10,000 Fans & 23hrs Straight

It's 4:32pm on a Tuesday afternoon.

Finn, our chief World Cup Officer, who also runs functions and events here, hits me up.

A group of blokes just came in, asked me heaps of questions about the venue and how the World Cup's been going, then wanted a tour.

I showed them around, and then they just walked out.

Weird, right?

We've since learned the mysterious men run a $100mil+ venue in the heart of Manly, curious what all the buzz was about.

Modesty prohibits me from telling you the name of the actual venue. But I'll give you a clue in that it starts with F and sounds like melons.

Why the hell would they care about little old us, running a comparatively modest venue on a back lane in Brookvale?

Why?

Cause Chalky's has finally arrived, MFs!

See, when I first came up with the concept of Chalky's, I thought hard about what would make the best sports-watching experience possible.

Vibey, commentary on loud, everyone watching in the same direction, a fuck-off massive screen, and little touches giving a nod to the team or sport of the day.

If you've read my previous sob-story blogs, you'll know it hasn't gone according to plan. We spent way too much on the build, and once the honeymoon hype wore off, sales dropped off a cliff. I half-joked with Lexi that we should see if we could get a refund. "Only 4.5 years left on the lease! Hahaha...ha."

But there's a Kevin Costner quote I've always hated. "Build it and they'll come."

Why?

Cause it's bullshit. Nobody cares what you build — people care if it feels good. The drinks, food, lighting, sound, furniture, temperature, and most importantly, the people. 

These are the ingredients that make a place. 

For a while I thought we’d gotten lucky with the success of Bucketty’s, and like Rick Astley, were destined to be known for just one song for the rest of our lives. 

But it turns out Chalky's just needed to be tuned to the right key. And that key was the FIFA World Cup.

Included with the property was an insane 5am to 3am liquor license, which I never thought we'd use.

Nobody wants pints at 5am. Right?

Wrong.

This is a photo from the opening round between Brazil and Morocco, in the early hours of Sunday morning.

And as the tournament progressed, we only got busier.

8am Sunday — packed. 

5am Thursday — packed. 

2am Tuesday — packed.

The little touches I mentioned earlier? 

We sourced haggis and hired a live bagpiper for the Scots, black pudding for the Brits, and cheese breads for the Brazilians. The cheese breads were so popular that we exhausted the shelves of every Coles & Wollies in the area. 

Lexi would head out to a widening net of supermarkets attempting to find stock of the elusive cheese breads, even beating one lovely lady to the last remaining bag by seconds on one fateful outing.  

As she filled her trolley with bags of the delicious savoury breakfast snack, the lady asked if she could have one. 

“Ah sorry, no”

The lady appealed to the shop assistant like she’d just felt the faint whiff of a bootlace brush against her leg, and was now writhing around in pain, slapping the ground in agony, hoping for a yellow card.  

“No foul - play on” was the call from the assistant, and Lexi quickly left with the loot. 

Once every supermarket shelf on the beaches was relieved of its cheese breads, Lexi then learned how to make them herself. And they tasted pretty good! 

So what I'm saying is, we tried bloody hard to make it feel special — to show the fans we gave a shit. And it was incredible watching Socceroos, English, Brazilian, Scottish, Colombian and Argentinian fans come and support in huge numbers. 

We had to put the "all full" sign up more than once. 

A few matches were sardined so tight nobody could reach the bar — not great for business, but the excitement and camaraderie made up for it. 

During the England v Norway quarter final it was particularly tense on the door. People were pleading, begging even, to get in.

“My whole family is in there..! PLEAAAAASE I NEED TO GET IN!!!” 

If you’ve seen me on the door, you’ll know I’m a soft touch, and eventually I’d quietly yield to their request, hoping the people behind them didn’t notice and use the same tactic. 

An image of our new outdoor overflow bar, which also overflowed with fans 

I'd estimate over10,000 people came through and watched the World Cup with us. If we'd had more space, I reckon we'd have tripled that.

Saturday nights blended into Sunday mornings — the closing team counting tills at 2:30am greeted by the opening team arriving with coffee in hand. One Saturday we stayedopen 23 hours straight.

Our team did incredibly well, and I'm so thankful for how hard-working and invested they are with us. A lot of them had seen the lows too, which made the highs that much sweeter. Some of the best knock-off pints of my life happened this past month.

Now that the weird shifts that start while it’s dark, and finish when it’s light, have flipped back to normal. I’m looking forward to doubling down on our new reputation as (drumroll)...

“The best place to watch live sport on the beaches”. 

A direct quote from over 100 different punters this past month.

The energy and noise that erupts here when your team scores is honestly addictive, and we’re keen to tap that vein as often as we can. 

Cheers for reading along and, no-doubt, being one of the many who’ve come down and helped turn Chalky’s into something special for these big matches. 

Cya down here again soon!

Nick