The Captain Cook Hotel on Flinders Street in Paddington has reopened under new ownership after a heritage-led renovation that strips the 142-year-old pub of its gaming machines entirely, replaces the former pokies room with a Roman pizza kitchen, and transforms the laneway alongside it into one of the neighbourhood’s most inviting outdoor dining spaces.
Hospitality group Bird and Bear took over the Captain Cook in July 2024, adding it to a portfolio that already includes The Village Inn in Paddington and The Navy Bear in Rushcutters Bay, both of which operate on the same pokies-free, community-first model. The Captain Cook reopened on 11 February 2026, and the response from locals who had watched the pub sit dormant through the renovation period suggests the formula is landing exactly as Bird and Bear intended.
A 142-Year-Old Pub, Carefully Restored
The Captain Cook has occupied its corner of Paddington since 1882, making it one of the older continuously operating pub sites in the inner east. The current building dates to 1914, when architect John Burcham Clamp redesigned it following a fire that destroyed the original structure. Bird and Bear approached the renovation with the building’s heritage as a starting point rather than an obstacle, retaining the central round bar that has anchored the main room for over a century alongside other original features that give the pub its sense of accumulated character.
The most significant physical change involves what is no longer there.The Captain Cook was purchased by Bird and Bear in July 2024 for $6.6 million, a transaction that deliberately excluded the venue’s gaming entitlements. The pokies are gone, and the room they occupied has been completely reimagined as Joe’s Kitchen, a light-filled eatery named for the Josephson Lane frontage it opens onto. A skylight floods the former gaming room with natural light that the space has never seen before, and a dog-friendly beer garden framed by greenery and fairy lights now extends from Joe’s into the lane itself.
The Captain Cook now operates across four distinct spaces: the Sports Bar with the heritage round bar intact, a relaxed Bistro, Joe’s Kitchen, and the Josephson Lane beer garden. The Sports Bar retains the big-screen atmosphere and casual energy the pub has always been known for among the area’s AFL, NRL and football crowds, while the new food and outdoor spaces give the venue range it previously lacked.
Roman Pizza in a Paddington Pub
At the centre of Joe’s Kitchen sits pinsa, a Roman-style pizza distinguished from its Neapolitan counterpart by a lighter, airier crust and a softer, more digestible base. Bird and Bear’s head of culinary Eric Tan and head chef Gil Dela Cueva developed the dough in collaboration with Rome-born pizza specialist Alessandro Sistopaoli and Italian supplier Alberto Facci, using Australian flour blends cold-fermented using traditional Roman techniques. The result is a pizza designed to eat comfortably over a long afternoon rather than demanding to be finished quickly.
Toppings range from The Farmer, combining Italian sausage, stracciatella, pesto and hot honey, to vegetable-focused options like silverbeet, garlic confit, eggplant and Taleggio. Weekly blackboard specials lean further into the Italian kitchen, with stuffed zucchini flowers, pork cotoletta and pasta dishes sitting alongside a curated Australian and Italian wine list. The kitchen serves dine-in and takeaway, pitched at locals, families and the steady stream of gig-goers and sports fans who move through the Oxford Street and Crown Street precinct on any given weekend.
A Broader Shift in Sydney Pub Culture
The Captain Cook’s transformation reflects a pattern that is reshaping the inner Sydney pub landscape. Bird and Bear built its reputation on the pokies-free model when it acquired The Village Inn three years ago, finding that removing gaming machines and replacing them with food, outdoor spaces and community programming tripled the venue’s clientele rather than shrinking it. The Navy Bear in Rushcutters Bay confirmed the approach was repeatable. The Captain Cook represents the third iteration of the same thesis.
Other operators across the inner city have reached similar conclusions independently. Several well-known Sydney pubs have removed gaming machines in recent years and redirected that space and energy into food and hospitality, finding that the community goodwill generated by the decision translates into a broader, more loyal customer base than the gaming revenue it replaces.
The Captain Cook Hotel sits at 162 Flinders Street, Paddington. Joe’s Kitchen serves from 5:00 PM on weeknights (Wednesday–Thursday) and from noon on weekends (Friday–Sunday), while the Sports Bar operates full pub hours. Current trading hours and bookings are available at birdandbear.com.au.
Published 27-February-2026.
![Tower Ad](https://brisbanesuburbsonlinenews.com.au/images/thenewtv-tower-ad.gif")
