Calls for Brisbane venues to stay open until 2am to help liven up night scene
The hospitality powerhouse behind some of Brisbane’s top restaurants has revealed big plans to shake-up venue opening hours to help liven up the dining scene. VOTE NOW
The hospitality powerhouse behind some of Brisbane’s top restaurants has revealed plans to keep the doors of their latest venues open until 2am to help liven up the late-night dining scene.
Anyday group, the team behind venues like Agnes, Bianca, sAme sAme and the recently revamped Idle bakery, recently opened their first city-side venue, Golden Avenue, on Edward St.
Their next restaurant, The French Exit, is poised to open shortly and Anyday co-owner’s Tyron Simon revealed it’s hoped both restaurants could open until 2am to meet the demands of hungry international travellers arriving in Brisbane on flights after 10pm and wandering locals.
“As we’ve grown, we’re probably more prepared to take those risks,” he said.
“When we started off with a singular restaurant, every dollar in and out really mattered and the hard thing is, we’re trying to balance like everyone, rising costs with staff, especially in the overtime that you accrue.
“It’s our hope that in the city precinct that we’ve opened up … that we would like to stay open and be committed till 2am come halfway through next year.”
Mr Simon was one of the expert panellists at The Committee for Brisbane’s “The Night-time Economy: What makes a good night out, anyway?” event.
The event discussed the increasing recognition that more must be done to support Brisbane’s burgeoning night-time economy and facilitate greater diversity in after-hours activities in the inner-city.
A representative each from Gen Z, Gen Y/Millennial, Gen X and Boomer took turns asking questions of the panel, while being asked themselves what made a great night out.
Mr Simon said the longer venue opening hours would only work with the support of hotels “actively sending people to the restaurant”.
He said it was also only possible with relaxed liquor licensing requirements around the need for strict ID checks at “low risk” venues.
“It’s something that we really want, but also there’s a long term play that we have to absorb a loss for six months in order to make it something that people just know, ‘oh you get to Brisbane, go to the French Exit, it’s open till 2am, you’ll get a great meal’,” he said.
“If everyone is out once a month, past nine o’clock, midweek, there’d be an appetite for more than one restaurant to stay open.
“It’s just trying to balance that, to make sure when no one is out, that we’re not losing too much.”
Mr Simon said more certainty of opening hours was helping drive success across major precincts like James St, Howard Smith Wharves and Fish Lane.
Night-life Economy Commissioner John “JC” Collins, also on the panel, said the same rules could no longer apply to both restaurants and bustling nightclubs, an issue he was continuing to discuss with Housing, Public Works and Youth Minister Sam O’Connor.
Mr Simon said in the lead up to 2032, Brisbane’s night-time economy “can’t be turned on one year beforehand”, it needed to be addressed now so it was thriving by then.
Mr O’Connor agreed saying the state’s first night-life strategy would be out by the end of the year and its implementation would be “urgent”.
“We need to start this work now,” he said.
“We can’t just turn it on in 2031. It’s urgent and this is hopefully going to be the start of that.
“We need to make sure that it is a vision for the future of the night-life in the city, and it goes beyond just liquor licensing and alcohol … and we can’t wait to hopefully get a bit of money behind it to turn things around.”
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Populous APAC director Chris Paterson said key entertainment and dining precincts like James St, Howard Smith Wharves and Fish Lane needed to be better connected including with late night public transport options.
He said night-life precincts also needed to be better programmed to be activated during the day.
Boomer and BDO Business Service Partner Tony Young said trying to get home from a late night out in Fortitude Valley was like the “zombie apocalypse for someone like me”.
Queensland Walks executive director Anna Campbell said 84 per cent of girls and women they had surveyed did not feel safe walking or running at night — the worst rate in the country.
She said females were calling for better lightning, connectivity, slower traffic speeds and shorter wait times at pedestrian crossings to help them feel safer in key night precincts like Fortitude Valley.
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