John Thorpe Lives
So says the NSW president of the Australian Hotels Association, John Thorpe, who has come out swinging against a plan by the Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore, to encourage more Melbourne-style boutique bars in Sydney.
“Melbourne is Melbourne. Sydney has a different outlook,” said Mr Thorpe, a fierce critic of the City of Sydney’s plans to make it easier for hole-in-the-wall bars to gain permission for extended trading. “We aren’t barbarians, but we don’t want to sit in a hole and drink chardonnay and read a book.”
Maybe if it’s a good book, like Tom Jones or something by Mrs. Radcliffe. Nothing like that other stupid book, written by that woman they make such a fuss about, she who married the French emigrant.
Thanks to Alert Janeite Laura for the link!
August 10th, 2007 at 10:06 am
Oh Mags, he definitely lives in Sydney, not Melbourne! How funny to see the infamous Melbourne/Sydney debate here on AustenBlog.
A am a dedicated inhabitant of the ‘land of skivvy-wearing, chardonnay-drinking book readers’ (aka Melbourne). And yes, I do regularly partake of coffee purchased from a hole in the wall cafe.
August 10th, 2007 at 11:32 am
Whoops, sorry, I misread! But how funny.