it started to gentrify, and is still going as strong as ever, somehow managing to resist the efforts of apartment developers and the ‘fun police’ alike.

Head along there any night of the week, and sticky floors, a dingy interior, and some local band you’ve never heard of will be sure to greet you. If you arrive early enough on a Sunday to grab a table outside, however — well, it’s a very different story. With unparalleled views out over the ocean, and a never ending supply of beer to help cool down, you’re never going to want to leave.

Just be careful not to fall down the stairs when you do eventually get kicked out…

 

The Pinnacle, North Fitzroy

This is where I’m heading after finishing this post, to catch up with a bunch of friends and family. It’s an old Victorian post office on one of the main streets in North Fitzroy, and one of the great little neighbourhood pubs in the area that attracts a loyal crowd. There’s usually a band playing outside on a Sunday afternoon, and they tend to vary between good and downright fantastic.

It’s a family friendly place too, which is a hell of a rarity for a pub in the inner suburbs. Fortunately in this case, family friendly means ‘a few kids running around and dancing in front of the band,’ rather than ’20 screaming babies and their overanxious parents knocking your drink over with their pushchairs’. The beer garden is way too small for that. Thank god.

 

Section 8 Container Bar, Central City

Tucked away down one of Melbourne’s laneways, this bar doesn’t seem the kind of place you’d pick for a quiet Sunday session. It’s in a trendy location, with a clientele to suit, and with the funky jazz beats being cranked out by the DJ and designer ‘retro’ furniture sprawled around under the skeleton of a couple of shipping containers, it should just be far too cool for most mere humans to grab a drink or two and relax at. And yet, somehow, awesomely, it is.

The place gets packed out on a Friday night, but like the rest of the CBD, it’s a much more chilled out experience on a Sunday afternoon. It’s not cheap (now there’s a surprise), but it’s not quite eye-wateringly expensive by Melbourne standards either. I just love the place.

 

Republica, St Kilda

If you’re looking for the definitive beachside drinking session in Melbourne, Republica provides it, and then some. Literally metres from the beach, I stumbled across this restaurant and bar in St Kilda while looking for somewhere else one day, and I’m damn pleased I did. It’s the perfect place to while away a sunny Sunday afternoon with a beer or twelve in hand.

The menu is surprisingly comprehensive, and provides perfect accompaniment to your favourite cold brew. The pizzas are particularly fantastic.  Oh, and the best bit of all? You can walk straight from the beach to the bar to an outdoor table without ever actually stepping ‘inside’. No need to even wipe the sand off your feet! Somebody was thinking when they designed this place…

 

Riverland, Central City

You couldn’t ask for a better location to drink in the city, right beside the river, and across the street from the iconic Flinders St train station. Below street level in an old bluestone building, Riverside is surprisingly sheltered from the noise and crowds, and has been the home of more than one long-lived drinking session in the past. Grab a table on the wooden deck outside, and watch life in Australia’s best city wander — and float — past.

Just don’t order a pint of Asahi unless you fancy paying 17 bucks a pint. No, really. Thankfully the other beers are slightly less hard on the bank balance…

This is merely a sampling of the hundreds of great places for a Sunday session in Melbourne.  Got some suggestions of your own that I should check out?  Let me know in the comments!

Beer image via Matt From London, Section 8 image via Gerard Ward, Espy image via AnnieGreenSprings