You’ll never guess where the couple behind Moby Dick’s – Atika Keane and Mick Reid – met. Photos: Supplied.
I used to laugh when Canberra friends would describe a little tavern deep in West Belconnen heartland as “scary”.
“Mate, I’m from Queanbeyan,” I’d say.
“You blokes over the border don’t get to tell me what’s ‘scary’.”
Still, Moby Dick’s was a hard no when partying in the general 2615 area.
It was rumoured to be a watering hole for bikies, a place of occasional violence and not exactly known for making women feel at home. I’d always pictured a dark, dingy bar with blokes in leather jackets spilling out the front and the back, schooners in hand and beer froth on their beards and moustaches. Like a boisterous party scene from Sons of Anarchy.
The old Moby Dick’s wasn’t super … inviting. Photo: Supplied.
Then, last month, I actually went there.
And it was the best night out I’ve had in a very long time.
Because if you’ve always believed the rumours and never stepped foot in Moby Dick’s, or you haven’t been there in the nine years since Atika Keane and Mick Reid took over, you won’t know that Moby’s has had the makeover or all makeovers. We’re talking about a serious glow-up.
As the tiny taverns of West Belconnen crumbled around them – think Kippax, Fraser and the Magpies Club – Atika and Mick doubled down and completely transformed the interior and the energy of the infamous venue, and by extension, its reputation.
The feeling now is ‘beautiful country pub’ and punters are loving it. Photo: Atika Keane.
“We always knew we wanted to completely reinvent the place,” Atika says.
“At first we struggled with the name. You know, to have a reputation like that – that had been built up over decades – was always going to be hard.
“But people knew the location and there was a sense of nostalgia we wanted to retain.
“And we couldn’t come up with anything better!”
Moby Dick’s Tavern opened on Hardwick Crescent, Holt, in 1978. An 18-year-old Atika Keane was working as an apprentice hairdresser two doors down in 1998, when she called in to Moby’s to use the bathroom – and was offered a job behind the bar.
She remembers exactly what the venue was like in the 90s and early 2000s.
What Moby’s used to look like inside. Photo: Supplied
“Yes, it was a place where bikies came in and we did have the occasional event where police were called,” Atika says.
“But the rumours were much worse than the reality of what the bar was actually like.”
Between kids and stints interstate, Atika continued working at Moby’s, and was the natural successor when former owner Darcy Henry decided to retire in 2017.
Having served drinks to punters for more than 25 years, Atika knew exactly what was needed to turn Moby Dick’s into the kind of place “where everyone felt welcome, where you’d meet friends at the end of the day and truly come and make it your local”.
Back in the day: Moby Dick’s Tavern in the early 2000s. Photo: Supplied.
In 2019, Atika and Mick took over the space of the former Kippax Curry House next door, smashing through the walls between the venues and doubling the floorspace of Moby’s.
They built Zaria’s Country Kitchen, named after their small daughter, literally by hand, exposing the roof trusses and decorating the walls with old newspaper clippings they’d found under the floorboards at Mick’s nan’s house. (These articles alone are worth a visit to Moby’s.)
Zaria’s Country Kitchen was recently named the home of the best schnitzel in Canberra in Hit104.7’s Best of Canberra. The secret? “Just making the best quality food for the best quality people that walk through our doors”.
Zaria Reid wants “everyone to come and try the schnitzel!” at the country kitchen named after her. Photo: Atika Keane.
The Moby events calendar is packed. Last week was a Moulin Rouge-themed party. The week before was a bikini carwash fundraiser where the men wore bikinis, not women, and washed cars lined up along Hardwick Crescent. There’s trivia, live bands and Anzac Day is a staple. On Saturday nights it’s packed, and when the lights come on at midnight, most people wander over to the Raiders Club to continue their night.
I think we can say Moby Dick’s is finally living up to its original tagline of guaranteeing punters will have “a whale of a time”.
“I never really stop to think about whether I’m proud of what we’ve done,” Atika says.
“We just get up each day, make people who come in feel like they’re family, and wonder how we can make the place even better.”
Moby Dicks Tavern is located at 116 Hardwick Cres, Holt. It’s open until midnight seven days a week.
Original Article published by Briony Winchester on Region Canberra.