Once a typical post-work haunt of working-class men, the topless bar emerged in the 1970s as a direct response to the increasing sophistication of Sydney's bar scene.

The men's-themed pub carved out a niche in the market, says emeritus history professor Richard Waterhouse, of the University of Sydney. Professor Waterhouse, who has written works on Australian popular culture and leisure, says their success lay in their blokey nature.

''Some of them [pubs] went back to their 19th-century roots by catering to their specific male groups,'' he said.

Professor Waterhouse says that as Sydney's bar scene has grown more boutique and gentrified, the future of the topless bar looks grim.

''I think we've moved beyond a society where men just want to hang out there - that old culture is increasingly dead in Australia,'' he said. ''That kind of sex seems kind of bland in comparison to the sex the internet is selling.''