Surfers Paradise: Reporter Emily Halloran goes clubbing during COVID-19

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has put nightclubs on notice due to queuing shockers in Brisbane – but the Glitter Strip is on best behaviour, going by a Friday night out.

‘Eerily quiet’ Friday night on the Glitter Strip.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has put nightclubs on notice due to queuing shockers in Brisbane – but the Glitter Strip is on best behaviour, going by a Friday night out.

It is unimaginable to think the Surfers Paradise night-life scene can be tamed and abide with no dancing and patron limits. But it appears to be.

Exhibit A comes at 10.45pm. Retros has a big line outside, there wasn’t one at Asylum and 20 people are waiting to get into Havana.

Surfers Paradise nightclub: People line up outside Retros at 10.45pm.

Security checking ID at the door is taking social distancing seriously. Every few minutes he shouts: “Everyone get on an X. Do not share an X. You need your own.”

A middle-aged woman passing says “you guys are crazy standing in line. I bet you’re under 20. I feel sorry it happened to you in your prime but really? You want to spend your night doing this?”

After a 20 minute wait, we got into Havana and are charged $20 entry. We are escorted to a table which has a “please remain seated” sign.

No bar service is on offer – only young women in lingerie can bring us a drink. Music is blasting, no one is dancing. It is an odd experience under rules banning dance floors and mingling with others.

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Surfers Paradise nightclub: Inside a seated Havana at 11.30pm.

Friday night on the Glitter Strip is typically full of party people desperate to blow off some steam. But with enforced coronavirus restrictions, it is a shadow of itself with much quieter streets.

Retros and Asylum – owned by The Hallmark Group – don’t offer free entry “due to Qld government restrictions”. Havana, the first club to reopen on the Glitter Strip a month ago, “suggests guests arrive early to avoid disappointment” from 9pm.

My partner and I had gotten to the Glitter Strip at 8.30pm and streets are eerily quiet. There are no lines outside clubs but half a dozen social distancing and waiting outside The Ave.

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Surfers Paradise nightclub: Empty streets at 8.30pm.

While waiting, we watch red carpet get laid on the cement at Retros and about 30 or so 20-somethings line up at 8.50pm for a 9pm club opening. Social distancing is maintained. It takes 15 minutes to get to the front of the line and we fill out contact details before being escorted to a table.

Staff run over to wipe down the table and seats before we are seated. There is bar service but staff are taking orders to keep patrons seated. We carry on and with little sign of life at nightclubs, we turn back for a drink at boutique Tipsy Pig.

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Jimmy Ozturk and Nashida Miriam.

Veteran Glitter Strip venue frontman, Jimmy ‘Mr VIP’ Ozturk, is standing out front and after an elbow-bump, ushers us into a hidden gem – after filling out an online contact detail form, of course. How’s he? “I’ve been good, very good. Just glad to be back.”

He hopes Ms Palaszczuk keeps it that way. She warned on Sunday that if Brisbane breaches continue, closures will come.

“If they continually breach, they will be shut,” she said.

“We don’t want to do that.”