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Picabar
Bar in Perth, Western Australia From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Picabar is a bar and music venue located in Perth, Western Australia, within the Perth Cultural Centre.[1] It is situated adjacent to the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA) for which the bar is named.[2]
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Description
The venue features an outdoor courtyard with access from the Perth Cultural Centre, near the steps and plaza,[2][3] as well as outdoor tables along the edge of the cultural centre.[4]
It operates within the old Perth Boys School building,[2] part of the Perth Central School complex in the early 1900s.[5][6]
History and operations
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Picabar is the family business of brothers Brian and Conor Buckley, and Brian's wife Melissa Bowen. It opened in 2012 in a space that was unused and had been boarded up for 12 years.[4][7] The bar owners subleased the space from PICA with a six-month lease, and an option for a longer, ten-year term subject to PICA's lease from the state government being renewed.
PICA's lease was not renewed, and both PICA and Picabar then ended up operating on month-to-month leases.[4] Picabar's owners later stated that they were given assurances there would eventually be a long-term arrangement,[2][7][8] a claim denied by the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries' director general Duncan Ord.[9]
Lease renewal dispute
In October 2018, ownership of the precinct was transferred from the government to the Perth Theatre Trust (PTT),[10] which terminated PICA's lease,[9] and hence Picabar's sub-lease, with three weeks notice.[10][9] PICA was to be given a new sublease from the PTT, excluding the bar area, which was to be opened up to an expression of interest process.[9] By early November, the government gave Picabar a temporary reprieve until March 2019,[2] and Culture and Arts minister David Templeman intervened to ensure Picabar's owners would be given the first preference in negotiations.[10]
Public outrage led to a campaign to retain Picabar, culminating in a "Save Picabar" petition on Change.org that attracted 11,000 signatures,[11] including direct competitors and other members of the state's hospitality industry.[12] On 15 October 2019, a new five-year lease was signed,[13] with an option for an extension.[14] The lease requires renovations to be undertaken, with allowance for additional alfresco space.[10] The incident, and the "people power" that saved Picabar, received national media coverage.[15]
The venue was substantially renovated in 2020.[1]
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Reception
The bar features prominently in Perth youth culture as a hangout and social fixture. It has a particular association with hipster culture, being described by The West Australian as "somewhere between a dive bar and a hipster hangout".[16] The bar is a regular topic of local internet culture, with the Instagram meme page 'meet_me_at_pica' regularly posting memes about the venue and associated youth culture.[17]
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References
External links
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