Brisbane nightclub scene is starting to emerge out of the Covid-19 gloom

It’s been a tough two years for Brisbane’s late night pubs and nightclubs and not all of them survived. Find out who came out on top and what they plan for 2022. SEE THE LIST

It has been two years like no other for Brisbane’s night spots.

The Covid-19 pandemic with lockdowns and restrictions have seen some of Brisbane’s young entrepreneurs and older family nightclub owners “burning through money” and in the process the local entertainment and dance scene may have changed forever.

With no patrons they had to close their doors, although understanding landlords and government help have enabled most of then to reopen.

Throughout the tough times Brisbane’s nightclub and renowned night spots remained largely in local hands. Many of these have nightclub trading licences while there are others with that innovative and heady mix of entertainment, atmosphere, food, drink, dance and are open until well into the early morning.

The latest hurdle for operators is that when Queensland reach’s 80 per cent vaccination coverage just before Christmas Brisbane’s nightclubs still have to negotiate the State Government’s latest ruling that only fully vaccinated patrons, staff and anyone else can come through the doors.

The question that many in the industry are asking is will Brisbane’s night-life ever return to “normal”?

Patrick Donohue, who operates the 1920s Shanghai-inspired burlesque prohibition-style Cindy Chow’s Cocktail Bar, with Justin Kong’s Ling Ling’s Restaurant, and the Blvd Nightclub, prefers to say they are entering into the “new normal” zone.

“Places like Blvd Nightclub were hit hard with dance restrictions and wearing masks. It wasn’t the right type of business to operate during restrictions. So I haemorrhaged a lot of money when we were unable to trade,” he said.

“But I feel like the restaurant and bar side of things actually in many cases thrived during Covid because places like Ling Lings had atmosphere, food and beverage and table service.

“There will always be a place for food and there will always be places to serve alcohol and there will be places for entertainment. But I’m not sure what that will look like in the future or whether it will ever get back to where it was.”

Justin Kong and Patrick Donohue at Cindy Chow's Cocktail bar & Ling Ling’s Restaurant on Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley.

Perhaps the future may be that big is not necessarily better for the battered sector and in times of uncertainty keeping venues small may be the better option.

C Property QLD’s hospitality specialist Danilo Maruca said late night venue owners were “burning through money” over the last couple of years because of the impact of Covid-19 restrictions on their bottom lines.

“Perhaps what Covid showed us was the difficulty of the mega nightclubs in situations like this.

“Large venues had to close because under restrictions they are not financially viable. While the smaller venues may not be geared up to the full scale, rapid drink bar culture of nightclubs they did better because they could capitalise on the distance restrictions and table ordering,” he said.

Mr Maruca said last year there were few new late night venue leases signed, although it has improved in 2021, despite both tenants and landlords being scarred from their Covid-19 ordeals.

“Probably the biggest change I’ve seen is the lease negotiations and requests from tenants for rental assistance as a result of the pandemic events occurring,” he said.

“It’s a difficult time for both landlords and tenants. When restrictions eased a little bit earlier in the year and we saw borders open up there was quite a bit of resilience in the market and we saw transactions take place and some of the guys could take advantage of that.

“There were actually a lot less nightclub closures than expected.”

Danilo Maruca at the Fortitude Valley building that will house Su Casa Nightclub with the ground floor currently occupied by Shades. Picture: Tertius Pickard

In many cases it was the normal merry-go-round of venues with those already on the edge failing to reopen after lockdown and their tenancies being taken over by new venues.

In the Valley Sub Rosa closed down this year citing one lockdown too many while the GPO closed last year as did Beirne Lane and the venue was taken over by Hallmark Group’s Latin inspired Hey Chica!

Mr Donohue’s Miami-themed Blvd nightclub opened this year in the former home of Lost on Ann St. His mega nightclub Famous closed after being damaged by fire last year, while the Katarzyna Group has repurposed its long running The Family nightclub as The Warehouse which is now focused on functions.

Luna Hospitality Group closed its Su Casa Nightclub on Ann St and will reopen it by the end of the year 50m up the road at the Biedek family’s former Elixir Rooftop Bar which closed in early 2021.

Ivy Blu Rooftop bar co-owner Trent Redman at the Caxton St late night bar.

Luna — which also owns the Kejin Restaurant & Nightlcub in the Valley — opened Ivy Blu Rooftop on Caxton St on NRL Grand final weekend and director Trent Redman said it was a good start despite restrictions.

“The last couple of years have been tough. It’s just so unpredictable — one weekend you think you’re trading well even with that one person per 2sq m rule but at a drop of a hat on a Saturday afternoon things change and you have no choice but to comply,” he said.

“When things were first locked down in March last year no one thought we’d be nearing the end of 2021 and still have restrictions.”

Mr Redman said the impact of Covid-19 meant staffing was an issues after reopening.

“The biggest thing I noticed when all the restrictions came in was that jobs disappeared in hospitality so everyone sat there and thought I had to pivot and try something new or get completely out of the trade,” he said.

“So a lot of people left and took up alternative work because no-one knew how long it would go for and now good staff are hard to get.”

He also said the latest state government announcement banning unvaxxed people from nightclubs was “ludicrous”. “I’m not anti-vaxxer. I’m not pro-vaxxer,” he said. “I think everyone should have their own choice to make. I think it’s ridiculous that if I don’t get vaccinated the business that I have built from the ground up and I’m being told I can’t work there.”

Hallmark Group director Scott Hempel.

Hallmark Group director Scott Hempel whose company has three entertainment/late night venues — Hey Chica! and Retros in Fortitude Valley and Lefty’s Music hall on Caxton St — said businesses had ebbed and flow in line with restrictions.

“Off the back of the last lot of easing of restrictions everything bounced back and I guess that’s what we are particularly happy about we launched Hey Chica! which traded particularly well and very quickly cemented itself in the late night Brisbane scene,” he said.

“We’re finding people are more accepting of the restrictions than they were in the past.”