1 Lower Hobson Street,
Viaduct
Auckland,


(09) 358 5155

add to my map

4 out of 5

I'm unprepared, in a couple of ways, when we roll into the Carpark Bar in Downtown Auckland.

First of all, there are an awful lot more folks in here than you'd expect for a brand new Auckland bar.

Secondly, while I've got a notebook, I've not brought a pen. This particular problem is speedily solved, though.

Carpark Bar has a certain aesthetic going on that lends itself to severe flirtatiousness.

Maybe it's the italicised logo on the front, the big open-air deck and the urban intimacy afforded by the flyover under which it nestles. Or maybe it's those seductive chocolate-coloured leather booths curved into separate alcoves either side of the bar.

Either way, hitting up attractive girls for a pen doesn't seem like inappropriate behaviour.

And it's not long before a certain young Mollie arches both hands behind her head, shakes blonde hair loose over her shoulders and presents me with the biro I need. By which time I am far too distracted to use it.

Friends roll by later. We're sitting on the wall separating the deck from the street, and they talk to us from the pavement awhile before coming in.

And that's kind of how I see this place panning out—people being seduced in, after either checking out the deck from the road as they try to find a Viaduct park or eyeing it up under the flyover from the pavement that runs along the back of the Viaduct's Foxes, Soul and Loaded Hog bars.

Carpark Bar is a good-looking place with a loungey, cocktail-bar feel, good-looking staff and, tonight, a DJ.

The conclusion I reach is that it's nice to have a slick new place like this in the area—close enough to the Viaduct for a little bit of its trouble to rub off, but grittily shielded by the flyover so it's got its own bit of space.

In the end, the only note I leave with is Mollie's number written up my arm. Fortunately, Carpark Bar has made enough of an impression for it to stick in my mind.