Melbourne Bars

One of the major defining qualities of Melbourne is its amazing bar culture, and tremendous advancements have been made in this area especially over the last 20 years. Whatever you might think of Crown Casino and its temporary predecessor, it was the catalyst for a change that has revitalised inner city Melbourne bars. In 1994, the first of a new type of liquor license was granted for the temporary Casino, allowing places other than hotels to sell alcohol without the consumption of food.  This groundbreaking law led to the Liquor Control Reform Act of 1998 which enabled the development of a ‘new drinking culture’ that is so quintessentially Melbourne.

Melbourne has long been regarded as the bar capital of Australia. It has a long and distinguished heritage and is considered a world trendsetter in relation to concept, design, music and drinks. Below is a summary of great Melbourne bars filtered into relevant lists that are featured on the Best Bars Melbourne blog. By clicking on the category heading you can go direct to the blog posting to find out the bars contained within. There is also a link from the 'tag' section to the relevant categories inside Barengine.com.

 Melbourne Bars - Melbourne Pubs

Tag: pubs, pub, gastro pub

 Melbourne Bars - Winter Warmers

Tag: winter, cozy, fireplace

 Melbourne Bars - Best Bar Dining

Melbourne is famed for its phenomenal food scene. A number of operators have also opened smaller bar orientated eating establishments that have quality drinks with quality food offerings. This new movement is so hot right now with some of the best venues in Australia following this concept.

Tag: bar dining, bar food, tapas 

 Melbourne Bars - Friday Night Bars

The release of 9 to 5'ers, Friday night has always been a hugely popular night in Melbourne. This list of bars highlights some of the best venues Melbourne has in relation to Friday night drinks.

Tag: friday night

 Melbourne Bars - Unpretentious, Friendly & Fun Bars

A list created by one of Barengine's friends, she was concerned with what seemed to be a general wank factor growing in the Melbourne bar scene. She created a list of bars that she found to be unpretentious, friendly and fun, and we think she has done a stellar job.

Tag: unpretentious, friendly, fun

 Melbourne Bars - Top 10 Bars in St Kilda

St Kilda... once famous for its drugs, prostitutes and seediness is now a lively, action packed suburb full of tourists, backpackers and partygoers. One of the great Melbourne bar areas.

Tag: St Kilda, Fitzroy Street, Acland Street

 Melbourne Bars - Cool Bars Melbourne

Melbourne is a cool city. It has cool shops, cool cafes, cool galleries and most importantly cool bars. With a city boasting so many great bars, it was hard to condense this list, but we feel that this is what the quintessentially cool bars in Melbourne are.

Tag: cool, trendy, funky

 Melbourne Bars - Best Uni Nights

With a thriving uni scene it is no wonder that Melbourne has thriving uni nightlife. Characterised by cheap drinks, midweek parties and dancing youth - uni nights are so much fun to be part of. This is a list of those venues that are offering nights targeted directly at the uni population.

Tag: uni night, uni crowd, cheap drinks, cheap food

 Melbourne Bars - Best Cocktail Bars

Melbourne is home to some of the best cocktail bars and cocktail bartenders in the world. One of the bars even holds the 'best cocktail list in the world' title. So many bars claim to be great cocktail technicians but realistically only a handful of bars can really live up to this claim - these 10 are definitely in the latter.

Tag: cocktail, cocktails

 Melbourne Bars - Best Laneway Bars

A trend started in Melbourne over a decade ago to move the bars from the main streets and into the laneways. Melbourne now has one of the most diverse and hidden bar scenes in the world, with some bars being in the most unique of places. This laneway bar movement now has made Melbourne famous the world over.

Tag: laneway, hidden

 Melbourne Bars - Best Tuesday Trivia Nights

Trivia nights are a staple of the midweek entertainment scene. However, you can never really be sure of when one is on or who is hosting it. Thus, we have the comprehensive list of who is holding trivia nights in Melbourne on a Tuesday.

Tag: trivia

 Melbourne Bars - Best Wednesday Trivia Nights

Trivia nights are a staple of the midweek entertainment scene. However, you can never really be sure of when one is on or who is hosting it. Thus, we have the comprehensive list of who is holding trivia nights in Melbourne on a Wednesday.

Tag: trivia

 Melbourne Bars - Top 10 Swanston Street Bars

The spinal cord of Melbourne CBD, Swanston Street is the centerpiece of this great city. We have devised a bar crawl from South to North, an easy to follow one street, 10 bars fits all kind of bar crawl. You can't possibly get lost.

Tag: Swanston 

 Melbourne Bars - Joel's Top 10 Bars

Our number one subscriber sent us his favourite list of bars to commemorate a crawl he wanted to do for his birthday. Although we are unsure as to whether he made it to them all, we think that the list itself is top notch.

Tag: Joel

 Melbourne Bars - Top 10 Chapel Street Bars

Possibly the most famous street in Melbourne, Chapel Street is home to shops, cafes, bars and nightclubs. Its a must do for any tourist to Melbourne, even if is just to people watch.

Tag: Chapel Street, Prahran, South Yarra, Commercial Road

 Melbourne Bars - Bars to Watch Live Sport

A more definitive list than the World Cup one, this list identifies those venues that watching sport in Melbourne is done particularly well. Not necessarily the most fancy, but these bars definitely have the best history and ambience about them. 

Tag: sports bar, live sports, sky channel, sport, foxtel

 Melbourne Bars - Best Themed Bars

Melbourne is a designers paradise, with entry into the bar market relatively easy and cheap. This allows for creative types to get their hands on blank spaces and do their magic with. This has allowed for some of the most uniquely themed bars in the world; from Alice in Wonderland, to East vs West Berlin - Melbourne has some truly amazing bar themes.

Tag: themed

 Melbourne Bars - Best Live Music Venues

Melbourne is very proud of its long and successful music scene. Recent moves by the Victorian government tried to bring this down and a few iconic venues suffered and closed their doors. Thankfully things have turned around and it seems a more open and frank discussion is taking place to ascertain the right way to move forward. This is a fantastic list of must see live music venues in Melbourne.

Tag: live music, live entertainment, dj's

 Melbourne Bars - Best Nightclubs

According to the mass media, Melbourne's nightclubs are dangerous, criminal filled places - but this is far from the truth. The nightclub scene in this city is fantastic, with a number of venues that cater to all needs. There is a great mix of music styles and a ranging number of late night venues. Don't let a few bad seeds bring down a vibrant, healthy nightlife.

Tag: nightclub, late night

 Melbourne Bars - Best Gastro Pub

Pubs have really lifted their game in the last few years, with a lot of pubs being refurbed not only in design but also in offerings. Quality food and drink are now an important part of the modern pub. Don't get me wrong there will always be a time and place for the crusty old pub, but I am happy with the way things are heading.

Tag: pub, gastro pub

 Melbourne Bars - Best Rooftop Bars

Melbourne was one of the first cities to break away from the norm in relation to where they put their bars. Keeping in line with this, it is one of the first cities to head upwards. Now rooftop space is being converted into bar space - with some amazing venues opening amongst the skylines.

Tag: rooftop

 Melbourne Bars - Best Wine Bar

Melbourne has had a long love affair with wine. Specialist wine bars have popped up all over town that can cater for the most discerning of clientele. This list is testament to those venues that continue this long tradition.

Tag: wine

 Melbourne Bars - Best Bars Collingwood

Collingwood is one of those more and more popular inner city suburbs that has a burgeoning bar scene. With the gentrification of Smith Street, this once dodgy neck of the woods is now home to some of the cities most vibrant and interesting bars.

Tag: Collingwood, Smith Street

 Melbourne Bars / Cardiff Bars - Top 10 Bars for Grandmothers who need a Cocktail when they babysit

Sounds crazy, but in order I feel. Friends have been having babies and a new grandmother asked where she could drink quality cocktails in a nice environment whilst babysitting. As she was from Cardiff, I thought that a split list between Melbourne and her hometown was in order. Basically, what we are describing here are child friendly bars.

Tag: child friendly, baby friendly

 Melbourne Bars - Best Swan Street Bars Richmond

Another subscriber submitted a list of bars that were on his favourite street - Swan Street, Richmond. Another inner city suburb of Melbourne that has developed in recent times, this strip is now home to a blossoming bar scene. It has a great mix of pubs, gastro pubs, bars, clubs and nightclubs.

Tag: Swan Street, Richmond

 Melbourne Bars - Best Beer Gardens

There is nothing better than kicking back with friends on a summer's afternoon in a beer garden. Melbourne is lucky enough to be home to a number of amazing beer garden venues as most bar owners understand the need for an outside area. This is a list of the best this wonderful city has to offer.

Tag: beer garden, outside area, smoking area

 Melbourne Bars - Best Fitzroy Bars

Fitzroy was one of the first inner city suburbs to become cool, with Brunswick Street defining itself as a chic, arty, independent strip. The cafe and bar scene blossomed, then cam e the galleries and clothing shops. Now rivaling Chapel Street as the most popular street in Melbourne, Fitzroy is also home to the other popular strips of Johnson and Gertrude Streets.

Tag: Fitzroy, Brunswick Street, Gertrude Street, Johnson Street

 Melbourne Bars - Lost & Found Hotel

The Lost & Found Hotel is an amazing "All about Melbourne" experience that allows for visitors to the city to have a free place to stay for a number of nights in the surrounds of designer Melbourne. We were lucky enough to stay in this room and this list is a breakdown of what we did in our few days stay. Check out www.wearelostandfound.com.au to find out more information.

 Melbourne Bars - Best Bars Melbourne

This is a completely self-indulgent list of the best bars in Melbourne according to me - hey it was my birthday. I love these bars for a variety of reasons and I think it shows the diversity of venue this city has to offer.

Tag: Best Bars

 Melbourne Bars - Non-Corner Pubs Melbourne

Have you noticed that all pubs seem to be on corners? When it was pointed out to me I struggled to think of any pubs that weren't on corners - a little research later and here is the list I came up with. Apparently it has to do with being able to see a pub from a number of directions - being on a corner maximises visibility... smart really.

Tag: non corner pubs, pubs

 Melbourne Bars - Where to Watch the World Cup

Could be referred to as "late night bars to watch sport in", this list was created for the FIFA World Cup and featured 20 bars that were showing the World Cup games in Melbourne.

Tag: sports bar, live sports, sky channel, sport, foxtel