Ric’s Bar is known as one of Brisbane’s most iconic bars for its weekly live music, chilled vibes and cheap eats. If you haven’t spent a night there, you clearly aren’t a Valley regular, but you’ll at least recognise their colourful backyard bar, decked out in rainbow fencing, epic street art and a fairy-light adorned hills hoist.

From their $8 steak nights on Wednesdays and Fridays to the pumping dancefloor inside that heaves with bodies until the early hours and even a hangover curing breakfast at Fatboy’s Cafe the next morning, Ric’s is always the place to be.

With live indie bands, space invaders, party-worn décor, a balcony, and back beer garden with washing line, Ric’s Bar is a Valley Institution.

And as clichéd as that sounds there is nothing clichéd about this place. Which is why it is possibly the most refreshing of all the places along this strip – it doesn’t try hard as it doesn’t have to.

Early in the night the bands fill the small front bar, Space Invaders fans hunch over the machines in the back lounge while upstairs film producers rub shoulders with backpackers and musos.

Stay long enough and finish with a cheap artery-clogging breakfast at their café, Fatboys.