It may have been a cold and windy start to the week, but the city's watering holes were well and truly warming up on Monday night.
Long queues were a common sight outside some of the city's pubs including Merewether's Prince of Wales.
Earlier in the day, Great Northern Hotel staff were gearing up for a busy evening.
"We have taken a lot of bookings already, we might be booked out tonight," manager Mathew Orr said.
Like businesspeople everywhere, Mr Orr is keen to put the past few months behind him.
"It's been tough. In addition to the financial side of things it was a mentally and physically difficult period," he said.
"Our staff are a big family and we helped each other through it."
At the other end of Hunter Street, Family Hotel owner Dylan Oakes won't be opening up until Thursday evening.
"It's a combination of things. The social distancing requirements and the overheads are factors but the city is very quiet at the moment with everyone working from home," he said.
Mr Oakes estimates trade was down about 70 per cent prior to the most recent lockdown.
While he is expecting the city's pubs will rebound quickly, he has reservations about how the vaccine passports will work.
"I think there are going to be some issues," he said.
"We will have staff on the door checking them but I think there are still going to be unvaccinated people wanting to get in. The police have been hands on and said they are ready to help if we have problems."
