It's no secret that Melbourne does bars damn well. We've had a wave of award-winning, high end cocktail bars and wine bars flogging fancy natural wines, but there's a new bar set to open in a Melbourne laneway that's going to take things down a gear with a more grungy vibe. Whitehart is a two-storey bar made of shipping containers that's being built on a converted car park at the end of Whitehart Lane just off Little Bourke Street. We've been given a first look at the bar-in-progress and we can't say for sure yet, but this bar may well be a good contender for the title of coolest shipping container bar. Look out, Section 8!
Husband and wife owners Stephen Johnson and Sabrina Santucci have been working with local artists to decorate the containers' exterior walls with graffiti murals and wall projections set to add colour to the laneway space. “We had been parking in the old car park located at the end of Whitehart Lane for several years and had often thought the car park was an awesome space that was under-utilised; an opportunity waiting to happen,” Johnson says.
Whitehart is due for a Friday March 3 opening, and you can expect to listen to great tunes, drink cocktails and craft beers, and a rotation of Melbourne food vendors serving nibbles every week.
Check out the Whitehart Bar website for more information.