For years, Sixty Million Postcards was one of the more characterful stops on Exeter Road, a few steps from the Triangle and the top of the town. It was an independent bar and live-music room with a row of old beach huts pressed into service as outdoor seating out front — a look that made it easy to spot and easy to remember. It has since closed. The refurbished site reopened as a new pub, The Sun, so what follows describes the venue as it was.
What it was
The draw was the programme. Sixty Million Postcards ran live music most evenings and threaded arts events, club nights and one-offs through the calendar, which gave it a following well beyond the passing trade you would expect of a town-centre bar. The room itself was large and unfussy, the sort of space that could hold a gig one night and a quiet drink the next, and it pulled a mixed crowd — students, locals and people out for whatever was on the bill.
The drink, food and live nights
Behind the bar were cocktails, craft beer, wine and the rest of the usual line-up. The kitchen leaned into bar food — burgers and the like — the kind of thing that holds up over a long evening rather than the reason anyone came. None of it was the main event; the stage was, and the beach huts out front gave smokers and warm-night drinkers somewhere to spill out to when the room filled.
Where it stood
The address is 19-21 Exeter Road, on the stretch between the Bournemouth International Centre and the Square, with the Lower Gardens and the seafront just below. It always sat closer to the town’s nightlife than its restaurants, a short walk from the Goat & Tricycle and the other bars around the Triangle, which made it a natural first or last stop on a night out.
What’s there now
The building did not stay empty. After a refurbishment it reopened as The Sun, a town-centre pub with food, drinks and its own run of quiz and music nights — so the spot is still worth a look, just under a different name. For somewhere with live music tonight, the what’s on calendar and the food and drink section will point you towards what is currently open.
