The last pub standing on Belconnen's notorious 'Sesame Street' turns 50

Longevity in Canberra's hospitality scene is something few attain.

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With the closure of a number of nightclubs, restaurants and bars, as well as the less-than-ideal findings from last Friday's ACT government report on the night-time economy, it's not often that one hears a positive story from the hospitality scene.

On Friday, October 23, however, Belconnen's Pot Belly Bar will be celebrating its 50^th anniversary.

Bartender Trent Sheppard enjoys a drink at the 50-year-old Pot Belly bar. Picture by Karleen Minney

Established in 1976, the bar has a long history of live music and an "infinite" number of stories, according to its colourful cast of staff members and faithful regulars.

When the Pot Belly first opened, it joined a block of pubs and nightclubs on Weedon Close nicknamed "Sesame Street", so called because it was a notorious hotspot of under-age drinking.

Since the '70s, Weedon Close has lost its seedy reputation, but it has also lost nearly all of its nightlife venues.

According to its owners Amreesh and Govinder Toor, the Pot Belly's unofficial slogan has become "the last one standing on Sesame Street".

"The older generation get a giggle out of that," Mr Toor said.

Amrit Toor, son of owners Govinder and Amreesh Toor, is nicknamed 'Future' by the staff of the Pot Belly. Picture by Karleen Minney

Mr Toor credits continuing innovation and a committed group of regulars for the survival of the bar.

In the 2010s, the Pot Belly shifted towards craft beer, answering increased demand for local products. Post-pandemic, the supplies got even more local, as the Toors established the Pot Belly as a brew pub and nanodistillery.

"I produce my own beers and spirits, and that basically means I don't have to pay excise [tax]," Mr Toor said.

If he hadn't made this transition, he said, it would have been "impossible to stay alive".

Besides the owners' 18-year-old son Amrit Toor, more commonly known as "Future" by the Pot Belly staff due to his position as the next generation of Pot Belly management, the bar is often crowded with Generation-X patrons and employees.

"That's part of why we're still going," said Mr Toor, a Gen X-er himself. "We know our customers, and we see ourselves as a Gen-X pub."

Music director Lindsey Bush and sound technician Kurt Neist at the Pot Belly bar. Picture by Karleen Minney

The team, including music director Lindsey Bush, sound technician Kurt Neist, and bartender Trent Sheppard, is made up of long-time customers turned employees.

Mr Bush played his second-ever show as a musician at the Pot Belly in 2001.

"My generation cut our teeth in places like this, but most of them are no longer here," he said.

He fondly recalls climbing on top of the table by the door, usually used for ticket sales, to sing before a crowd in 2004. When it collapsed under him, tickets, cash and pints went flying.

Mr Toor has heard stories of firefighters hazing new recruits by locking them in the beer garden, parking a fire truck next door and letting loose on them with the hose.

When indoor smoking was banned in pubs in the 1990s, a local patron, retired merchant navy engineer Frank Williams, volunteered to build extraction fans to allow smoking in line with the legislation.

Mr Sheppard, who has been visiting as a customer since the 1990s, said there are endless stories to tell, though he hesitated to find a polite one.

"It's basically the same as it was in the 80s," he said. "I've seen little bubs here with their mum and dad come back years later with their own kids."

Mr Toor said the Pot Belly will be celebrating with a "shot cake" on Friday. That might mean a pyramid of shots, champagne-tower-style, or perhaps a cake of jelly shots. You'd have to go to the birthday party to find out.