Bells Milk Bar Mural

Originally a confectionery store and cordial factory in the 1890s, it was a soda fountain shop in the 1920s before becoming Bells Milk Bar in 1938. Its last major renovation was in 1956 and it hasn't changed since. Inside, you'll still find the original Jetsons-style "dancing fruit and aliens" interior murals, as well as laminex marble tables and vinyl and chrome chairs.
Bells was a Broken Hill icon for most of the 20th century but it was sold by the original Bells in 1980. After a string of owners and local mine closures, the business languished, tired and forgotten, in a sleepy part of Broken Hill on the wrong side of the tracks. That is until self-styled "Milk Bar Crusader" Jason King rescued, restored and revived it five years ago.
“It was a restoration rather than a renovation,” says King from behind the chrome-trimmed glass-topped counter. "We didn't really have to do much to it. We cleaned it up a bit but what you see today is pretty much the way it was when we bought it.”



Read less