A bibulous meme

File under: drink, nightlife, Wellington

It looks like my quest (to drink at every bar in central Wellington this year) has caught on. First, Jo, then Brenda and now Penny have all posted their own lists of bars, and are crossing off their conquests as they go. If every WellUrban reader followed the example, we'd go a long way to creating a boom for the lcoal hospitality (and hepatology) industry.

The list has had to evolve over time, given the number of openings, closures and revamps, and also because I've reconsidered my decisions about whether certain places count as bars. In particular, I've gratefully accepcted Brenda's suggestion not to include Hog's Breath, but I can't quite agree that Hede counts as a bar. I've also omitted a couple of places that are right on the cusp of opening. Finally, I've reluctantly had to remove Il Casino: while there's still a chance that it will re-open in some form, it's unlikely that it will have the same name and style.

I end up with a total of 154 currently open bars, of which I have sampled 126 this year: that's nearly 82% done. Here's my list (and if you look closely, you might find a clue to the current mystery bar).

Arbitrageur, Arizona, Atlanta, B4, Backbencher, Ballroom, Basement, Beaujolais, Big Kumara, Bisque On Bolton, The Black Harp, Blend, Blondini's, Blue Note, Bodega, Bohdans, Boogie Wonderland, Boulcott St Bistro, Boulot, Brewery Bar, The Bristol, Brix, Bull & Bear, Cabaret, Calzone, Cambridge Hotel, Capitol, Caucus, The Cavern Club, Chameleon, Chicago, Chow, Club K, Concrete, Confidential, Copita, Courtenay Arms, Coyote, Crazy Horse, Cue Room, Curve, Dockside Restaurant, The Dog & Bone, Dojo, Downtown Local, The Dubliner, East West, Eclipse, Electric Avenue, Endup, Establishment, The Feathers, Ferrymans, Floriditas, Flying Burrito Brothers, The Front Room, Gibbon's Bar, GoGo, Good Luck, Green Room, The Grill at Duxton, Happy, Harem, Havana, Hope Bros, Hotel Willis Lodge, Hugos, Hummingbird, Imbibe, Imerst, J'aime Bordeaux, Jet, The Jimmy, JJ Murphy's, Juniper, Kazu Yakitori and Sake Bar, Kitty O'Shea's, The Lab, The Lab Underground, The Last Supper Club, Latinos, Leuven, The Lido, Liquidate, The Loaded Hog, Logan Brown, Lone Star, Lone Star Lounge, Lovelocks, The Malthouse, Matterhorn, Maya, Medina, Mercury Lounge, Mezzaluna, Milk, Mini Bar, Ministry Of Food, Mixjah, Mojo Invincible, Molly Malones, Monkey Bar, Monsoon Poon, Motel, Occidental, The Old Bank Bar & Café, One Red Dog (Blair St), One Red Dog (Kumutoto), Paradiso, Paramount, The Pit, Pod, Ponderosa, Pound, Pravda, The Quarter, Rain, Red Square, Sandwiches, San Francisco Bathouse, Scopa, Seam, The Shack, Shed 5, Shooters, Sojourn, Southern Cross, Sovereign, Speight's Ale House, Spice Island, Stadium Bar, Stellar, Subnine, Sweet Mother's Kitchen, Syn, Taste of Korea, The Tasting Room, The Thistle Inn, Toast, Trax, Tupelo, Urbane, UU, Valve, Vespa Lounge, Vivo, The Wellesley Cafe, Sports Cafe, Welsh Dragon Bar & Scorpio's, West Plaza Hotel, Whitbys Piano Bar, The White Room, Zibibbo, Zing