Popular Civic bar Kokomo's is all boarded up, all set to make way for Wilma

But seeing popular nightspot Kokomo's getting the plywood treatment for the past several weeks has an ominous tinge to it.

The bar and nightclub was the scene of a fatal brawl in July, 2020, barely a month after the city had started to reopen after the first COVID lockdown. But despite an inevitable storm of negative publicity, followed a year later by a fight at the bar involving Raiders centre Curtis Scott captured on CCTV, Kokomo's stayed open.

And by all accounts, and against the odds, it continued to draw the usual night-time revellers to its prominent corner spot on Bunda Street.

But it seems this second, longer lockdown has been an opportunity for the Harrington restaurant dynasty to take the nightspot in a different direction.

In keeping with the fast-changing world of high-end dining, Kokomos looks set to be replaced in coming weeks with a new restaurant, Wilma, alongside a separate bar called The Pearl.

While details are scant, the man behind the change is most likely acclaimed chef James Viles, who joined Peter Harrington's Harvac Group in February this year, overseeing the kitchens of Kokomos, Akiba and Sage.

Viles moved to the capital after closing his Southern Highlands' renowned two-hatted restaurant Biota in 2020. With Wilma, it's likely he'll be able to start a new food chapter while maintaining Akiba and Sage, both staples in the Canberra scene.

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And Wilma looks set to be delivering a new and adventurous menu, if Kokomos most recent experiment is anything to go by.

In November, 2020, just a few months after the fatal stabbing, but long before the advent of COVID, Kokomos tested the waters with a pop-up dining venue inside the bar, Krakatoa, serving progressive Asian barbecue. The success of that venture may well be replicated at the soon-to-open Wilma.

Until then, watch this plywood covered space. If the current messaging is anything to go by, it will open its shiny new doors just as abruptly as it closed.

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