The Fringe Bar is situated just before Oxford Street becomes the holy land for fashion lovers. A perfect place to lick your wounds after an unsuccessful shopping trip, fortify yourself for the journey or celebrate surrounded by colourful bags filled with bright tissue paper. Having recently undergone a refurb is it now very swanky! Upon entering an establishment, the bar is always the first port of call. It runs the length of the front room with quite a few beautiful people propping it up. Scanning the wine list I was happy to see that there was a reasonable variety, though not the cheapest prices in town. You are looking at about $7ish a glass. They have a lovely array of cocktails (May I recommend the vodkatini with watermelon and mint – very nice in deed!). The staff are beautiful, just like most of the patrons. Their service is quick and professional, if not the friendliest I have experienced. The front bar has a very retro feel. Faux foam with deep circle imprints lines the walls and large padded disks hang from the ceiling. A row of circular booths runs along the wall opposite the bar. There were only a few tables free which is a good sign for a Wednesday. There is also a back bar that has a quieter feel, featuring padded bucket seats and large floral focal. I imagine this may be the scene for some trashy behaviour on a Friday or Saturday but was pretty sedate the night I was in attendance. They also serve food, but half the menu was not available when I went to order, which is a bit frustrating on Saturday afternoon. When I finally selected something that was available it was very tasty and well presented but definitely not cheap. They are around the $15 and up mark and small noveau cuisine type servings. All in all, it is not a bad spot for a drink.
review by: Katie Haire

We have to admit, sadly, we've never been to the Fringe for its most famous feature, the comedy. We've always touted it "Oh, we've got to go next monday" we'd say, but we still haven't. Still, we've been on other nights and we've found it to be a pretty good venue - clientele in the early-to-mid twenties hanging out and enjoying themselves immensely. The old look was a little scruffy, but a recent refit has resulted in a more airy feel to the place, and has man aged to maintain a layout not too far removed from the original. Of the three main pubs on this stretch of Oxford Street, the Fringe (or the Unicorn, to quote the real name) was the last to renovate in the burst of the last couple of years - Paddington Green was first, then the Weeds, then the Fringe - whether this has resulted in a reshuffling of clientele, well, time will tell, but the weeds does seem busier and the Fringe a little quieter these days. Well, the beer was always reputedly expensive here, and cover charge nights can't help, but we like it for the occassional one or two. And we really will get around to doing a comedy night one night, OK?
review by: Jason