If there's any truth to the line that if you want to make small fortune in Sydney's music scene you start with a large fortune and then open a venue, then Jake Smyth and Kenny Graham aren't buying it.

The men behind Newtown's Mary's Burgers – the caterer of choice for the music industry in recent years – and the Unicorn Hotel in Paddington have bought the legendary Lansdowne Hotel on the fringe of the CBD and are returning it to its past incarnation as a music venue.

Food, music and big dreams for the new owners of the Lansdowne Hotel: Jake Smyth, centre, and Kenny Graham, right, with their live music booker Matt Rule. Credit:Edwina Pickles

Yes, they are opening a venue for around 250 patrons in a town where closing music rooms is a habit hard to shake. Something the owners of the similarly sized Newtown Social Club, 10 minutes down the road from the Lansdowne, are due to do on April 23.

"There's a hole in the market for an intermediate-size room," said a confident rather than hopeful Smyth.