Atlanta’s First Open-Air Bar Coming to The Interlock

Free-roaming clientele will patronize the Holiday Bar, Atlanta’s first truly-outdoor watering hole, scheduled to open this Spring within The Interlock multi-use development in West Midtown. 

Situated at 1115 Howell Mill Rd, the bar will occupy an advantageous space amid the upcoming bustle of the complex. As of now, 200,000 square feet of office space, 90,000 square feet of space to accommodate retailers, 50,000 square feet of “incubator space” with Georgia Technology Venture, Puttshack, a Velvet Taco and a Chase bank are currently slated for inclusion in the Interlock complex, which will also open in Spring according to developer S.J. Collins Enterprises’ Vice President Justin Latone. The entire Interlock property allows open containers, allowing customers to breeze over to the new bar, order a drink and walk to their home or next activity. 

The bar itself will measure just 1,251 square feet in total. An opening on each side,  three windows and one garage door, will allow patrons to approach the bar from all angles. Co-owner Dave Reed said that although the idea came to him before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, it will prove invaluable in the current climate. 

“Dave came up with this idea, rather than trying to enclose it like you would normally,” co-owner Ryan Covert told What Now Atlanta of the innovative design. “Having it open works for the amount of people walking through the area.”

Rather than a shipping container, the little building is custom-made of mesh and plastics by Square Feet Studios, built with snap-on bar equipment the inside to maximize the efficiency of its limited space. Surrounding the Holiday Bar will be a patio with firepits on one side and a high-top bar with drink rails on the other. Throughout, Covert said, fairy lights resembling stars will be hung “so it’s like you were camping”.

“It’s going to be very colorful with lights,” said Reed. “We hope the design execution lives up to [the bar’s name].”

The bar’s drink menu will have a cocktail focus, Reed said, and will draw upon bartenders from popular, yet-unannounced area bars for its staff.

“Some people might expect Christmas, it’s not going to be that.,” said Reed of the soon-to-open bar’s evocative name. “There’s a lot of consonance, I like words with hard consonants… [‘Holiday’ and ‘Bar’ are] nice, grounded words that have a sense of permanence. The name will conjure different, positive things for different people… I want a positive vibe after the negative year we’ve had.”