Revolutionising Sydney nightlife: An interview with Dexter Todd on Bardar the app

Have you ever paid $50 for an event ticket, only to arrive and the dance floor is just a little bit too empty?

Have you ever tried to get into the pub practically sober, only to be turned away by the security guard for ‘having too many’?

Have you ever forced your friends to come out with you on a Friday night, but accidentally taken them to a pub where the vibes were seriously off? 

So had Dexter Todd. Who – after waiting in an outrageous line at the Bank Hotel in Newtown one night, only to walk into an empty beer garden – began talking to his friends. ‘How is it that we weren’t able to find out it was dead in here before arriving’, Dexter recalls asking them.

Dexter and his friend Oli were both living on campus at ANU, having bonded over their mutual love for going out dancing. What they realised, was that securing a consistently good night out was proving strangely difficult. The two of them began chatting about their grievances and then put their heads together to come up with the idea of their app, Bardar. 

In an interview with Vertigo, Dexter explained:

“Bardar is a nightlife app that shows you a map of over 350 bars, pubs and nightclubs in Sydney along with real-time information about what’s on at these venues, ticketed events and how busy they are. Basically, my co-founder Oli and I wanted to create a single, simple tool that anybody could use to organise and experience a great night out, regardless of their preferences for venues or events.

“The problem I think right now with Sydney nightlife is that there is a tonne of really cool stuff going on, but you have to be ‘in the know’ or following the right Instagram account or Facebook group to find out about it.

“One of our goals with Bardar is to make it a bit easier to discover what’s going on, what’s really busy and where the good events are to make nightlife more accessible. For people who are just starting to go out or don’t know Sydney that well, it can be pretty daunting to figure out where to go and what’s on. To be honest, there are some players in the space that want it that way – to make their events or venues seem 'cool' or 'exclusive.' The whole point of Bardar is that the more accessible you can make Sydney nightlife, the more people you can get going out and enjoying themselves.”

[Screenshots of Bardar's interface.]

Dexter stated that in a city like Sydney, the map element of Bardar – which allows you to browse nightlife based on location – is a bonus tool that other leading nightlife platforms such as Resident Advisor (RA) are missing. 

“I love RA and think it’s a great service, but I found myself checking out an event on RA, then going to Google Maps to see where it was as well as looking for nearby venues to have a drink before/after. You need to know where a venue is and what’s around it when you’re organising a night out, especially in Sydney where nightlife precincts are so spaced apart.”

However, Bardar won’t just show you where a venue is on a map. It also boasts features such as the venue’s current vibe (how busy it is), its popular times, its scheduled events along with direct links to tickets, and provides general information about the venue like opening hours and a link to their website. All of this is very easily saved into your ‘favourites’ tab, or shared with friends joining you on your night out. 

When speaking with Vertigo, Dexter revealed that this is only the beginning of Bardar’s plans to revolutionise going out in the 21st century. 

Among the new tools set to be released in the coming months is a live reporting feature which will allow users to report ‘night-ruiners’ – things that would negatively impact your experience of a night or particular venue. Dexter explained they anticipate ‘night-ruiners’ to include things like long lines, aggressive security guards, police sniffer dogs and fights.

“We want this feature to give people the ability to help each other have safer and more fun nights out,” Said Dexter.

The second function, is something that the Bardar team are calling ‘playlists’, which gives users the ability to group venues on the map and then share them with their friends. Instead of curating a list of songs, this feature prompts you to create groups of venues based on a certain criteria – be it location, music genre or vibe – which can then be saved to your profile.

“For example, you might create a ‘best Saturday night clubs’ or ‘Tuesday Pub Trivia’ playlist. You can keep these for yourselves, or make them visible for others to save and share in the app. Our goal with this is to help people share their favourite venues and events to improve the discoverability of these elements of the scene.”

For many Sydneysiders, the introduction of a new app aimed at facilitating Aussie’s love for drinking, music and mate-ship all from one platform, is of course welcomed with open arms. 

So next time the role of choosing the nightclub for the evening lands on you, turn to Bardar! 

You’ll have Dexter and Oli to thank for making it a considerably easier task.  

Bardar is available for download off the App Store, and is currently servicing in Sydney. 

You can download Bardar off the App Store here.