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The Corner Hotel

Editorial Review

Editorial Review

The Corner Hotel is certainly full of contrasts. Incorporating a live music room, public (dive) bar, beer garden and restaurant, it has something for everyone - provided you feel like a drink. The public bar is fairly typical of Melbourne in that it looks like it hasn't been renovated in decades, plays cool rockabilly music and is frequented by a selection of students, musicians and people who look like they may have once been in a band. The beer and spirit selection is limited but the clientele are friendly.

The upstairs beer garden faces out onto the Richmond train overpass, which gives things a nice industrial feel - like something out of an Edwardian novel set in East London. Sadly, the actual decor in the beer garden is a bit bland. Wooden benches and plastic orange chairs aren't going to win any design awards. You could describe the look as modern, minimalism. Although it's entirely functional, it lacks the character of the downstairs bar. You could say the same about the beer garden clientele if you weren't in a particularly good frame of mind. While the musicians lurk downstairs among the dank, upstairs is a haven for ‘young professionals'. It's a vibe carried across to the restaurant. A wall covered in gig posters doesn't disguise the generic furniture and decor.

Of course most people aren't particularly bothered by the kind of chair they sit on in a beer garden and if you fall into that category you can disregard the above criticisms. At the end of the day the Corner Hotel offers a beer garden with great view and a suitably rundown public bar. There's also the band room which plays host to a selection of Indie, rock, metal and just about any ‘alt' band from across Australia and the world. Frankly, it's as good a venue as any to meet friends or go for after-work drinks, but you're more likely to come here to catch a live gig.
Mikolai, April 2008