Vic on the Park

Vic on the Park is a 400-capacity, outdoor-leaning live-music pub in Sydney’s Marrickville, facing Enmore Park. Its point of difference is the large rear deck and open-air Projects area: a basketball court/parking lot used for mini-festivals, bike polo and hip-hop afternoons. For concerts, that makes the room feel like a neighbourhood pub extending into a yard, with the front bar still fully in play.

A hotel, a tram stop, a new name

A licensed house has occupied the Addison and Enmore Roads corner since July 1878, when James Dive Snr. received a licence for Dive’s Hotel. George Smith renamed it the Victoria Hotel in 1884; the current building followed in the 1920s, and the Vic on the Park name arrived in the mid-1990s. The pub’s early trade grew alongside the Marrickville–Newtown tramline, whose stop sat opposite the hotel.

Its present live-music identity took shape after Australian Pub Fund and Riversdale bought the then-Vic Enmore in 2012 and recast it as Vic on the Park, putting dog-friendly hospitality and live music at the centre of the offer. Merivale bought the property in October 2017 and assumed operation on November 13, keeping the pub trading through the handover.

The gig experience

The Vic books across indie, rock, electronic, alternative, R&B, Latin and folk, with local, interstate and touring acts sharing a free-entry Friday and Saturday late-night program. Arrive after 9pm for gigs and expect a busy, sociable crowd: the front bar carries sport and pub traffic, while the expansive deck offers breathing room between sets. This is a walk-in, casual concert setting suited to catching a band alongside dinner and drinks.