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The Mercat Cross

places|vic|melbourne|the%20mercat%20cross
It’s a pub, it’s a club, it’s a party venue all rolled into one in a quirky location.

Editorial


It's a great idea to have a pub a cross the road from a market - especially the Queen Victoria Market. Who isn't driven to drink after a particularly hard Saturday at the Vic Market, after hours of endless spruiking, enduring about 20,000 prams nudging at your ankles or shopping trolleys corking you at regular intervals? A quiet beer on the balcony of the Mercat overlooking the chaos is a well-earned pleasure.

While the Mercat does do well as a haven for overwrought shoppers, it has many other incarnations as well. This is a large versatile pub that holds a slew of events from magazine launches filled with Melbourne's hipster elite, to indie nights, to parties that run the gamut from gay disco to hip-hop to dancehall to reggae to techno. Few venues come close to emulating the Mercat's chameleon-like nature.

A lot has to do with its location. Something about being at this end of town instills a kind of mischievous take on things. After hours, it's no-man's land here; once the market sheds are void of people, its excitingly eerie.

There's also two external balconies, two nightclubs and a public bar. The décor is simple with splashes of bold colours here and there; there's a slight industrial feel in some areas, but it's a long way from designer chic.

It's a relaxed space by day with a penchant for going absolutely off at night. Drinks are reasonably priced, which more than helps the party along.

Rachel Cook, October 2010

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