The Old Bar

Loved this place. Was recommended to come here by a friend. There was a $ 10 cover as bands were playing. I told the guy we were just exploring and new in town, and couldn’t pay that, so he made it $ 5. Win one.
Ordered some drinks. Strong and cheap, and watched some bands play. Had some excellent conversations with strangers out the back too. I dig this place. I’ll definitely be coming here again.

Been here a few times now, but not often enough for my liking. The old bar would classify as a dive bar. Which to me is the highest honour a bar can have. They have decent beer on tap and great prices on canned beer out if the fridge. They support local music and always have a band on. I want to come back here way more often.

The Old Bar is one of the few places left in Fitzroy that isn’t over-​run by douche-​bags. It’s grungy, the way I like it. They have some great bands playing every night too. A nice area out the back to have a cigarette too.
There’s nothing I don’t particularly like about this place. The people who go their give it the stars. And the live bands.

The best no-​frills Bar in Fitzroy. no wankers. lots of Pints, sticky carpet, good bands.
I have spent and will continue to spend way too much time here.

I really like the vibe at The Old Bar, no matter who’s playing on the night. For whatever reason, people here are always friendly and chatty even when it’s so crowded you can’t breathe.
The outdoor area is great, even better if you manage to get a spot on a table. It sort of feels like my grandpa’s garage at Christmas time — full of drunkenness and laughter, and a little bit sticky and smelly. But the crowd is generally younger, of course.
I’ve come here with no clue as to who’s playing on the night, and always ended up enjoying the band. While the music here is often excellent, it’s not an exclusively muso-​nerd venue so it really doesn’t matter if you’re not in touch with the scene. As a girl on the shorter end of the scale, I often struggle to actually ‘see’ the bands play here — it seems I’m always caught behind a group of large, immobile men — but the sound is great and sometimes there’s even enough room to dance should the mood take you.
All in all Old Bar is pretty much a guaranteed good night out.

The Old Bar has been catering for lovers of live music for a long time now. The stage, just in the front door to the left has seen a host of great local and international bands pack out the not so large front room.
Whether there are 5 or 50 punters watching the band, there is always a good vibe. If you’re just after a beverage and a chat then the half undercover beer garden is where you need to head. Out the back is large and spacious and it can get busy as hell as you’re also able to smoke out here. A buzz of chatter always fills the space and the large communal tables add to the spark of conversation.
This place is always playing great tunes and hosts DJs well into the night. It still hangs on to the alternative vibe that used to be so prominent around Fitzroy. The actual bar is pretty small and when busy can take a while to be served, but in here, it just adds to the character.

Melbourne’s premier «dirty rock and roll» venue is, hands down, The Old Bar.
«This one time at the Old Bar»…I stage dived off the 30 cm high stage into a crowd of punters and someone drank a pot full of broken glass.
«This other time at The Old Bar»…it was 35 degrees and I decided to play in bare feet. I stepped on a broken pot glass and managed to fill a beer glass with blood in under 10 seconds. The band played on.
You won’t find any scenesters or idiots in brand new Ramones T-​Shirts at this venue. This is where bands and punters alike go to see a ‘real’ Melbourne rock band. With a small stage and a narrow band room, every gig is an intimate, and sometimes rowdy affair.
My band has played here countless times, and every time has resulted in blood, sweat and beers all over the place.
With a decent range of beers available by the bottle, and local-​punter favourites on tap, the staff blend seamlessly into the patronage so much that you’ll often find them drinking at the bar too. Out back past the pinball machines is a great little beer garden that, although quite chilly in winter, is a great pace to spend a sunny arvo.
Local laws make it one of many bars that will enforce you to «keep the noise down» once it gets late, however when done it’s usually with a knowing nod from the staff who think the same thing as you…“If you’re going to move to the middle of the live music capital of the world, don’t complain about the noise!“
The upstairs room also hosts the odd art exhibition, and in winter, on Monday Nights you can drop in with you’re knitting and join the weekly «Crotchety Knitwits» group that celebrate knitting and drinking in unison.

An oldie but a goody. Sorry, couldn’t resist, but I like this place. It’s scary how many good bands I’ve seen play here. It’s also enjoyable watching large bands find ways to fit on the stage.
A lot of the times I’ve been there the door fee has only been $ 5 — we’re talking value for money, people.
The staff are easy to talk to and a pinball machine by the ladies toilets will keep you busy while you wait. It’s the sort of place I tend to start nights at, only to stay there the whole time, or return to, to have a nightcap. They’ve recently extended their hours to a 3am close which is good news for everyone, because it’s also open every day of the week! Hooray!
It’s often packed on weekends but it’s good for meeting new people so don’t let that shy you away. Just writing this makes me want to go there right now, let’s go get some of that sweet Coopers tap beer. God I love this place.

Those familiar with The Old Bar will know its unofficial slogan: «Keeping the filth in Fitzroy». Those less familiar with The Old Bar can find much of what they need to know in that one, short phrase.
About as close to a dive bar as Melbourne gets, the Oldie is near to the heart of every rocker who has crossed its path. With live music seven nights a week, that’s a lot of rockers. A sliver of a front bar (with comfy new bar stools!) leads to a lounge-​like band room and, out the back, a four-​table beer garden complete with Elvis wall hanging.
The interior is also an incidental museum of band posters spanning a decade back, and an upstairs room acts as a sometime art gallery and a space where a life-​drawing class is held every Tuesday. Pints and nudes — a very Oldie combo.

Old bar adheres to the ‘play live music and people will come’ mentality that somehow thrives in this town. There is absolutely no nonsense about the place — they show bands, they serve beer, that’s it.
Over the years the calibre of acts they put on here has fluctuated greatly. Nowadays it seems a fairly rock intensive,
–type vibe about the joint and it really fits with the record-​cover and band-​poster décor of the place. You could spend a great deal of time, beer in hand, perusing the walls of this bar, just imagining the past bills they’ve put together — a veritable who’s who of the local and touring rock scene.
The best thing about Old Bar is the non-​sceney nature of the surrounds and staff. Sure, it’s a bit of a shithole, but the staff take pride in the fact that they’re serving an important function in the community. Plus, the dude who owns the joint is in a kick-​arse band of his own. This is a serious rock pub, in a serious rock city, and whatever else can be said about Old Bar is pretty much beside the point.