Goodwood Road has got itself a new bar and café, with a hospitality trio joining forces to launch Good Gilbert this week.

There’s something very familiar about Good Gilbert.

It comes from the way co-owner Wilson Shawyer talks about his new, unpretentious Goodwood Road bar, which opens on Wednesday, 9 December.

It’s more than just a new place to grab latte, a wine, a beer or a snack. It’s a meeting place for the scores of residents who live in the area.

In a lot of ways, Good Gilbert lives up to the mantra of the classic TV sitcom Cheers: a place Wilson and his team know your name.

“At about 10:05 in the morning, on the back of a pretty big night’s work for all of us, I kind of just sat here and thought, ‘What have I done,’” Wilson jokes about Good Gilbert’s soft-opening on Sunday.

“Then we had someone roll in at five past 10 and he got a coffee and sat in the corner, and I thought that’s kind of cute, and then by about quarter past, floods of people were just walking in.

“We had a real sense of relief, because everyone who walked through these doors on Sunday knew everyone.

“They are all neighbours, they are all friends, they all hang out and that is the perfect picture of what we wanted to capture.”

Wilson, who could be found until recently behind the bar at Hellbound on Rundle Street, has opened the venue alongside Jason Barber and David Train.

Jason ran Peel Street’s Mornings coffee shop and train station arcade lunch spot Konbini until Good Gilbert’s opening this week. David is a coffee industry professional who for the last several years has been a coffee trader.

The three spent six-weeks transforming the empty tenancy into their vision for the bar of their dreams. Everything from the cork-covered bar, the timber booths and the polished stools were of their making. The look is bright and airy, with bi-fold doors opening up onto the street and letting plenty of light inside.

Wilson Shawyer, Jason Barber and David Train

Inspired by the French bistros that open from breakfast to supper, the shop can fit 38 people inside for now, until indoor density restrictions ease, and 10 outside once outdoor tables along Gilbert Street arrive next week.

All the food is easy-to-prepare bar snacks, inspired by those tasted around the world by the three owners. The menu will develop further once Good Gilbert’s new kitchen is installed.

“We want to be the spot where if you’ve just finished doing the gardening, or just out for a minute, you can come hang out with the bartenders,” Jason says.

“It’s like Dave says, it’s like your mate’s place only with better booze and better food.”

Good Gilbert is located at 135b Goodwood Road, Goodwood, and operates 3pm ’til late Wednesday to Thursday, midday ’til 1am Friday and Saturday, and 11am ’til 5pm on Sunday.