PICA | |
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 Entry from Cultural Centre walkway | |
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| Address | 51 James Street, Northbridge Perth Australia |
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| Coordinates | 31°56′59″S115°51′38″E / 31.949839°S 115.860481°E |
| Type | Bar, music venue |
| Opened | 2012 |
| Website | |
| www | |
Picabar is a bar and music venue located in Northbridge, Western Australia, within the Perth Cultural Centre. [1] It is situated adjacent to the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA) for which the bar is named. [2]
The venue features an outdoor courtyard with access from the Perth Cultural Centre, near the steps and plaza, [2] [3] as well as outdoor tables along the edge of the cultural centre. [4]
It operates within the old Perth Boys School building, [2] part of the Perth Central School complex in the early 1900s. [5] [6]
Picabar is the family business of brothers Brian and Conor Buckley, and Brian's wife Melissa Bowen. It opened in 2012 in a space that was unused and had been boarded up for 12 years. [4] [7] The bar owners subleased the space from PICA with a six-month lease, and an option for a longer, ten-year term subject to PICA's lease from the state government being renewed.
PICA's lease was not renewed, and both PICA and Picabar then ended up operating on month-to-month leases. [4] Picabar's owners later stated that they were given assurances there would eventually be a long-term arrangement, [2] [7] [8] a claim denied by the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries' director general Duncan Ord. [9]
In October 2018, ownership of the precinct was transferred from the government to the Perth Theatre Trust (PTT), [10] which terminated PICA's lease, [9] and hence Picabar's sub-lease, with three weeks notice. [10] [9] PICA was to be given a new sublease from the PTT, excluding the bar area, which was to be opened up to an expression of interest process. [9] By early November, the government gave Picabar a temporary reprieve until March 2019, [2] and Culture and Arts minister David Templeman intervened to ensure Picabar's owners would be given the first preference in negotiations. [10]
Public outrage led to a campaign to retain Picabar, culminating in a "Save Picabar" petition on Change.org that attracted 11,000 signatures, [11] including direct competitors and other members of the state's hospitality industry. [12] On 15 October 2019, a new five-year lease was signed, [13] with an option for an extension. [14] The lease requires renovations to be undertaken, with allowance for additional alfresco space. [10] The incident, and the "people power" that saved Picabar, received national media coverage. [15]
The venue was substantially renovated in 2020. [1]
The bar features prominently in Perth youth culture as a hangout and social fixture. It has a particular association with hipster culture, being described by The West Australian as "somewhere between a dive bar and a hipster hangout". [16] The bar is a regular topic of local internet culture, with the Instagram meme page 'meet_me_at_pica' regularly posting memes about the venue and associated youth culture. [17]
Perth is the capital city of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth as of 2023. It is part of the South West Land Division of Western Australia, with most of Perth's metropolitan area on the Swan Coastal Plain between the Indian Ocean and the Darling Scarp. The city has expanded outward from the original British settlements on the Swan River, upon which its central business district and port of Fremantle are situated.
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Perth Arena is an entertainment and sporting arena in the city centre of Perth, Western Australia, used mostly for basketball matches. It is located on Wellington Street near the site of the former Perth Entertainment Centre, and was officially opened on 10 November 2012. Perth Arena is the first stage of the Perth City Link, a 13.5-hectare (33-acre) major urban renewal and redevelopment project which involves the sinking of the Fremantle railway line to link the Perth central business district directly with Northbridge.
Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA) is a contemporary visual and performance arts venue located in a heritage-listed building in Perth, Western Australia.
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Perth Stadium, currently known as Optus Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in Perth, Western Australia, located in the suburb of Burswood. It was completed in late 2017 and officially opened on 21 January 2018. The stadium's total capacity is 61,266, including standing room, making it the third-largest stadium in Australia. The stadium can be extended up to 65,000 seats for rectangular sports.
The Old Fremantle Police Station and Court House Complex is a heritage-listed group of buildings located at 45 Henderson Street, Fremantle, Western Australia. The complex includes the former courthouse, police station, police barracks and lock-up and artillery drill hall.
Northbridge is an inner city suburb of Perth, Western Australia, historically separated from Perth's central business district by the Fremantle and Joondalup railway lines. It is part of the City of Perth local government area.
Fringe World, or Fringe World Festival, is an annual multi-arts fringe festival held in Perth, Western Australia during the city's summer festival season of January/February. The annual program of events features artists and acts from a range of styles including circus, cabaret, comedy, music, dance, theatre, film and visual art.
The Michelides Tobacco Factory building was an Interwar Art Deco building in Northbridge, Western Australia constructed in stages between the early 1920s and mid-1930s. The building was later known as the Peters Ice Cream Factory and the Tony Barlow Menswear Building. At the time of demolition, the factory was the only extant industrial building in Perth to be remodelled into the Art Deco style.
James Street is a street which serves the Perth suburbs Perth and Northbridge. It is the main east-west road in the centre of Northbridge.
Court Hotel or The Court is a music venue and bar in Perth, Western Australia.
Rechabite Hall is a heritage-listed building in Perth, Western Australia, located at 224 William Street. It has operated as The Rechabite since 2019. It was constructed in 1924 for the Independent Order of Rechabites – a friendly society and part of the temperance movement – and was a popular dance hall in the 1920s. It was also used for balls, exhibitions, church services, conferences, annual meetings, school productions, and as an election polling station.
The William Street Bird, known colloquially as the Bird, is a live music bar located in the Northbridge suburb of Perth, Western Australia. It opened in 2010.
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Other name(s): ... Perth Boys School
