EMMA Kennedy has great affection for her late grandfather, Keith Furner, and even shares his birthday.
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"Skeeta was his nickname, it comes from the fact he was always around and into everything," she says.
"That's what he was known as back when he was in the [second world] war. He told a fib to be enlisted, he was just shy of 16. He was a hard nut.
"He used to live with us and we were close. He was your typical Aussie, he'd do anything for anyone, loving, a great Pop, he taught us how to be genuine. He was just a general champion."
Not by chance, she has named her family's new bar Skeeta's on Darby. She runs it with her eldest children Bryce and Alex, with her youngest son Fletcher busting to turn 18 so he can help.
The Cooks Hill bar's launch follows the success of two 'Skeeta's' bars in southern Sydney run by two of her siblings.
In Skeeta's on Darby, there is a wall full of photographs of Emma's family, including her parents and Skeeta.
"I've put a picture up of my three kids to annoy them," she says.
The atmosphere of the bar, which serves wine and beer on tap alongside tapas-style meals, is as Skeeta would have liked it - cosy, relaxed and quirky. Among the pieces of art bought at op shops are images of the KB beer and cigarettes that he loved.
"People say 'That's so daggy but it looks great," laughs Emma.
"It's no fuss, really fun, a relaxed environment for people to sit down and enjoy a wine or beer and it's not like anything else.
"It's not like a nightclub where there are 18-year-olds running around, it's quirky and kind of like an extension of my house, where everyone is always coming around, it creates a community."
Open a few weeks, the bar has drawn visitors who frequent Sydney's Skeeta bars.
Ms Kennedy hopes down the track her kids may open other Skeeta bars to "try and start a legacy" in Newcastle.
The bar trades Wednesday to Sunday, when there is live local music.
"I want it to become a popular place for everyone to know and say, 'Let's pop down to Skeeta's," Emma says.
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