Crowd

 Sneaky Sundays @ Hugo’s Lounge
Assessment Time: 1:10AM – 2:30AM
Opening Hours: Open throughout early evening to late (closing time unknown)
Lockout: Unknown
Address: 33 Bayswater Road, Kings cross (Upstairs and opposite World Bar/Candy’s Apartment – Don’t confuse this with the entrance to TheClub, which is on street level and in front of Hugo’s Lounge)
Venue Website: http://www.hugos.com.au
Event Website: http://www.hugos.com.au/newsletter/whats%20on/
Occurrence: Every Sunday since 1999
Outside Line: No line at arrival
Dress Code / Door Policy: At least smart casual here, lest you be declined entry at the door. If you even wore casual and managed to get in, you would look out-of-place here tonight, so dress your best
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Free at the time of arrival.
Guestlist: N/A

Inside: Walk upstairs to get to the outdoor area of the bar. On your far right would be a small bar with 5 or 6 lounges along the wall in between. A bar to your left with more lounges around. The view overlooks the street where you can see people walking around a distance away from where you stand. Walk to the covered part of the bar, where the scene is a bit darker and more club like. Disco laser lights are everywhere in the middle of the dancefloor, as well as a ceiling full of shiny disco balls. It makes for a dazzling experience when you’re in the middle of it. The dancefloor is in the middle to hold 70-90 or so people comfortably/squishily. Bar on the right alongside the DJ. Lounges on the other side where you can also look outside the windows below.
Cloak Room: None
Bar Prices / Line: Had a beer but honestly can’t remember the price. It wasn’t cheap neither expensive. Beverage is happily given in the bottle instead of a plastic cup. There was only one order in front of us at this particular bar. The other bars were pretty quiet as well, so there wouldn’t be trouble getting a drink within a few minutes.
Eviction Count: None. I doubt they remember kicking me and my kleptomaniac friend out 2 years ago (and rightfully so).
DJs: Traditionally the Sneaky Sound System DJ’s played here but I don’t think they play anymore here. Not sure who the DJs were tonight.
Music Style: Disco house would be best to describe it. The tempo was right for a Sunday night – not fast enough for a shuffle, but not slow like an RSL – it was right for a jiggle and a dance when you felt like it.
Crowd & Ratio: It was a bit of a mix – mostly locals here of Anglo-Saxon background, but also some tourists here too just looking for a place for a dance. Spotted two Asian people – turned out they were tourists a well. Ages appeared to be mostly young 20 something year olds. Ratio was around 60/40 men to women tonight.
Entertainment: No extra entertainment.
Atmosphere: Best described as quiet on the outside (OK it was barely happening – anyone could get a lounge to themselves on arrival). Inside the lounge situation was similar, with most patrons on the dancefloor. It was a Sunday night and there weren’t that many people on the dancefloor either. I would say 2 or 3 groups of friends were here as well as some couples. To be honest it was more than I expected considering how dead it was outside on the streets of Kings Cross. That said though, it’s very dark inside the dancefloor and the place does prove that a dark yet classy nightclub can be pulled off.

Video: Music Timeline

Click here to view the embedded video.

Recommendation
For a Sunday night out in the city you can definitely have a look at this place but don’t expect a big crowd, but expect a more relaxed and quiet atmosphere. For similar alternatives there is also Goldfish lounge down the road but which is a bit smaller and less ‘dancey’.

Hugos Lounge Sydney Dancefloor

Saturdays @ Hugo’s Lounge

Assessment Time: 09:00PM – 11:00PM
Opening Hours: – 03:00AM
Lockout: None
Website: http://www.hugos.com.au/
Address: Level 1, 33 Bayswater Road, Kings Cross, Sydney
Dress Code / Door Policy: Appears to be strictly smart casual. Collared shirts and dress shoes for men. Dresses for women. Inside I don’t recall any non-collared shirts or guys just wearing casual. Women all are dressed very well. Hats allowed. No mohawks. 
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Free on birthday guestlist. $20 after 10PM from what I heard from someone who was trying to get in, but I do not know for certain about this. 
Guestlist: See website.
Occurence: Every Friday and Saturdays
Inside: Walk up the set of stairs to the forked entrance. Take the right stairs to visit the bar and lounge area. It’s mostly for stand and talk and drink. Take the left set of stairs to walk through the narrow walkway and into the main room. another bar is presented along with an entirely carpeted area with lounges along the walls. an area in the middle for dancing. Overhead disco balls roughly mark the designated dance area.
Cloak Room: None
Bar: Cocktails are roughly $17-$19 each.
Music: House by DJ Dolso
Crowd: Mostly older caucasian crowd. People mostly in their 20′s and older. Being more of a classy place the people are more well behaved.
Entertainment: It was just the DJ
Atmosphere: Definitely pretentious, but the people on the dancefloor seemed pretty friendly which was good. The whole place is very dark, so I guess thats a good thing for everyone.
Video Walkthrough

Click here to view the embedded video.

Timeline:
In terms of actual dance time, it would have been no more than 30 minutes because it was still early. People started to get their boogie on at around 10PM but it was on off until around 10:30PM when there was consistently people on there (abour 4-8 people, which was enough for this small dancefloor area).

It kind of reminded me of the old Privilege bar where it was also dark and small, but here at Hugos it was way classier. Probably a better comparison is that of Loft Bar down at King Street Wharf.

Arrivederci
We left at 11PM. Friends were going to leave, and on top of that I had planned to visit Coogee Bay Hotel.

Recommendation
As this place suggests, it is more of a Bar than a place to club, but dancing is permitted here in the small dancefloor. I am more about dancing than lounging around so I probably wouldn’t come here for an awesome dance, but I wouldn’t mind having drinks here or a birthday. A very nice venue in general but not one for clubbing.

However potentially it could be better at night, as it was only 11PM when we left.
Hugos Lounge – 4.5/10