Page 13: How the stars partied at St Kilda’s Hotel Barkly

Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez and Jason Statham were fans, while homegrown AFL stars Dane Swan and Buddy Franklin made a regular appearance. Now, as the Hotel Barkly gets set for a one-off reunion, we look back at its noughties heyday.

St Kilda’s Hotel Barkly was a hotspot for homegrown and international stars. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

The story goes that David Beckham, while at the height of his career and very much married to Posh Spice, managed to slip out a back entrance of the St Kilda nightclub in a blacked-out car.

It was the era of Girls Gone Wild, and several revellers had already been trying to get their way into the roped-off VIP back room at the Hotel Barkly on Sunday night, where Beckham and a fellow Manchester United player were positioned and ready to party.

Some were removing their tops and giving a little jiggle, hoping in vein their ample assets might get them a look-in to the private area, only to receive a firm “no”.

You just never read about it, because owners made damn sure there were no prying eyes, or paps for the story to go public.

Sunday sessions at Hotel Barkly in the heyday. David Beckham 9 middle) and co

Steele Sidebottom, Dane Swan and Dayne Beams.

Lance Franklin. Picture: Licuria Supplied Anthony

Chester and Jobe Watson at Hotel Barkly. Pcture: Anthony Licuria

Such was the case for many of the celebrities – from Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez and UK hardman Jason Statham to our homegrown AFL stars and regulars like Dane Swan and Buddy Franklin, who partied at the Hotel Barkly during its noughties heyday.

The first generation of iPhone was just being released and so with it the camera function, swiftly replacing those halcyon days of the humble Nokia 5100.

Staff were often seizing phones, demanding revellers to delete any incriminating evidence so as to protect the star patrons partying ways, such was the ethos of the famed Melbourne club.

No one had perfected the selfie duck face, or trout pout. The Botox and fillers hadn’t yet migrated and dragged. Stars weren’t so sanitised. And the promoters knew how to keep their trap shut.

Alex Dimitriades in action on the decks.

But ten years on, Page 13 feels it is only fair to share some tales from the Hotel Barkly crypt, before the nightclub reunites the famed Sunday Session for a one-off comeback next week.

Because if you had access to the hotel room’s #301 swipe key it meant you had made it, becoming a code for the stars and players who wanted to partake in some extra-curricular activity in the apartment suite downstairs. Sure Buddy Franklin might have famously finished his (seriously gross) “100 tally” at Eve nightclub, but it was at The Hotel Barkly where the then Hawks star partook in some rumoured activity with the nuber four getting bandied about.

Yes room 301 was used to a lot of bumping and grinding, but the bed quite literally gave way, breaking and buckling when former rugby Lothario Danny Cipriani came to town.

Melbourne Victory players.

Newsreader Alicia Gorey with Channel 9 boss Jeff Browne and Giaan Rooney.

Jules Lund and Anna Dusek.

Firass Dirani.

Melbourne’s gangland wars then had everyone intrigued, with the gangsters becoming stars in their own right and mingling with those who played them on the small screen.

“Only bikie leaders, not rank and file” were allowed in, because c’mon there must be limits.

The TV actors who played them in the much lauded Underbelly series were treated like gods, from Alex Dimitriades, who was a regular DJ there, to Les Hill who once went behind the bar and re-enacted scenes pretending he was from the movie Cocktail.

It was the good ol’ days when Dane Swan and his now wife Taylor Wilson were regulars. But the Brownlow superstar was suspended from Collingwood for two weeks in August 2012, after being spotted partying there alongside former Essendon bad boy Andrew Lovett.

Taylor Wilson and Dane Swan.

Luke Hodge and Brad Sewell.

Dermott Brereton and Paul Laver.

Michael Clarke and Brett Lee.

Suffice to say the AFL clubs weren’t exactly fans. Back then the Herald Sun’s Confidential pages would run a BarFly column featuring the stars who had partied hard the weekend prior, regularly posting pictures of post-match piss-ups at the Barkly.

One club went so far as to fine the players if they bobbed up in the column.

Mitchell Pearce and Gary Ablett Jr. Picture: APL Photography

Mick Molloy, centre parties at Hotel Barkly.

Collingwood players Sharrod Wellingham and Alan Didak.

But it was the very fact the players felt they could kick back and take it easy on a Sunday afternoon that made the club so appealing. Not to mention its discretion.

“I think it appealed so much to the footy players and the sporting teams because it was on a Sunday afternoon and everyone could relax,” former owner Simon Lennox once said.

He and promoter Paul Laver are bringing back their former dream team, with whispers all the booths have already been sold out for the one night only reunion of old regulars on the guest list piling up for the June 9 night out.