S&N plans Aussie bar chain

Scottish & Newcastle Retail is launching the first nationwide chain of Australian bars, called Bar Oz, in the run-up to the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

Scottish & Newcastle Retail is launching the first nationwide chain of Australian bars, called Bar Oz, in the run-up to the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

With a mixture of big screen TV showing UK and Australian sport, beer brands from the southern hemisphere and food, including an all-day barbecue, the company hopes to create the laid-back style of urban Australian life, enshrined in the Bar Oz slogan, “No worries mate”.

“It is more urban than outback, more in keeping with Sydney 2000 than Crocodile Dundee,” says a company spokeswoman.

The takeover of Courage by S&N has also given the retail chain access to the Australian lager brand

Foster’s, which will be served superchilled on draught in the new bars.

S&N Retail, which already manages pub chains under brands including the Rat & Parrot, Finnegan’s Wake and Old Orleans, has been testing its Bar Oz theme in Newcastle since the summer.

The second trial site opened in London at the end of last year, and bars are planned for Oxford and Bristol in the spring. Forty are set to open over the next three years.

Martin Robinson, S&N Retail marketing director, says: “Bar Oz is a branded pub which will appeal to a wider British market than the backpacker crowd, for whom individual Australian bars currently cater.”