New bar has it all for good sports

Karratha has a new watering hole after publican Bart Parsons opened his latest venture, the Grand Central Tavern. The award-winning bar and restaurant guru held a soft opening for the venue last Wednesday evening before doors welcomed the public on Thursday. The bar, at the new Tambrey Shopping Village, is a New York-style tavern with a focus on sport. A mural emblazoned across the wall of the Grand Central features some of sports most athletes from Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali to homegrown heroes Cathy Freeman and Nick Cummins and in the centre is Daniel Ricciardo completing a “shoey”. Mr Parsons, who also owns Blanche Bar and Fiorita Wine Bar, said a lot of hard work had gone into getting the venue ready over the last two months. “It's nice to just get people in here you know, I've been watching tradesmen walk around and get stuff done for weeks on end,” he said. Mr Parsons said the mural had received a lot of attention, but it was the venue’s audio visual set up was what he was most proud of. “The AV we put into the place is incredible like there's nowhere else in the North West that has the amount of AV level that we've got and the integration that we've got,” he said. “It's all done from a single point which is a tablet on the wall, so it makes it easy for the staff but also enjoyable to the customers because the sound, lighting and everything is all integrated.” The tavern features a wide variety of full strength and mid beers on tap while its food options range from share boards and burgers, to chicken wings and pasta, there is something for everyone. “The menu itself is massive, it's made for a couple, for a family, for a bunch of blokes, it's made for a table of women,” Mr Parsons said. “It's very multifaceted, so we've tried to make sure that we don't alienate anyone. “We knew this venue was going to have a sports aspect but we didn't want to go so far as to say that were sports bar or too much of a sports focus and the menu replicates wt we wanted to do with the venue.”