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Platform Bar

Editorial Review

Editorial Review

Located in the heart of the CBD, downstairs at Grand Central Hotel, Platform Bar is a classic saloon style venue. It's not particularly fancy but it has an old-school, understated charm: high ornate ceilings, fans spinning lazily, long wooden benches and a bar that runs the length of one wall. Given the amount of bars that have been reworked into neon lit nightmares in the city centre, the largely untouched decor at Platform is a welcome respite.

City workers certainly seem to like the place. Every afternoon you'll find a cross section of middle management types and council workers spilling out onto the street and the outside tables. Obviously geared towards an older clientele, the bar attracts a unique mix of white and blue collar workers. Oh, and RAF pilots.

As the plaque on the wall proudly proclaims, RAF Squadron 23 has been meeting at the venue since 1937. If that doesn't seal Platform Bar's historic credentials, then the photos of prominent Brisbane pioneers on the walls certainly hammers the point home: this is a classic pub, steeped in local history.

And there's the rub. Platform Bar doesn't serve elaborate cocktails and you can't buy bottles of Moet for ?the girls from accounts'. It's not that kind of party. Indeed, beers and basic spirits comprise 80% of the drinks menu. Not that anyone is complaining. The huge crowds that sprawl out onto the street every afternoon show there's definitely a market for the simple, old-world charm the venue represents.
Mikolai, January 2008