08/09/2026
Etched into the memory of ’90s nightcrawlers, the Grand Pacific Blue Room is an icon of the Sydney bar scene.
One of SOUQ’s Peter Kemp’s early hospitality design projects, he used inventive materials and muted lighting to transform the space into a cool, intimate venue where Jack Nicholson stopped by for dinner and Portishead emerged from the bar for an impromptu set.
There was the glowing stained-glass chandelier that greeted you as you climbed the stairs; the famous petrol-blue leather ‘snake booths’ — a continuous banquette that connected every table, and every person, allowing you to slide from one crowd to the next; the hand-moulded porcelain bar face with its solid curved timber top, host to a never-ending good time; and those soft marmorino walls. What they would say if they could talk.
Each element was part of a considered layering of design by Peter Kemp, making sure that even if you couldn’t quite put your finger on what it was, you just knew the space felt good.
