A new bar has been greenlit for one of Ballarat's major arterial roads, as more hospitality venues eye-off an incoming flood of public servants.
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Called The Comfort of Strangers (pictured right), the new bar conceived for 305-307 Mair Street was approved at a City of Ballarat ordinary council meeting on Wednesday night.
Located directly across from GovHub and the Civic Hall, the bar space will be able to hold up to 141 patrons, with 77 seats inside the food and drink venue.
Plans obtained by The Courier show contemporary black and yellow typography on the bar's signage, which will be displayed in the venue's window.
It comes as Ballarat's hospitality sector intensifies in the eastern area of the CBD, as a result of 1000 public servants to be working from the GovHub site from 2021.
While recent additions to the hospitality scene near Civic Hall include The Pub With Two Names, new hotel developments include the North Star Hotel in Soldiers Hill, which is now being constructed across the road from the Ballarat Railway Station redevelopment.
A regional growth plan for the city stated the CBD would remain as the "primary focus for commercial, retail and service activity in the city and region".
While the eastern side of the building is vacant, formerly a white-goods repair shop, the western side of the space is being used as a cafe.
The bar is lead by director Torquil Neilson, who is a former assistant brewer at Red Duck Brewery.
There is no parking on the site, and "previous uses have relied on dispensation", despite a tavern normally needing to provide 56 car spaces for a similar patron number as The Comfort of Strangers.
The new bar received one public objection during advertising which was later withdrawn.
Council officers said in a report that "issues such as anti-social behaviour and crime are legitimate concerns with applications of this nature", but this was not in planning's purview.
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