Runner Up Rooftop Bar & Garden

Runner Up sits on level two above 35 Johnston St, inside the Collingwood Yards arts and enterprise hub. Getting there is part of the appeal — you dart through the Yards' corridors to a small terrace, then take an elevator up to a rooftop with a retractable awning, heaters and 270-degree views across the inner north. The room reads, as Time Out put it, "like being in a sleeker version of your creative mate's sharehouse," with vintage furniture, houseplants, board games and live vinyl DJ sets. It was opened by a crew drawn from some of Melbourne's better-known small enterprises, including A Lounge, Colour Club, Mildlife and Confetti Studio.

The drinks list runs from budget pours to a rotating cocktail menu, and the non-alcoholic options are more than an afterthought. Beer drinkers get Heaps Normal XPA 0%, the Australian-made zero-alc pale, while Drivers Non-Alc Lager turns up on the venue's weekday sundown special (a bargain A$7 alongside the mulled wine). NON7 Stewed Cherry & Coffee — a sparkling grape-based drink from Melbourne's own NON (No Nasty Naturals) — is poured by the glass, and there's a Lyre's Italian-style non-alcoholic spritz built around the Australian Lyre's range.

The house mocktails round out the zero-proof offering, with builds such as the French Raspberry, the Maple Plum Spritz and the Coconut Cold Open. Snacks stay simple — dolmades, olives, chips — so the focus stays on the view and the drinks.

Bookings are limited during peak weekend hours (generally after 5pm), but the space takes reservations outside those windows and hosts larger functions with exclusive hire when arranged out of hours.