Andy Lee has opened his very own Aussie pub in New York, and couldn’t have done it without his best mate Hamish Blake.
After celebrating a “dream week” in the Big Apple, Andy, 43, shared a special tribute to his former co-star, looking back on quite the unique 20 year milestone.
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Taking to Instagram, Andy shared a snap of the two “old mates”, taking fans back to the early days of their TV careers.
“Hame and I first traveled to NYC in 2005 to interview the stars on the ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ movie and stayed in a tiny apartment on Bleecker St,” Andy wrote.
“20 years on, we have opened a pub,” Andy went on. “We encountered less Jessica Simpson this week but had just as many laughs.”
Who would have thought!
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That pub, appropriately called Old Mates, was founded by the two friends who are part of an owners group backed by some pretty notable Aussies.
Those Aussie include tennis queen Ash Barty, Australian cricket captain Pat Cummins, basketballer Patty Mills, surfer legend Mick Fanning and Aussie showman Hugh Jackman.
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Sharing a string of snaps from their New York reunion, Andy revealed exactly what went down during their “dream week” including late night pizza after a successful pre-opening, an NBA game, dinner and “dad” doing a shoey.
Andy was of course referring to dad-of-two Hamish.
“Love ya @hamishblakeshotz! What a ride!” he captioned the photos.
Thousands of revelers turned out for the pub’s special preview party last week in what fans imagined was one hell of a night.
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Aussie basketballer Patty Mills showed his support on the night and was happy to report it was a success.
“Incredible night at Old Mates. Hit capacity by 6.30pm. Queues round the block but everyone happy to wait. Sold out of beer by 9.30pm. Close to 3000 cans,” he wrote.
“It was imperfectly perfect. A classic community Aussie feel. We are on a winner,” Mills continued.
The pre-opening party had it all; flowing beers, live music, a classic Aussie meat raffle and… shoeys.
All the classic Aussie traditions!
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Reflecting on the night, Hamish took to social media and wrote: “Well owning (a very small, yet honourable slice of) a pub in NYC wasn’t on my bingo card a year ago, but it sure is fun!
“I can’t hand on heart say I laid every single tile myself, nor have I seen this months roster and know exactly how many shifts I’ll do, but I’m stoked to back the very excellent team who have put Old Mates NYC together.”
Hamish was proud as punch of the team for creating “an instantly classic Aussie pub”.
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“Also fun for Ando and I to be a part of the owners groups with some far more significant Aussies who do sports and movies and things (Mick, Ash, Pat, Patty, and Hugh) who also liked the idea of opening essentially an embassy that sells beer.”
The official Old Mates page thanked all those that turned out for the night.
“Easy to say that the pre-opening event was a tad bigger than we expected,” the caption read.
The official grand opening date of the pub is still yet to be announced but we’re sure when it is, it’s be a night bigger than Ben Hur.
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