One of Sydney’s most famous bars, formerly owned by a notorious criminal, is on the brink of collapse.
The Roosevelt, located in Kings Cross during World War II, is currently undergoing restructuring to stay afloat.
David Hurst, director of insolvency specialist Mackay Goodwin and a registered liquidator, has been appointed as restructuring expert as the 79-year-old firm, once run by Abe Saffron, faces a costs crisis.
New South Wales’s strict lockout laws have killed off the nightlife in Kings Cross in recent years, once regarded as the Golden Mile of strip clubs and brothels.
Former Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm, an outspoken libertarian who campaigns against the nanny state, said The Roosevelt is the latest victim of lockout laws introduced a decade ago that killed the once-bustling nightlife strip.
“This is just the latest of many bars to disappear from Kings Cross. It’s not what it used to be,” he told Daily Mail Australia.
‘A lot of the damage has already been done. We will never get Kings Cross back and many of the businesses that thrived on the nightlife are gone and will never come back.
‘Sydney claims to be Australia’s international city. For a city with such ambitions, it’s absurd that you’re struggling to get a drink or go anywhere late at night.’
One of Sydney’s most famous bars is on the verge of collapse
Notorious crime boss Abe Saffron took power in 1947, earning the title ‘The King of the Cross’
The hated closing time of 1:30 am with a mandatory closing time of 3:00 am was abolished in early 2020, shortly before the pandemic.
But Tyson Koh, who previously led the Keep Sydney Open campaign, said the state government’s old laws had created the impression that Kings Cross was boring.
“That’s one of the last consequences of the lockout laws,” he told Daily Mail Australia.
He said the cost of living crisis is discouraging young people from going out as they face high rents.
“Covid has really been a massive blow to Sydney nightlife and people’s going out habits,” he said.
“And then there’s the cost of living crisis. We know there are great places to go out in the city, but people just don’t go because there’s so little money.”
The Roosevelt Theatre first opened in 1943 as an event for American troops stationed in Sydney.
The Yanks in uniform often dated Australian women, which led to tensions with local naval officers stationed on nearby Garden Island.
Notorious crime boss and sex addict Abe Saffron took power in 1947 and was given the title ‘The King of the Cross’.
This man, who bribed politicians and police officers with money and entertainment, ran a company so wealthy that it brought Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Junior over from the US to perform.
Abe Saffron, who bribed politicians and police officers with money and entertainment, ran a company so rich in money that it brought Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Junior over from the United States to perform.
Former Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm, an outspoken libertarian who campaigns against the nanny state, said The Roosevelt was the latest victim of the lockout laws introduced a decade ago that had killed Kings Cross’s nightlife
But the club was temporarily closed in 1953 after New South Wales Police Chief Colin Delaney successfully applied to the High Court to have the club declared a “disorderly house”.
That was at a time when pubs were not allowed to serve alcohol after 6pm.
Laws extending hotel hours to 10 p.m. did not go into effect until February 1955, after a state referendum.
The club first opened in 1943, when Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the American president during the war.
The Roosevelt is located at 32 Orwell Street in Potts Point, just 300 metres from Kings Cross Train Station.
The site remains in use while debt settlements are reached with creditors, a decade after lockout laws were introduced following an unprovoked blow that killed Thomas Kelly, 18.
Hospitality businesses are the second most likely to close after construction, accounting for 15 per cent of insolvencies in the 2023-24 financial year, according to data from the Australian Securities and Investment Commission.
According to Mr Leyonhjelm, Kings Cross is now a boring place for professionals living and working in the city.
“It’s now a bedroom community for people who work in the CBD,” he said.