Australian comedian Andy Lee is opening an Aussie-themed pub in New York City, with the help of A-list backers including Hamish Blake, Pat Cummins, Mick Fanning, Patty Mills, Ash Barty and Hugh Jackman just to name a few.

And a preview night on 21 February was so huge that the pub, called Old Mates, ran out of beer in just over five hours. A crowd of 70 people were waiting outside before doors opened at 4pm and were joined by hundreds more. By 9.30pm there wasn’t a drop of beer left.

The pubs’ taps hadn’t arrived, so punters drank bottles of Cooper’s and tinnies of Sydney Beer Co Lager.

“We had just shy of 3000 beers in stock and we ran out by 9.30pm and ended up closing the bar at 10pm,” part-owner Eddy Buckingham told news.com.au.

Former Melburnian Buckingham moved to New York in 2009 to manage The Australian, a pub on 38th Street owned by former NRL player Matt Astill.

The business shut in 2019, followed by the city’s only other Aussie pub closing its doors during COVID-19. There are currently around 25,000 Australians living in New York and no watering holes where they can watch Aussie sport.

“New York needed an Australian pub. There was nowhere to watch the footy games or the Boxing Day Test or the Melbourne Cup,” said Blake.

When Buckingham spotted a site in a Greek Revival building near the East River in the Seaport district, he snapped it up.

Old Mates has a small outdoor area that has been turned into a beer garden, there’s a public bar on the ground floor, basement level features The Sticky Carpet Lounge and the first floor is known as The Harbour Room, with views over the Hudson River.

The decor is a nod to corner hotel, RSLs, Richmond bars and the Members Lounge of the MCG.

The drinks list features an almost exclusively Australian wine list, with a wide range of Australian spirits also on offer. Currently Buckingham is in talks with CUB, Lion and other breweries to join Coopers in exporting nine iconic Aussie draughts, plus Guinness out of Ireland.

Coopers Director of Global & Key Accounts Andrew Cooper said: “After a call with the Old Mates team, we understood their vision and moved quickly to help, making Coopers Original Pale Ale kegs available to serve thirsty punters in New York, all under our iconic green roundel.

“Coopers is pleased to be working with the Old Mates team – our new mates – to bring South Australian beer and a taste of home to the many Australians living in New York.”

While stubbies have been sold to the United States for many years, Old Mates will be the only place in the US with Coopers on tap.

Old Mates is at 170 John St, New York, NY 10038.