Inside nightclub Sin City: Usher, Usain Bolt, Amber Heard, craziness

Gold Coast nightclub Sin City is famous for “craziness” and high-profile celebrity drop-ins - but that all appears to be on the skids with the locks changed and legal threats flying.

Maddi Harris, Jorjah Burgess, Jess Sims and Harmony Guta at Sin City recently - the club operator has now been locked out by its landlord, the venue interior has been stripped bare and legal action is being threatened from both sides.

I once asked a Gold Coaster for their favourite nightclub.

“Sin City,” they replied, eyes flashing in excitement. “Just because of the craziness. You never know what might happen.”

Indeed a lot has, certainly in the 13 years Rockbah Bar Pty Ltd has had the Surfers Paradise tenancy.

But it came to an abrupt halt late last week when Melbourne landlord David Brandi’s Bada Bing Holdings locked the operator out during an escalating dispute including alleged rent arrears of $250,000-plus since September.

RockBah Bar disputes that amount, claiming a new lease agreement in December which had seen $10,000-a-week rent payments accepted without complaint until the coronavirus shutdown a month ago.

Usain Bolt enjoyed a Sin City back booth just about every night of his stay as an ambassador during the April 2018 Commonwealth Games. Picture: Sin City Instagram

Whether Sin City ever reopens remains to be seen. But if you had been a patron, chances are you will have bumped into anyone from Gold Coast tennis pro Bernard Tomic to sprint legend Usain Bolt, who occupied a back bar VIP booth six nights in a row during April 2018’s Commonwealth Games.

On his first night, Bolt took over the DJ tables. With a dance floor chanting “Usain! Usain!”, he yelled into the mic “you mothers—kers are awesome”.

Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt hopped in the DJ booth to play some Drake during the Games.

Five months later visiting music stars Usher and Lil John took over the front bar for a huge party, using their own personal security detail on top of the nightclub’s bouncer team.

A year earlier, Aquaman actress Amber Heard sent staff into a slight panic by ordering red wine - not a typical drink request. But she was sufficiently impressed by their ability to scurry and find her a bottle that she returned on several occasions.

Sin City nightclub VIP host Ric Gibson with Aquaman star and Hollywood A-lister Amber Heard in 2017 - she ordered red wine and Mr Gibson had to go find some.

As well as being able to handle most VIP requests (including allowing Bolt to enter and exit through a discrete back door) the club prided itself on being risqué - female bar staff were dressed in lingerie - while the star attraction of its weekly ‘ladies night’ was a half-dressed chiselled male troupe who would pose for photos.

Ashlee Hickey, Emily Montgomery, Taylor Surman, Tayla Greenaway, Amber Montgomery, Alyssa Shaw at Sin City on a weekend night out earlier this year.

It’s the venue where Tomic was infamously photographed getting an impromptu lapdance by patrons on his 21st and where an Irish boxer at the 2018 Commonwealth Games was fined $756 for public nuisance after allegedly punching on with bouncers. It prompted Australian Games team bosses to warn its athletes about going there.

Sin City was a hotspot during the 2018 Commonwealth Games, especially after Usain Bolt started heading in each night. Picture: Richard Gosling

But “the craziness” which fuelled its profile and saw patrons packing in seven nights a week appears over – at least at the central location amid the Orchid Avenue party strip.

The Bulletin has revealed the interior has been completely stripped in what property manager Greg Bell slammed as something he had never seen the likes of in his 43-year career.

The landlord’s legal representative alleged it amounted to vandalism.

Artesian Hospitality partner Matt Keegan who has an interest in Sin City claims operator Rockbah Bar Pty Ltd is planning to take legal action against its landlord after being locked out - the landlord’s legal representatives have called any legal claim “fanciful”. Picture: Glenn Hampson

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But Matt Keegan, of Artesian Hospitality which has an interest in Sin City via Rockbah, said the stripping out of the venue’s equipment and fittings was due to suppliers going in – as he believed they had every right to do prior to the locks changing – to claim what they owned. He said stripping of the venue had left his team devastated as it “fully intended to reopen” after coronavirus restrictions lifted.

B.O.B performing at Sin City nightclub recently.

The ugly dispute appears headed for court with Mr Keegan saying Rockbah Bar is quantifying damages – including lost earnings due to the unlikelihood of a post-coronavirus reopening – before lodging a claim in the Supreme Court. It is a claim Bada Bing Holdings Legal team has described as “fanciful”.

Mr Bell claimed the landlord Bada Bing would have to spend $500,000 to refit to have any chance of getting a new tenant. Bada Bing’s legal team have indicated it intends to “commence proceedings against those responsible for the damage done to our client’s property”.