When Australians working in hospitality talk about taking the industry overseas, few stories resonate quite like that of Melbourne born publican and restaurateur Eddy Buckingham. From collecting glasses at Melbourne’s riverside bars to operating some of New York’s most talked about venues, Buckingham’s career reflects both the global portability of Australian hospitality and the enduring appeal of the pub as a cultural institution.
Now, with the launch of Old Mates a 450-capacity Australian pub in Manhattan’s Seaport district, Buckingham has brought a distinctly Melbourne interpretation of pub culture to one of the world’s most competitive hospitality markets.
From Glassie to Global Operator
Buckingham’s hospitality career began in familiar fashion: working casual jobs while studying at the University of Melbourne. His first role was as a barista in Fitzroy, though he jokes he was “a terrible barista” at a time when Melbourne co ee culture was only beginning to define itself.
The real turning point came at Melbourne institution Riverland Bar, where Buckingham started as a glass collector shortly after the venue opened in 2006.
“It was a crash course in hospitality,” he recalled. “I was bottom of the totem pole but absolutely loved it.”
That experience led to management opportunities across Melbourne’s live music and pub scene, including the Northcote Social Club, before a move to Sydney to work with the Merivale group during the transformative launch period of the Ivy precinct.
Buckingham describes his Melbourne years as his “Bachelor’s Degree” in hospitality and his Sydney experience as the “Master’s Degree” with exposure to large-scale operations, premium service standards and sophisticated venue management.
But a holiday to New York ultimately changed everything.
Building an Australian Hospitality Career in New York
After visiting in New York in 2009, Buckingham became determined to relocate permanently. A connection through the Australian Consulate eventually led to a general manager role at The Australian, then the city’s best known Australian pub.
The venue became Buckingham’s entry point into the US market and eventually led to his first venue partnership, The Liberty, where he learned the fundamentals of venue development and concept creation.
More significantly, it introduced him to future business partner Je Lam. Together, they would launch Chinese Tuxedo in 2016, a venue that helped redefine modern Chinatown dining in Manhattan and established Buckingham as a serious operator within the New York hospitality scene.
Today, Buckingham is recognised among New York’s leading hospitality figures, recently appearing in the Observer’s Nightlife and Dining Power Index.
Why New York Needed an Australian Pub Again
Ironically, while Australian café culture exploded across the United States over the past decade, Australian pubs largely disappeared from New York.
Buckingham observed that Australians had successfully exported flat whites, brunch culture and café aesthetics, but had lost the social venue that underpins much of Australian hospitality culture.
“The Aussie café became an established category,” he explained. “But all the pubs closed.”
The closure of The Australian in 2019 created a gap Buckingham believed needed filling not simply as a commercial opportunity, but as a cultural one.
Together with fellow Australian entrepreneur Nick Stone and media personality Andy Lee, Buckingham began developing what would become Old Mates.
The project eventually attracted an extraordinary investor group including Hugh Jackman, Pat Cummins, Ash Barty and Mick Fanning.
Rather than treating celebrity involvement as a marketing exercise, Buckingham says the strategy was intentionally understated.
“We promised them a good pub,” he said. “Anything beyond that was for them to opt into organically.”
That organic involvement has since become part of the venue’s appeal, from exclusive collaborations to impromptu performances by celebrity investors.
A Melbourne Pub, Not a Theme Park
One of Buckingham’s clearest creative principles was that Old Mates should feel authentic not theatrical.
“This is not an Australian themed pub,” he explained. “It’s a great Melbourne pub that just happens to be in downtown Manhattan.”
Instead of relying on clichéd Australiana, the venue draws heavily from Melbourne pub heritage. Design references include carpet patterns inspired by the Standard Hotel in Fitzroy, stools reminiscent of the Corner Hotel band room, and colour palettes borrowed from the legendary Punters Club.
The venue also celebrates Australian music and pub culture through artwork, photography and subtle visual references rather than overt national symbolism.
“There are no kangaroos in the pub,” Buckingham joked.
The result is a venue that resonates strongly with Australians abroad while remaining accessible and compelling for New Yorkers unfamiliar with Australian pub traditions.
Adapting the Australian Pub Model for America
While the spirit of the Australian pub translated naturally, Buckingham says the operational realities required careful adaptation.
One of the biggest challenges was balancing authentic Australian service culture with American customer expectations around table service and staffing levels.
“In Australia, guests are comfortable going to the bar for another round,” he explained. “Americans often expect full table service.”
The labour economics are also dramatically di erent. The US tipping model enables staffing structures that would be financially difficult in Australia, allowing operators to deploy more floor sta and higher touch service models.
For Buckingham, success depended on identifying which aspects of Australian pub culture were essential and which needed recalibrating for the US market.
“It’s not identical to an Australian pub,” he said. “But every choice we made was about creating the best possible version of it.”
More Than Nostalgia
While Old Mates has quickly become a pilgrimage site for travelling Australians, Buckingham is careful to position it as more than an expat nostalgia play.
The venue’s customer base spans three key audiences: Australians living in New York, Australian visitors, and local New Yorkers.
That broader local support will ultimately determine the venue’s longevity.
“We’ve got a 15-year lease,” Buckingham noted. “For this to survive long term, New Yorkers need to embrace it.”
So far, they have.
For Buckingham, the pub’s success reflects something larger than novelty or celebrity ownership. It demonstrates the exportability of Australian hospitality culture when delivered authentically and with confidence.
And perhaps most importantly, it reinforces the enduring relevance of the pub itself not as a themed concept, but as a genuinely social institution capable of crossing borders.