Orange Whip Ringwood: Maroondah Hwy nightclub bites the dust due to Covid-19
With Ringwood’s Orange Whip nightclub closed for good, we’ve uncovered a stack of pictures of clubbers in happier times. See if you’ve made our gallery.
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Ringwood’s night-life scene has been dealt another blow with a much-loved nightclub closed for good after 14 years of trading.
Orange Whip nightclub at 115-119 Maroondah Highway won’t be reopening after its operators handed back the lease to the building in April.
The club, which opened in 2007, is listed as “permanently closed” on its Google listing and its Facebook page has been deleted.
It was set to hold a farewell party in late May which never eventuated after Melbourne was forced into its fourth Covid-19 lockdown.
Andrew Joyce, one of three former shareholders in the club, told Leader the virus outbreak had cost him and his business partners $500,000 in lost revenue since they took over in 2019.
Mr Joyce said the inconsistency of lockdowns and failed attempts to get a rent reduction from the building’s landlord made it unviable to continue.
“The laws and regulations around it (Covid-safe clubbing) don’t make any sense to us … when we reopened we could only get 70 people into a venue which was licensed for 600, and every lockdown that changed,” he said.
“We couldn’t keep going through with it … we lost a lot of money.
“It became a battle in keeping customers happy and abiding by Covid-safe rules, and that made it hard for customer relationships.”
Mr Joyce said he would be focusing on his other business, Jump Touring, which works with 300 venues around Australia and Asia, and is also in a holding pattern due to Covid-19.
He hoped Ringwood could remain a night-life and clubbing destination in the outer east.
“There’s no reason why it shouldn’t, it has good public transport and a good population, and it’s still a melting pot to save them (clubbers) going to the city,” Mr Joyce said.
The demise of Orange Whip leaves its nearby neighbours on the Maroondah Highway strip, ZuBar and Baby, as the only nightclubs remaining in Ringwood.
Both venues are yet to re-open due to Covid restrictions.
The Manhattan Hotel no longer holds club nights while Ringwood East’s Daisey’s Hotel was bulldozed earlier this year for Ryman Healthcare’s $150 million retirement village.
Orange Whip’s landlord was unable to be reached for comment.
Here is a collection of pictures of clubbers during Orange Whip’s glory days, which we have been allowed to share with permission from the club’s former operator.
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