Here is the 2025 Boothby Best Bars NSW Top 50
These are the 50 best bars in NSW right now, according to bartenders

On Monday night, more than 150 of the NSW bar industry’s finest bartenders and operators got together at The Trocadero Room in Enmore, for the third annual Boothby Best Bars NSW awards.
And what a night it was, with complimentary drinks from our sponsors Estrella Damm, Perrier, Never Never, Angels Envy, Ilegal Mezcal, Club Suntory, and Jack Daniel’s Bonded, and great tunes courtesy of Pasan Wijesena.
There were a couple of trends to take note of, too: the Newtown and Enmore precinct is clearly a thriving hub of top quality drinking in 2025, with 10 bars making the Top 50, making it the area with the second highest concentration of quality bars outside of the Sydney CBD (which had 22 listings).
There were 11 new entries on the NSW list in 2025, with another three bars re-entering the list after a year off in 2024.
The two most successful NSW bar groups on the list are the Maybe Group, with four listings (Maybe Sammy, Little Cooler, Dean & Nancy, and El Primo Sanchez) on the Boothby Best Bars NSW Top 50 in 2025 including three inside the top 20; and the Mucho Group with Bar Planet, Cantina OK!, Centro 86, and Herbs Taverne on the the list. House Made Hospitality also figured prominently, with three venues on the list, as did the bars under Pasan Wijesena’s stewardship, with The Magpie, Earl’s Juke Joint, and Jacoby’s Tiki Bar all landing on the Top 50.
The list was also notable for the bars that weren’t on there this year. Despite being an option in the longlist of venues to vote for, Swillhouse bars The Baxter Inn and Caterpillar Club were voted off the list this year.
And not coincidentally, one of the highlights of the night was Rocky Hair, one of the leaders of the Sorry Not Sorry collective, being voted as this year’s Person of the Year presented by Jack Daniel’s Bonded.
This is the third annual NSW instalment of the Boothby Best Bars program, which saw an open nomination process take place in May followed by a preferential vote conducted by a 100-plus strong panel of voters comprised of the state’s best bartenders, owners, operators, and influential industry figures — the people who know the bars in NSW best. The Boothby Best Bars program also takes place in Queensland and Victoria, with the Victorian awards opening for nominations next week, and the awards party to be held at Pearl Diver Cocktails & Oysters in Melbourne on September 1.