The Hard Rock Cafe has returned to Sydney as part of a redevelopment of Harbourside Centre, Darling Harbour.

Americans Peter Morton and Isaac Tigrett opened the first Hard Rock Cafe in an old Rolls Royce dealership in London in 1971. Musicians frequented the American style diner and Eric Clapton unknowingly began a trend in 1979 when he asked for his regular table to be reserved and donated his guitar to go on the wall marking the spot. A week later Pete Townshend sent his guitar and so began the first themed restaurant. Today there are more than 160 cafes throughout the world, housing in excess of 70,000 items of rock memorabilia.

The Sydney venue is only a short stroll from the CBD and offers spectacular views of the city skyline and Darling Harbour. In addition to the main dining area, the cafe has outdoor dining on the wraparound balcony, a lounge bar and a live music space.

The modern interior is decorated with rock and roll memorabilia including: Angus Young’s (AC/DC) schoolboy outfit, Tommy Lee’s (Mötley Crüe) fur covered bass drum, Janis Joplin’s purse and numerous items from Michael Hutchence and INXS.

Graham Thomas, Daniel Moreno and the professional team from Method Air won the contract for The Hard Rock project which involved installing the kitchen hoods, 18 gauge ductwork, two kitchen exhaust fans, and a make-up supply fan. “It was a fairly in-depth job for about two months, but went smoothly without incidence,” he said.

Graham has been using Fantech products for five or six years and selected two Gamma GL series centrifugal exhaust fans for the kitchen area and four wall plate axial fans to ventilate the coolrooms.

“I choose Fantech fans because they are reliable,” he said. “In this instance there was a filter system on the exhaust system to ensure that 90% proof clean air left the building, which put a lot more pressure on the fans. At the end of the day I know once I install Fantech products I can forget about them as there are rarely any problems.”

Hard Rock Cafe Sydney opened to the public in July 2011.