The Belroy Hotel is a bar located in St Leonards, a suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney. The bar reopened in 2023 after a lengthy renovation that has unfortunately left the venue worse off than when it closed its doors.

The bar that formally occupied the site was Gilroys Hotel, a much-loved local in an area which had always had very few options. Gilroys Hotel was an Irish bar through and through that contained all the usual trimmings, from the wood panelled bar to the well-worn, beer-stained carpets, the bar was an old timey oasis tucked away amongst a cluster of office and residential towers.

Much of the bars old-world charm has been completely stripped away with the venue’s reopening as The Belroy Hotel. Inside and out, everything has changed, from the flower pots that used to line the balcony, to the curios that used to line the walls of the front bar, the venue is unrecognizable, even the poor Guinness toucan has been knocked off its perch!

In its place we have yet another example of a modern take on retro pub design that is unfortunately becoming the norm amongst most pub renovations in Sydney. There is nothing really unique about The Belroy Hotel, you’ll find other places that look just like this all across Sydney.