Guide to Paddington New South Wales Australia

Paddington is the best-preserved Victorian suburb in Sydney. Three kilometres east of the city centre, its steep streets are lined with terrace houses trimmed with iron lace, and its main road, Oxford Street, has long been the place to shop for Australian fashion. Add a famous Saturday market, dozens of small galleries and a pub on nearly every corner, and it is an easy place to lose an afternoon.

Known For

• Victorian terraces with iron lace balconies
• Oxford Street boutiques and Saturday markets
• Art galleries and corner pubs

Oxford Street runs along the ridge, with the shops on one side and the long sandstone wall of Victoria Barracks on the other. The prettiest streets fall away to the north, towards the little village centre at Five Ways and the harbour beyond. It is a suburb for walking, but be ready for hills.

Paddington sits between Darlinghurst and Woollahra, with Centennial Park and the stadiums of Moore Park along its southern edge.

Things To Do in Paddington

Paddington Markets

Held every Saturday in the grounds of the Uniting Church on Oxford Street since 1973, the markets are where many Australian fashion labels started out. Around 150 stalls sell clothing, jewellery, ceramics, art and skincare made by the people behind the tables, with food stalls and buskers in the churchyard.

Oxford Street, William Street and The Intersection

The shopping strip runs for about a kilometre. The Intersection, where Glenmore Road meets Oxford Street, gathers the leading Australian designers in a cluster of terrace shopfronts, and tiny William Street is a row of independent boutiques, shoemakers and vintage stores.

Paddington Reservoir Gardens

An underground water reservoir from the 1860s has been turned into a sunken garden, with brick arches, a pond and hanging plants below street level. It is free, open daily and one of the most photographed spots in the suburb.

Terraces and Five Ways

Wander down Glenmore Road or Paddington Street to see the terraces at their best, then finish at Five Ways, a junction ringed by cafes, a wine shop and the grand Royal Hotel with its wraparound verandahs. Juniper Hall on Oxford Street, built by a gin distiller in 1824, is the oldest house in the area.

Art Galleries

Paddington and neighbouring Woollahra have the densest concentration of commercial galleries in Australia. Most are free to enter and are clustered in the back streets north of Oxford Street. The Chauvel Cinema, in the old Town Hall, screens arthouse films.

Victoria Barracks

Built by convicts and soldiers in the 1840s, the barracks is still an army base and one of the finest groups of colonial sandstone buildings in the country. It can be visited only on limited guided tours.

Where To Stay

Paddington has a handful of small hotels and no big ones. Mrs Banks Hotel is a boutique hotel in a former bank on Oxford Street, Oxford House is a newer hotel with a pool at the city end of the street, and The Grand National Hotel has a small number of rooms above its restaurant.

Otherwise, look at the terrace house rentals in the back streets, or stay in nearby Darlinghurst, Surry Hills or Double Bay and walk or bus in.

Eat & Drink

The pubs are a Paddington speciality. The Paddington on Oxford Street is known for its rotisserie chicken, the Royal at Five Ways has a rooftop bar, and the London, the Unicorn and the Paddo Inn are all reliable locals. Just over the border in Woollahra, the Lord Dudley is a cosy English-style pub.

For a serious meal, Saint Peter, the acclaimed seafood restaurant of chef Josh Niland, is in the restored Grand National Hotel, Fred’s on Oxford Street cooks over an open hearth, and 10 William St is a tiny, much-loved Italian wine bar. Five Ways and the lower end of Oxford Street have the best of the cafes.

History

Paddington is Gadigal land, crossed by the track to the South Head lookout that became Oxford Street. A village grew up after work started on Victoria Barracks in 1841, housing the stonemasons and tradesmen who built it. The terraces went up in a rush between the 1860s and 1890s as estates were subdivided for city workers.

By the 1930s the suburb was regarded as a slum and was marked for clearance. It was saved by post-war migrants, artists and students who bought the cheap houses and restored them, and by the 1970s Paddington had become one of the most fashionable addresses in the city.

Getting to Paddington

Buses run along Oxford Street every few minutes from the city centre and Circular Quay, continuing to Bondi Junction and Bondi Beach. The ride from Hyde Park takes about ten minutes. Edgecliff station is a 15-minute walk from Five Ways. Street parking is tightly restricted.