What inspired the creation of Patio Bar and what makes it unique?

Patio was inspired by our desire to open a place in our community for our community. We wanted to have a place that belonged to Freo and made sense for it because this is our home. Being buried in a car park was a conscious decision. I suppose we were trying to build the kind of spot where you could tell that the people that owned it and ran it are from here and care about what Freo is. I remember talking about it with the other owners before we opened and how we wanted Patio to feel like many different places based on the changing environment surrounding it. To feel dynamic. Like it could be a party thing, an ambient sunset spot, the weather would change it, the music would elicit mood, the colour of the leaves or the day of the week would mean something tangible to the environment and the space.

Any exciting moments coming up or previous highlights that you'd like to share?

We’ve had heaps of highlights personally, like the venue is still alive which is dope! We are grateful that people come here. What we are most excited for though is the music programming that has developed in the last year and we want to keep pushing it. The jade//vision events that have run on and off for a year have been wild in the reception they have had, and coming down to the first ones is locked in my mind as an experience that I personally don’t feel that I have seen replicated anywhere on the west coast in the way it felt. It is sick when you are in a hospitality spot in its golden moment, where it feels like a movie or a bit indescribable for a split second. With those events it has shown that Freo low key has a hot rap scene and seeing it paired with amazing musicians, seeing that format played out from the ground floor is rewarding and fucking cool to be a part of (in the small way we were involved). Clove played last night and it was like a lounge room set but with levelled up kit, they are super talented. The room was full and it felt incredibly warm and like stupid lovely. We have had somewhere over a hundred different djs play the venue which I think is nuts. Thinking about the mix of genres that we like and how they get played in here is a great thought and one we care about deeply. That is our ethos I guess, to play music that bops but is off the track, feels right and still excites regardless if the tempo.

How important is community to your business?

Community is everything to Patio! We are a part of it as much as we are trying to foster it. People bring us ideas and collaborative projects all the time. In many ways we are just conduits as a venue, we are the background to motion and movement. We love that two way relationship of community involvement. Everything you put into it comes back another way, equal and opposite forces and all that. It is rewarding. It becomes about relationships, respect for important causes and shared interests, truly meaningful stuff to be a part of. Community is respectful, open hearted and warm. That’s the philosophy we want to live to. Reflecting on it I think it is profound that we started with a community of locals and friends. Our community is now radically larger. We are connected so much further than we anticipated to all these different communities now, and we are a hub for other people’s communities too.

Thanks for reading! Listen to Patio Bar's playlist on Spotify or Apple Music.