2 High Street,
Auckland Central
Auckland,
1140

(09) 916 9933

add to my map

4 out of 5

I need a drink gasped my friend. Boy do I need drink. No she wasn’t thirsty. She was angry, frustrated, miserable.

In short, heart-sick and sorely in need of comfy bar; a drink to soothe the airways as she downloaded to a sympathetic ear.

But it was Friday night in the city. Where to go that wasn’t too busy, not too noisy? Not too crass and yet not empty?

The Corner Bar at the end of High Street was perfect. It was a warm night and the bar’s big windows opened out to the street. Below us, people sat drinking and smoking outside and, as we settled at the window above, I decided it was almost a novelty to suck up some cigarette fumes.

Inside, everything was bathed in a sepia glow. Not really, but that’s the effect of a great deal of chocolate, cream, wood and leather in a small space. The black and white portraits of singers et al were predictable but nice.

The barman guessed our moods correctly. I like a barman who will make the drinks selection for you. I got a fresh and perky vodka, pineapple juice and tonic (although he would have preferred to serve me a vodka, ruby red grapefruit juice and passionfruit, but there was no ruby red available that day). My friend got the standard issue tipple for the lachrymose; a gin and tonic.

Someone who looked like everyone’s Dad set up and twiddled with a sound system and pretty soon there was some good quality chilled music coming our way.

Just as my friend was banging on about the man drought I told her to look around. We were surrounded by men. My friend was unimpressed. Apparently they didn’t count. Later came the women, as well as groups of mixed-sex mates who joked and hung out here as it if were their lounge and this their own private bar.

The Corner Bar is like that. An easy place to make your local. An easy place to feel at home and an easy place to people-watch—positioned as it is at the crossroads of work, traveller’s bars, accommodation, and the seedier part of downtown.

We even saw a couple of people we knew as they walked past. I could see us coming here again, hopefully in happier times.

We could have stayed here talking all night but my friend wanted a bit more action so we moved on. Not necessarily the best decision, but you only know these things in hindsight.