Of all the dive bars in Sydney, this is undoubtedly the city’s favourite. Flinders was a decrepit old pub bought and renovated by restaurateur/club-owner Nick Mathers, Ksubi fashion label co-owner Paul Wilson and the city’s Bang Gang DJs Gus Da Hoodrat and Jaime Doom. Not a great deal has been done to the interiors, with bent signs, stacks of beer cans and a wooden bar carved with graffiti splayed about everywhere. It’s modelled on a classic American dive bar, so the drinks are hard and fast. Cocktails are a joy, however, and there’s no leaving until you’ve necked at least one Pickle Back, a shot of Jameson followed by a shot of pickle juice – so nasty it’s good. Despite the dive bar tag, Flinders attracts a well-heeled, eastern suburbs crowd that likes to party hard, and the bar (rather dangerously) stays open until around 5am on rollicking weekends. Wednesday nights are devoted to hip-hop with weekends dominated by electro/indie/house tunes and podcasts. For food, there’s plenty of bar snacks and scratchings downstairs and British colonial eats can be had upstairs at Duke Bistro, a fab little joint presided over by chefs Thomas Lim (ex-Tetsuya’s) and Mitch Orr.