National

NSW

Kings Cross

Opinion

Kings Cross can be naughty or nice. But not both

Jimmy Thomson Columnist October 7, 2025 — 7.30pm

Kings Cross has been through a lot in the past few decades. Just a one-kilometre stagger from the CBD, the Cross has survived gang warfare, rampant police corruption, the subsequent arrests of corrupt cops and criminal kingpins, the “coward punch” lockouts, COVID lockdowns, and even its “naughty but nice” blandification.

Formerly the seediest, most salacious – and arguably most fun – area of Sydney, the Cross may finally have met its match with the state government’s accelerated approvals for developments near transport hubs.

In the latest example of gentrification, the Holiday Inn Hotel is to be demolished to make way for a 40-storey apartment

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