Blah Bar closes, ending a chapter for Lismore’s independent music scene

 

Blah Bar, a venue that became a hub for Lismore’s independent music scene, has closed its doors after a short but influential run supporting emerging musicians, touring acts and all-ages live music.

The venue – located at Eggins Lane in Lismore – was opened in late 2025 by brothers Pat and Eddie Stanton.

Co-owner Pat Stanton said the venue’s closure followed months of working to resolve planning and licensing compliance requirements.

While he accepted the venue needed to meet compliance requirements, Stanton said the length, complexity and cost of the approval process ultimately made it financially impossible to continue operating.

“I don’t have the money to keep going anymore,” Stanton said.

“I’ve been operating for a couple of months now with BYO and unfortunately alcohol is where you make your money.”

“I don’t take money off the bands because I don’t believe in that – they struggle as it is – they’re the ones putting on the performance.”

According to Stanton, he lodged a small bar development application in February and spent months working through planning requirements, including infrastructure contributions, fire safety requirements and alternative approval options.

Stanton said the venue was unable to transition into its intended operating model while he pursued the required planning and licensing approvals, leaving it reliant on BYO arrangements.

He said being unable to operate with a liquor licence reduced the venue’s revenue and contributed to the financial pressure that ultimately led to its closure.

Stanton said Blah Bar was created to help serve Lismore’s music community and address the need for a venue that prioritised artists.

“The reason my brother and I started doing this in Lismore is because of the community and we knew that this was something the community wanted,” he said.

Rather than charging musicians to perform, Stanton said the venue’s model allowed artists to keep ticket and merchandise revenue.

“We were providing a space that had music equipment for the bands to use, we weren’t charging them anything, we took no money from the door,” he said.

“We literally did food sales and the band took the rest of the door and merchandise sales.”

He said that approach helped attract independent artists from across Australia and overseas.

“Our opening night we had a Swedish punk band play who were doing an Australian tour,” Stanton said.

“The reach that we’ve achieved without any marketing…I’m not a marketing person – this has all been word of mouth, literally word of mouth.”

For Liminal band member Alako Myles, the closure represents the loss of what he described as a rare and consistent home for independent music.

“Basically without that space, the future of the live music scene that we had going is just totally uncertain again,” Myles said.

“It was the destination, so it’s going to be pretty huge to not have that.”

Myles said the venue had only just started to realise its potential.

“It sucks as well because it really started kind of kicking off really when you think about it,” he said.

“And it was already getting so much support and attention and the fact that they got to where they did is just amazing, like with the regular turnout and the regular bands.”

“So it’s just going to be really hard to work out how we go about things in the future…”

He said, in his experience, Blah Bar had built a reputation for supporting musicians by providing an affordable and accessible space for performers.

“They didn’t force bands to pay overhead or anything,” he said.

“It was literally just, they get the space, they get to do whatever they want and make however much money they can from just the turnout basically.”

“And that’s really rare.”