Whitehart bar brings Melbourne CBD car park to life

Husband-and-wife duo Stephen Johnson and Sabrina Santucci have paired their creative leanings (he's a filmmaker, she's an artist) with the talents of local artists Daisylegs to conjure up Whitehart, a two-storey open shipping container bar built on an empty car park that Johnson had used for many years.

"It was an awesome space that was under-utilised; an opportunity waiting to happen," he says.

The result is an urban oasis, "a unique green zone with an industrial edge" that is made for Friday nights.

While the CBD newcomer shares its name with a mythical white stag viewed by the ancient Celts as a harbinger of doom, it signals good times for Melburnians: music, art, a knowing selection of craft beers and cocktails (including the tapped Poor Tom's Earl Grey Spritz, a spirited blend of gin, tea syrup, lemon juice, soda), and a rotating roster of local food vendors, kicked off by the pit-smoked meats of Ironbark BBQ.

Open Mon-Wed and Sun noon-11pm; Thu noon-midnight; Fri-Sat noon-1am.

22 Whitehart Lane, Melbourne, 03 9602 2260, whitehartbar.com.au