After just 17 months, its owners are blaming its demise on rising costs (taxes in particular) and inconsistent patronage. You have just over a week to see what made it so special.
Brisbane is set to lose two of its best independent bars in as many months.
First it was Bar Hugo in West End in February. Now Fortitude Valley’s Barry Parade Public House will follow on March 29, just 17 months after it opened.
“It was a tough call we had to make,” co-owner Brennen Eaton said Friday morning. “How things were going financially, it was just one of those things where I couldn’t do it without [co-owner] Dan [Gregory] and he [has a young family] and couldn’t do it without me.”
Eaton put the closure down to inconsistent patronage and rising costs. He described business as being up and down in recent months, but that a quiet December period was perhaps the final straw for the bar.
“That silly season is meant to really help you for the first two months of the year and we weren’t hitting our targets properly,” he said, “so when it came to January and February, it was pretty much an uphill battle.”
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“We had the new [spirit] tax [increases] coming in, and that on top of general cost-of-living increases meant we had to up our prices.
“It might be just $2 more [on a cocktail] but that can still be off-putting for people … gone are the days when I was 18 and I could go out for a night in then Valley and come back with change.”
Eaton and Gregory opened Barry Parade in October 2024 with then business partner Lachlan Henry, serving a focused list of cocktails, small producer Australian wine and local craft beer out of a heritage-listed building on Barry Parade, which runs between the CBD and Fortitude Valley.
The venue immediately turned heads with its hardwood bar, timber wall panelling, pendant lights and eye-catching original terrazzo flooring. There’s al fresco seating out on the street and a timber courtyard with bench seating out back.
Eaton is philosophical about the closure but says he’s concerned about the capacity for independent bars such as Barry Parade and Bar Hugo to survive in the current economic environment.
“I am a bit worried,” he said. “Bar Hugo are our good friends and … they were in a very similar situation to us being independent but also being a destination bar.
“One of your battles is getting people to come to you. That’s just another stress you need to contend with.”
Barry Parade Public House’s final service will be Sunday week.
Matt Shea is Food and Culture Editor at Brisbane Times. He is a former editor and editor-at-large at Broadsheet Brisbane, and has written for Escape, Qantas Magazine, the Guardian, Jetstar Magazine and SilverKris, among many others.
