Kylie Heffernan

My current home, The Oxford Tavern in Petersham, Sydney. The Oxford Tavern is part of the infamous 'Drink'n'Dine' family of which i have been a part of since 2011 when I joined the team at The Norfolk Hotel in Redfern, Sydney. The Oxford Tavern was previously a late night Strip club, which featured Jelly wrestling and the regular Friday night 'Golden G-String comp'. After Drink'n'Dine purchased the venue in late 2013, a refurb and a hose out to the riff raff that haunted the dark sleazy corners of that joint, I was asked to transfer from The Carrington Hotel in Surry Hills to be the new Bar Manager of the Venue. In my time at this venue we have taken out some serious awards, 'New Pub of The Year' @ the Bartender Magazine Awards and 'Best Revival' @ The Time Out Awards.

The sadly now closed Carrington Hotel in Surry Hills, Sydney is pretty much my spiritual home, and where my real love of the industry came from. I started my time at The Carrington after I was working at The Norfolk Hotel, and living four doors down from The Carrington. Weather it was the sheer convenience of being able to 'long-jump' to work,  the smell of Paella, or my heavy breathing on the windows out the front, they welcomed me into the team late in 2011. The Carrington provided me with an opportunity to really expand not only my knowledge and management skills, but friends and contacts within the industry in this city.

My beginnings at The Norfolk Hotel came as I was moving from  my Design Degree in Fashion to a more Hospitality focused career.  The Norfolk was the first bar that I had ever worked in that was 'Hip/legit'- come to think of it - it was one of the first bars in Sydney that was 'Hip/Legit'!! From it's no 'Wet-pussy' Policy to the copious amount of Coca-Cola Beef Tacos that were consumed I really found that I absolutely loved this kind of work. Selling beers and fruity cocktails to a public that was more then ready to relax a bit in their drinking and have a bit of a laugh was great. No more stiff-upper lip cosmos or bashing ice for frosty Mojito tops in sterile white washed venues that all look and smell alike. Hooray for me and for Sydney!! During this time we became a real template for lots of Sydney bars and pubs and completely re-vamped how people drink and eat in this city!  We took out Best Pub @ The Bartender Awards!

It's pronounced 'Beau-champ'!!!! Oh the glory days of my first cocktail bar job! Located on Oxford Street in Darlinghurst, Sydney, this place really had it all! Three levels - including an underground Deep House nightclub which was about 6m x 6m, a ground level grimy pub (complete with pokies and smelly locals) and an upstairs  and most certainly upper market cocktail bar. Due to the fact that it may have been potentially misguided by literally the nicest Licensee ever - it was mostly quiet. This led to most of my time being spent cleaning an assortment of Spirits and being so bored out of my wits that I read just about every single label on every bottle and built up and excellent knowledge of Spirits that still to this day could only be challenged by an ex - Beauchamp employee.

Well, we all have to start somewhere! Located in the not so Paris end of Bondi Junction Sydney, I started my career slaving over a hot bar and slaying beers to the characters who frequented the venue. Pouring the perfect beer became what seemed to be a life or death issue with customers so I picked up  pretty quick how to get it right. I also mastered the use and potential financial gain of the TAB machine. Saturday afternoons were especially beneficial especially if I got a hot tip from one of the locals.