Why you goMary Mary is a new bar with all the character of a 180-year-old colonial speakeasy. The masterful heritage restoration of the 1840s St Mary’s Hospital, exposing convict-era sandstone walls and a parquetry floor assembled from century-old timber found in the rubble, is just one of many intrigues at Hobart’s most glamorous bar. There’s the “secret” entrance, the curious strong-room wall of heavy iron (it’s rumoured to have once served as a morgue), the low-lit corners and velvet upholstery perfect for romance and clandestine exchanges. And it’s at the heart of The Tasman, the $50 million five-star Marriott hotel in Hobart’s heritage Salamanca precinct.
Why you stayCome for the film-set styling, stay for the attention of bar manager Ronán Kavanagh and his thoughtfully conceived and mixed cocktails. And stay longer for the deep comfort of plush studded-leather banquettes, gas-fuelled log fireplaces warming the bar and snugs, and the flattering shadows cast by smouldering lights reflected in dark timber. Has heritage – particularly Tasmania’s dark heritage – ever been so beguiling? There’s also a sense of fun. While the public entrance to Mary Mary is discreet – facing the walled St David’s Park, still bearing 19th-century headstones from its days as the colony’s first cemetery – the entrance from the hotel is secretive. Past an eerie old coal chute (destined to become a spirits library), a cobbled alley leads to an unmarked door, with a small orange-resin sign the only clue to the bar’s presence. It adds to the drama of arrival and the sense of discovery.
