Lefty's Music Hall

Lefty's Music Hall is like a lavish honky tonk saloon meets bordello that's been beamed up from the deep south of 19th century America to Caxton St.

Inhabiting Petrie Terrace's majestic old Baroona Labor Hall, which it shares with the ghosts of original occupants the Oddfellows, Labor party members, tailors, punk concert goers and strippers (the latter from its last incarnation as the renowned burlesque strip club The Velvet Cigar), Lefty's is a world away from most bars in Brisbane.

Inside is a decadent vision splendid of scarlet walls, chandeliers, giant gilt mirrors, black leather candlelit booths and an opulent curved bar overlooked by giant moose heads, a bear and a peacock mounted in wall alcoves. Upstairs a wraparound red carpeted gallery where once the strippers hosted private shows is now a lounge bar of vintage Chesterfields and clusters of stools.

Dotted around are relics preserved from The Velvet Cigar days – amongst them a vintage Cuban Cigar cabinet, bar stools and, behind the cubicle doors in the men's toilet, the list of prices for the girls' services.

True to its honky tonk wild west theme, the drinks menu here is top heavy in beer (of the boutique variety) and whisky, including Lefty's signature apple whisky cocktail, while the bar food menu includes cheeseburgers, hot dogs, buffalo wings, loaded fries and cheeseburger spring rolls.

Entertainment wise, when the sweet twangs of country, rockabilly, blues and roots or jazz music aren't being piped through the hall, they come from live bands on the mini cow skin floored stage with its resident taxidermy chimpanzee.