Gold Coast Nightclubs: Why famous venues closed their doors
The Gold Coast is a city famous for its colour night-life and the characters which have populated it over the decades. But several of its best-loved nightclubs saw a sad end. INSIDE STORY
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THE Gold Coast is a city famous for its colour night-life and the characters which have populated it over the decades.
But while some venues have remained open for decades, most have burned brightly before fading away, either through changes in taste or under new ownership.
However, others have been forced to close and their former spaces lost to decades of property development reshaping the skyline.
The Bulletin this month revealed the Niecon Plaza, once a major Broadbeach landmark was all but demolished.
It’s making way for the $1bn twin-tower Victoria and Albert (V & A) towers which will begin construction next week.
The plaza was best-known as a shopping centre but as also home to some of the city’s most popular nightspots - Love Night-life nightclub and Howl at the Moon.
Both were well-loved in the 2000s and 2010s but both eventually departed.
Many other nightspots and their former locations have seen a similar fate.
ROSE AND CROWN
A popular venue in Surfers Paradise during the 1990s and 2000s, it was inside the Raptis Plaza which stood at the top of Cavill Ave Mall.
It proved so popular that its floorprint had dramatically expanded the end of the 90s and it remained a particular favourite of university students through until the mid-late 2000s.
It was demolished in 2007 to make way for the Soul development after a legal battle to save it.
THE PENTHOUSE
Owned by Bob Walder and Vince Russo, The Penthouse was one of the first major Surfers Paradise nightclubs.
It was in Cavill Ave and eventually grew into a four-storey complex, with seven bars, two discos, a dining room and four dance floors.
Its patrons sometimes included Bob Hawke, Bill and Sonya McMahon, Doug Anthony, Beatle George Harrison, Italian movie star Gina Lollobrigida, TV guru Mike Willesee, politicians of every ilk and some of the nation’s leading businessmen.
THE DRINK
One of the first popular nightclubs to open in the 21st century. It opened its doors in the Year 2000 and boasted a “new level of night-life to Surfers Paradise.
The Orchid Ave club advertised itself as “combining the latest sound and lighting technology with a cool, relaxed atmosphere, it offers a new concept in entertainment”.
It closed in 2010 and its building, also the former location of The Penthouse, was finally demolished in late 2021 to make way for a new retail building.
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