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November 27, 2015
Habits

New everything at Bank Street Social

After more than a year of successful trade in a formerly-abandoned Hindley Street basement, the guys at Bank Street Social decided they needed some new challenges. So, they've added a food menu, introduced barrel-aged cocktails and are opening a private function space. Calm down, guys.

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  • Words: Farrin Foster
  • Pictures: Joshua Fanning

Bank Street Social is a cavernous venue, that was miraculously transformed from abandoned basement to beautiful bar by owners Shaun Campbell, Simon Orders and Tom Paxton with the help of designer Claire Kneebone.

Remarks

As part of Bank Street Social’s new license, they’re also able to open later. So if you need a place to dance and drink and be merry until 4am, you know where to go.

But even after its initial and significant conversion, the guys still saw more potential in the space.

While in the midst of applying for a new class of liquor license, which would allow them to raise their capacity from 120 people to 200 people, they began to make some changes.

The first was the addition of the world’s most compact pizza kitchen. Tucked under and next to the entrance staircase, the kitchen measures no more than about 2m wide but manages to accommodate two ovens, a three-door fridge and 40 pizza racks – everything needed to turn out a menu of high-end pizzas.

“It changes the dynamic a bit,” says Shaun Campbell. “In the beginning we didn’t have the time to do everything we wanted to do. We contemplated this from the start but a year and a bit later, we can finally bring in the kitchen.

“We try and cater to groups as much as we can because we have the big booths, so pizza is great because it’s something people can share and it has that informality.”

Having swiftly sorted out their food offering and after being granted approval for their new license, Bank Street Social immediately started working on something else.

Focussing in on a mezzanine that had always been a part of the space, but never fitted-out for use, the guys set about turning it into a lushly-appointed and warm-feeling private function space that overlooks the rest of the bar.

“That was a complete overhaul – we re-engineered the whole support structure and put in a new balustrade,” says Shaun.

“Now groups can book it out, you can have up to 20 people in there. The whole ceiling is curved and the window echoes early, turn-of-the-century train stations with that beautiful curved architecture.”

And when those groups of 20 (or less) come in, they’ll also be able to try Bank Street Social’s new range of barrel-aged cocktails. So will everyone else in the bar, of course.

Concentrating on classic cocktails – those with a more bitter palette that can “mellow with age” – the range has been resting in Barossa oak barrels for a minimum of six weeks .

“The flavour is a lot smoother in these and the wood adds a bit of vanilla. We’ve done a Martinez, which is a martini variant, a Manhattan and a Negroni, which is my favourite cockatil,” says Shaun.

“We wanted to do something interesting. Barrel-aged drinks have been around for a long time, and you have to do it with those really spirit-forward drinks. I just think it’s an interesting take on cocktails that will be a good addition to our mix.”

We’ve got no doubt that before long there’ll be another new thing in the works at Bank Street Social too, so perhaps get along before there’s even more things to add to your “to try” list.

 

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