IB IS PUTTING DOWN ROOTS. SORT OF.

Innocent Bystander is opening a new semi-permanent pop-up cellar door in String Bean Alley at Queen Victoria Market from mid-September, giving us a new Melbourne home from Thursday to Sunday and, for once, an address that doesn’t have wheels attached to it.

The new space takes everything we love about the Mobile Cellar Door and gives it a little more permanence. It’s a container wine bar, not a traditional cellar door, because frankly that wouldn’t be very us. Expect IB wines by the glass, bottles to take home and the same relaxed, slightly sideways approach to wine that tends to follow us wherever we go.

The idea is pretty simple. Pull up a seat, grab a glass and stay for a while. No wine theatre. No need to know the difference between French and American oak before you order. Just good wine in one of Melbourne’s best markets, poured by people who are very happy to help you find something you like.

And this time, we’ve got neighbours.

We’re setting up alongside Brick Lane Brewing, and Antagonist Spirits with food coming from the Brick Lane Market Kitchen across the road. Which means your innocent plan to “just pop into the market” now has the potential to involve lunch, a glass of wine and whatever happens after that.

We accept absolutely no responsibility for this.

For us, String Bean Alley feels like a pretty natural place to call home. It’s tucked into one of Melbourne’s most iconic markets, surrounded by food and people, with enough grit and personality that we don’t need to polish the edges too much. We can just turn up, open the doors and do what IB does best. It also means the Mobile Cellar Door can keep doing what it was born to do: move. While our new String Bean Alley digs hold the fort in Melbourne, the Airstream can continue popping up at festivals and events around the country, introducing IB to new people wherever they happen to be.

So yes, technically we’re settling down. But only a little.

Opening mid-September, you’ll find us in String Bean Alley at Queen Victoria Market, Thursday to Sunday. Come for a glass, grab something to eat next door, bring a few mates or take a bottle home for later.

New digs. Same IB vibes.

Innocent Bystander. Born Different.