Owner Garth Horsfield says the Humffray Street shopfront bar will close this Sunday night, after playing host to its final show.

The Vests will be playing, featuring local musicians Hap Hayward and Paddy McCabe, starting at 3pm, and Horsfield says the rest of the evening will play out in a relaxed manner.

“Glenn Musto (Triple J Unearthed) is a great Melbourne solo artist, he’s played here before and he’ll be playing,” says Horsfield

“And we’re hoping  – it’s not confirmed yet – to have Penny Bowen, another Melbourne musician. And that’s it, really. After six years we’re finally closing the doors.”

Garth Horsfield says he’ll be taking the bar’s renowned sound system with him when he goes, in order to continue recording and engineering music, as well as making artwork.

He says some of the highlights of the Babushka’s six years have been seeing amazing Australian touring artists come to the bar and being able to mix their music.

“So many of them stood out, really, almost too many to mention,” says Horsfield.

“It was great having Shaun Kirk play here; having Wendy Rule come over from Canada – she was someone I used to admire as a kid, as a teenager in Melbourne. i used to go to her gigs when she played at the Dan O’Connell, and to have her play in my own little bar was fantastic.

“And to get my friend Matt Mavis down too for a couple of gigs, too, from The Mavis’s, that was great too.”

While he says the closures of Sutton’s and Babushka do leave a gaping hole in Ballarat’s musical fabric, he hopes new venues may come along.

“People usually fill a hole when there is one, but perhaps times have changed. There’s a lot of home entertainment now. I don’t think live music really has the pull that it used to. It’s been a particularly crappy decade for live music.I hope that trend doesn’t continue.”