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The Afterdark

Clem Bastow and Reviewer

The Afterdark in Northcote.
The Afterdark in Northcote.Supplied

We all know that even the diviest bar can convince you it's a goer when it's 2am and the haze of one-too-many Jagerbombs clouds your judgement, just as a roadside kebab at 3am would have Tetsuya's coming a distant second in the cuisine stakes. The mark of a truly great bar is how well it convinces you of its charms in the twilight hours. Such a winner is the Afterdark, perched on the faultline between Northcote and Thornbury among the bomboniere shops and mysterious coffee halls.

It's a fair call to say that even though plenty of bars open early (here at 6pm, a daylight hour), you generally wouldn't want to make your way there until they had got going.

The Afterdark doesn't suffer from this affliction; its street windows are stained a glamorous ruby so that even the harshest sunshine is tempered before it hits your hangover (or your groundwork for one).

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It's long and lean, with couches at the street end, the bar at the other and in the middle a projector and adorably tiny stage that makes Pony upstairs look like the Fillmore East.

The fit-out (rag-tag vintage couches and chairs arranged in a relaxed way and draped fabric hiding the ceiling) isn't that different from any other op shop-chic watering hole but it is the little touches - esoteric wall hangings ranging from abstract art to possibly the only known surviving poster of Popstars-era Bardot, a Connect Four game, magnetic wall covered in alphabet magnets - that give this place an easy charm.

With a good if not extensive range of drinks, the bar, like the room, excels thanks to charm rather than its boozy resume. But with a characterful selection of tap beers, a slush-beverage machine churning its appealing icy guts and chatty staff who are happy to whip up a mixed drink, who cares if you can't get your favourite I-only-like-the-first-two-independent-releases booze?

And speaking of rock snobs, it would surely please High Fidelity's Rob, Dick and Barry, given that the bar - that is, where you order and are served drinks, not just the venue - is a record store stocking short-run and independent albums, singles and EPs.

With live music or comedy from Thursday to Saturday (you'll have to look elsewhere if you want a drink on the most school-night nights of the week), the Afterdark ticks all boxes when it comes to multi-tasking, which is more than can be said for some bar venues.

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And even if its modest size means your only choice is to listen to the band during a gig well, what are you doing in a place like this if you don't care about music?

Have another beer and consider yourself lucky.

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