Latest news with #GrantSmillie
Sydney Morning Herald
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Floods, dead bodies and lost phones: Melbourne's most unlikely bar
It's a bar which is under constant threat of being under water but that hasn't stopped Ponyfish Island from notching up 15 years' serving drinks under the Evan Walker Bridge on the Yarra River. Owners Grant Smillie, Andrew McKinnon and Jerome Borazio originally opened Ponyfish Island as a pop-up bar for one summer but since then, it has established itself as one of the city's most iconic places to have a drink despite its precarious location. Sitting in a patch of winter sun, testing out the bar's cocktail list, the trio say other challenges include the occasional dead body floating past and the need to employ overnight security guards 365 days a year at an annual cost of $750,000 because the bar can't be locked up. 'It's uninsurable as a venue because of flooding,' DJ turned restaurateur Smillie says. 'The first time it flooded, we went and put our claim in, and they said, 'OK', and the second time, they said: 'All the best'.' Smillie says there has been a huge increase over the years in the flooding that occurs in the Yarra so during the COVID-19 lockdowns, they redesigned the venue 'like a boat' to counter the worst of the flooding. Loading All power outlets and electrical wiring are now up high, they installed bilge pumps and made sure the floor and lower levels of the bar were made of hard, washable services. Now the regular floods, the most recent of which was last month, are not quite so devastating to the bar. Ponyfish Island opened in 2010 in what was formerly an ice-cream kiosk and was an instant hit with a queue of patrons lining up along the bridge to get in.
The Age
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
Floods, dead bodies and lost phones: Melbourne's most unlikely bar
It's a bar which is under constant threat of being under water but that hasn't stopped Ponyfish Island from notching up 15 years' serving drinks under the Evan Walker Bridge on the Yarra River. Owners Grant Smillie, Andrew McKinnon and Jerome Borazio originally opened Ponyfish Island as a pop-up bar for one summer but since then, it has established itself as one of the city's most iconic places to have a drink despite its precarious location. Sitting in a patch of winter sun, testing out the bar's cocktail list, the trio say other challenges include the occasional dead body floating past and the need to employ overnight security guards 365 days a year at an annual cost of $750,000 because the bar can't be locked up. 'It's uninsurable as a venue because of flooding,' DJ turned restaurateur Smillie says. 'The first time it flooded, we went and put our claim in, and they said, 'OK', and the second time, they said: 'All the best'.' Smillie says there has been a huge increase over the years in the flooding that occurs in the Yarra so during the COVID-19 lockdowns, they redesigned the venue 'like a boat' to counter the worst of the flooding. Loading All power outlets and electrical wiring are now up high, they installed bilge pumps and made sure the floor and lower levels of the bar were made of hard, washable services. Now the regular floods, the most recent of which was last month, are not quite so devastating to the bar. Ponyfish Island opened in 2010 in what was formerly an ice-cream kiosk and was an instant hit with a queue of patrons lining up along the bridge to get in.
