HandleBar Adelaide brings 16-passenger pedalling pub on wheels to Australia in 2016
The HandleBar Adelaide uses vehicles devised by brothers Henk and Zwier Van Laar in the Netherlands in the 1990s.
Image courtesy The HandleBar Adelaide
The HandleBar Adelaide, Australia’s first pub on wheels, is a 16-passenger pedal-powered mobile music, fun and drinking experience, offering two-hour tours of the city centre.
The HandleBar’s four-wheel open frame vehicles, devised by brothers Henk and Zwier Van Laar in the Netherlands in the 1990s, are totally powered by the pedalling passengers at just under 10km/h with the bar handler guiding its braking and direction. After the novelty was taken up in US, European and Asian cities, Adelaide gained the first of the vehicles (it now has four) in Australia in 2016.
They were brought to Adelaide by Stephen Lindsay and Jason Seris who’d operated nine of the Amsterdam-made vehicles in the US since 2012. They chose Adelaide because of its smaller size where they’ve found the concept has most impact. They met extensively with the city council and state government agencies to ensure compliance in safety, food and alcohol service, waste disposal, suitable city routes and occasional stopping points.
The two-hour tours around the Adelaide CBD allow passengers to enjoy a South Australian beer, cider or wine (that can be pre-ordered and prepaid online) to the background of their own karaoke playlist, with stops at other hotels along the way.
A similar concept has been taken up by Glenelg Pedal Bar with an all-aluminium pedal vehicle starting and finishing at the Watermark Hotel, Glenelg (corner of Anzac Highway and Adelphi Terrace), then taking in beach tracks, visiting Moseley Square and Marina Pier bars.
