Glebe’s Different Drummer Bar was saved from closure by a local couple

A late-night facility in Glebe is reopening this month after two locals stepped in to save it.

Different Drummer Bar and their 2 o’clock license are returning to Glebe Point Road on January 28, two months after their former owner called Last Drinks for 19 years.

Systems engineer Patrick Hurel said he cashed in on his home deposit to take over the bar, which he saw as a second home after returning to Sydney as an adult after an expat childhood and interstate studies.

“I didn’t really have any friends here [in Sydney] and this place kind of gave me that. It’s very important to me,” said Hurel, who has worked in hospitality and has always dreamed of running a cocktail bar.

“I love Glebe. It’s this weird, forgotten suburb that has some amazing people and I didn’t want to lose that.”

It is the second Glebe Point Road institution to be rescued in recent weeks after a former resident stepped in to buy vegetarian cafe Badde Manors, which also closed its doors last year.

Hurel’s business partner is music producer Sebastien Bot, who moved into the building with his family after living within walking distance of Different Drummer for the past 17 years.

“We really didn’t want this place to close. I had some of my first drinks here when I was 18,” said Bot.

While the two plan to refurbish and expand the venue’s upper floor, they said they’re aware that locals liked the bar for what it was and expect it to look similar to when its doors opened at November 26 were closed.