
Enmore Theatre This fabulous old art deco theatre is one of a very few grand theatres that have___MORE		The Vanguard This is now Sydney’s coolest live venue. ___MORE

Pretty Dog Situated just off King Street in Newtown, Pretty Dog is a funky little enclave___MORE		Pentimento This is a favourite with stylish designers and others in-the-know who value the___MORE

Three Clicks West This cosy restaurant is situated in an old storefront and still has the lovely ___MORE		Deus ex Machina Dare Jennings, the man who created Mambo is the genius behind this very cool ___MORE

Gleebooks This bookshop is a Sydney institution, no less for the fact that they host ___MORE		AC Butchery

Inner Best

A place to buy your Fairtrade coffee, pick up some Roquefort cheese, browse through a leading furniture store renown for its funky finds and perhaps hunt down a rare first edition of a Patrick White novel. Later, you can book a 2 hatted restaurant and stop by a groovy bar for a chic cocktail before dinner. In the past, to do all this in one day might have required travelling all over Sydney but today, it’s the Inner West, mainly Newtown, Glebe, Annandale and Leichhardt where all this can be found and which is enjoying a new lease of life as a new generation moves in. You're seeing the creation of a stylish kaleidoscope of local neighbourhoods with an emphasis on enjoying the best things in life, whether it’s great furniture shops or a friendly local florist.

Wander down King Street Newtown on a Saturday morning and it has to be one of the most vibrant streetscapes in Sydney. Behind busy King Street explore the quaint streets full of restored terraces with the odd architecturally designed new home adding a visual surprise to the streetscape.

Over in Glebe the markets are a colourful mosaic that spills into the school playground. Stop and buy some flowers from the famously friendly flower guy (he has the best bargains in Sydney) and browse through the stalls selling leather belts and bags, clothes, hats, cds and old homewares including coloured glass vases from the 50s and 60s.

Around the corner in Annandale the grand proportions of Johnston Street lead down and around into the little gully where restaurants such as Three Clicks West and local cafes are doing a thriving trade with mums and dads and kids all enjoying a lazy morning.

Leichhardt is all about showing off and on a Saturday night expect to see immaculate cars full of proud young men making the girls giggle on the footpath as they roar past, the lights of the local restaurants reflecting off the gleaming duco. Norton St is now a byword for Italian food and with the Italian Forum there’s no reason not to promenade up and down with everyone else before making your choice – just make sure you’ve dressed up. Catch an early movie and a late dinner, Italian style. This hub of suburbs really does offer a total lifestyle with its wide range of restaurants, performance spaces, movie houses, cafes, bars and great shopping for modern and vintage homewares. And while it has all these things the pace is relaxed and welcoming. It doesn’t get much better than this.