Sounds delicious – Eat Drink West

Main Bar’s great food and drink is paired with live entertainment

A LITTLE piece of history is hidden in every crack and crevice of the local beer, whiskey, pizza and music spot The Main Bar.

Tucked away at the start of Ballarat’s historic Main Road, owner Glenn Stevens said he is excited to put live music and talented musicians at the front and centre of business.

“The Main Bar has been given a grant by Creative Victoria which I’m going to put towards building up the live music part of the venue,” he said.

“We’re going to film a couple of performances and then broadcast them through H Squared Studios run by Rex Hardware.

“We’re a diverse, all-inclusive music venue, we feature different genres of music weather that be jazz, blues, reggae.”

In addition to the live music and heritage appeal of the space, The Main Bar is also set to offer a range of their signature pizzas and meals and a generously stocked bar.

In utilising the site’s wood fire oven, Mr Stevens said they were the first dedicated wood oven pizza place to open in Ballarat.

“Soon, we’ll be back to doing our pizzas that we’re famous for,” he said.

“I started out as a smaller pizzeria in the next-door spot and then shifted into this shop as well once we restored it.

“We also have a full general license, so we are licensed the whole way through the property, not just a restaurant license anymore, which is great.”

While the food offering is completely produced in house, Mr Stevens said he tries to ensure that his bar lists are as locally sourced as possible.

“Our wine list is as local as possible for the varieties and with beer, we try to use local beers and for many years we’ve had Holgate from Woodend which is fairly close,” he said.

“We have a selection of whiskeys, over 55 single malt whiskeys in our whiskey bar including Bakery Hill whiskey which is named after Bakery Hill here and it’s got the miner’s pick and shovel on it.

“We will also feature local wines in our bottle shop area to take away which will be located in the entry way.”

As the site is currently undergoing maintenance and renovations, Mr Stevens said he’s excited to open back up and welcome new and old customers into the space.

“We’re going to open soon but it’s all depending on the restrictions,” he said.

“There’s extensive works going on in the beer garden which will become one of Ballarat’s largest beer gardens with its own bar.

“There will be some changes but I’m hoping people are still going to enjoy coming in.”