Sydney's live music institution The Basement to be saved by new owners

With Sydney’s live music scene having been battered over recent years, the city’s oldest licensed live venue, The Basement, is to reopen under new owners.

Forced to close its doors in 2018 after 45 years of hosting local and international talent, the shutdown of what had been one of Australia’s first jazz and blues club was seen as a devastating blow to Sydney's night culture.

However, ending fears that the venue would be redeveloped, new owners Jake Smyth and Kenny Graham, who own the Lansdowne Hotel in Broadway and the Unicorn Hotel in Paddington, told ABC Radio Sydney they wanted to let the "old girl sing again".

Set to re-open as 'Mary's Underground', Smyth is confident that the Circular Quay venue will thrive despite the dulled nightlife industry.

The reopened venue will also offered an enhanced food and beverage experience while also welcoming young and emerging musicians.

Graham said The Basement had a history of great music but didn't meet the high expectations Sydney now has around food, advising “before it was all about the music and the food took a single fiddle but now we want them on a level-playing field."

He also said Mary's will be predominately free in a move away from ticketed events.

The pair are hopeful for a May opening.