Influential Woolloongabba Cocktail Bar Canvas Turns 15

Some places influence a city’s food and drink scene because they’re pioneers, showcasing a new concept or drawing people to a new neighbourhood. Others are local stalwarts, famous for a signature serve. Then there are training grounds, with talented staff who go on to open their own beloved venues. And some are just perennially popular, fun places to hang out.

Woolloongabba bar Canvas, which turned 15 this month, has been all those things.

When the bar opened on July 2, 2010, it marked a new chapter for first-time bar owners Marco and Emily Nunes, Bonnie Shearston and Tom Sanceau. But Canvas was also something new for Brisbane.

Canvas Club in 2016. Photo: Tammy Law

Queensland had just introduced small bar licences, which allowed venues with a capacity of 60 or less to pay significantly reduced liquor licence fees. Canvas was in the first batch of businesses approved under the new scheme. “We were very lucky with our timing, because I think they were looking for a sort of flagship to run with this new licence concept,” says Shearston.

The speedier process suited the four founders, who went from touring the Logan Road site to opening roughly six months later. To decorate the bar’s feature wall, they gave street artists Teibo and Jimmy Bliggs carte blanche – the fantastical mural they painted became a symbol of Canvas.

The same freewheeling atmosphere was on display from the bar’s first night. “We’d invited our friends and family down for the opening night, just as a test run,” Shearston recalls. “Our liquor licence hadn’t come through yet when the guests started to arrive. Our builder was still up on the backbar, drilling the shelves into the wall … So, we were making mocktails, literally waiting by the phone. About 7.15pm, we got a call saying, ‘You’re good to go.’ And we just popped the champagne.”

Back then, dedicated cocktail bars were a rarity in Brisbane, especially in the suburbs. The Bowery, which opened in the Valley seven years earlier, was the nearest reference point.

“We wanted to give people a more elevated entry to cocktails,” says Marco. “Also having some theatre, whether it be using dry ice or throwing drinks … which I think was fairly ahead of its time,” says former bartender Jay Lambert, who joined Canvas shortly after it opened.

In a short time, the venue netted “a huge amount of awards,” says Shearston. “There was a lot of attention on it because of that small bar licence.”

But it wasn’t just a hit with critics. Whether after work or after a match at the Gabba, people came to Canvas for its laid-back vibes and approachable menu. It was a place where you could discover new drinks without feeling like you’d walked into a moustache wax convention.

“One of the best things about working there was a lot of [patrons] were open to trying something new. So we could really take them on a journey,” says Lambert.

Outside of XXXX, Brisbane doesn’t have a quintessential drink like the Singapore Sling. But Canvas has two undeniably iconic cocktails: the Vasquez (aged rum, maraschino liqueur and Amaro Averna served with coconut-water ice) and the Great Escape (gin, grapes, elderflower cordial, cloudy apple juice and mint). Both drinks have been mainstays since the bar’s early days.

Dan Rodriguez at Canvas Club in 2025. Photo: Fergus Hurst

In 2013, the four owners sold Canvas to former graphic designer Dan Rodriguez and Bodie Schofield. Ordinarily, that would be the end of the story: new owners, new name, new venue. But not for Canvas. Instead, Rodriguez, who still owns Canvas (Schofield has since moved on), was careful with changes.

“What drew me to Canvas was just the intimate vibe, and the kind of rustic Spanish tapas bar feel that I really liked,” says Rodriguez.

“We couldn’t have sold it to better people,” says Shearston. Marco agrees: “The venue itself has really good bones … I think what they’ve done with it is excellent.”

For Rodriguez, radically changing the bar was never on the cards. “I wanted to keep the vibe and the soul as a bit of a tribute to [the original owners] – and then build on it and make it my own as well,” he says.

On a recent visit – her first to Canvas in years – Shearston says “it still felt like Canvas. It was just so beautiful … They’ve just nurtured it and kept it going and driving forwards. It still had all the essence of Canvas, but was obviously still on trend.” The backyard area is larger now, but Canvas has kept the same name, décor and atmosphere for the past 15 years.

Canvas Club in 2025. Photo: Fergus Hurst

For a bar in Brisbane, that’s nothing short of a miracle. When The Bowery shut down in 2020 after 17 years, Canvas became one of the oldest still-open dedicated cocktail bars in the city. The Junk Bar is the only other venue from the first cohort of small bar licensees that’s still trading under its original name, albeit in new digs.

Today, many beloved Brisbane venues have been shaped by Canvas staff. Shearston and Sanceau went on to open Brisbane spots including Ruby My Dear. Marco is group bar operations manager at Anyday. Rodriguez parlayed Canvas into a mini Gabba empire, opening Electric Avenue and Mr Badgers in the same Logan Road cul-de-sac.

“One of the most special things has been watching the neighbourhood change around us while we’ve stayed true to who we are at Canvas,” says Rodriguez. He adds that the bar is planning to hold a belated birthday celebration in a few months’ time, featuring greatest hits from previous food and drink menus.

In the 15 years since Canvas opened, Brisbane’s hospitality scene has gone from strength to strength, and there are more places than ever to get a great cocktail. The secret of the bar’s success is some indefinable combination of people, place, time and offering. But the secret of its longevity might be more straightforward. A decade and a half on, Canvas is still a fun place to be.

Canvas Club
16B Logan Road, Woolloongabba
0401636029

Hours:
Tues to Thu 5.30pm–10pm
Fri 5.30pm–midnight
Sat 5pm–midnight

canvasclub.com.au
@canvasbrisbane