By Chris Thomson | posted on February 22, 2018
DENMARK may soon enter the small bar era, with the town’s first one planned for its main street not far from two existing liquor dispensaries.
At a Denmark council meeting on Tuesday night, shire planner Annette Harbron said the venue, at 89 Strickland Street, would be a café by day, and small-cum- tapas bar by night.
“The applicant has confirmed he will apply for a small bar licence,” she added.
Ms Harbron said that despite marketing itself as a wine bar, the existing Stomp’d venue at 27 Strickland Street was not a small bar as it operated under a restaurant licence.
She said the only other existing establishment in town to resemble a small bar, Freehand Wines at 69 Strickland Street, operated on a satellite cellar door licence linked to a producer’s licence at a nearby winery.
Despite not being “all that excited” by the bar’s built form, Cr Kingsley Gibson said he looked forward to its eventual development.
“I think, in general terms, something like this is a really exciting and positive thing for the town,” he said.
Cr Ian Osborne said the shire had “no part to play” as an “arbiter of taste”, and that the architect, from Hillarys-based firm MJBA, was “very experienced”.
A document tabled by MJBA said the bar would “provide a bit of life, albeit low key, at the southern end of Strickland Street”, which is “rather quiet”.
“It is intended to be a social venue for local people to congregate, socialise and promote local culture,” the architects continued.
If eventually approved by the shire and Western Australia’s liquor licensing director, the bar will be part of a broader commercial and residential project.
The shire councillors unanimously agreed that the bar be advertised for public comment for a minimum 21 days.
