Nightclub’s bold plan to bring city side street to life could lead to trial of Mitchell St mall concept

A POPULAR Mitchell St nightclub has a bold plan to close a city side street and activate it with entertainment and food and beverage stalls – a move that could act as a trial for a possible full closure of Mitchell St from Peel to Knuckey streets.

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A POPULAR Mitchell Street nightclub has a bold plan to close a city side street and activate it with entertainment and food and beverage stalls.

The plan, which will be pitched by Monsoons – managed by the Australian Venue Co – to Darwin Council, would include closing Nuttall Place, also allowing punters a safer place to queue for entry to the nightclub.

Monsoons venue manager Carly Balding said the concept would involve closing the laneway on busy nights when the Nuttall Place entrance was used, and could be the first trial leading to a full closure of Mitchell Street from Peel to Knuckey streets.

“We want to close it off Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights from 9pm until 4am,” Ms Balding said.

“If you can get that site right, Mitchell Street would be the next step in creating more of a pedestrian thoroughfare and activating it.

“You could have so much more going on in that part of town.

“We would love to activate the laneway with tables and chairs and even a fold-out stage, a pop-up bar here or there, and give a bit more to the economy – but that’s a pipedream at this stage.

“Let’s get the safety stuff down first of all. The biggest thing is the safety factor, we’re all well aware of the Monsoons line.”

Party crowds line up outside Monsoons in Mitchell Street to celebrate the end of 2020. Picture: Che Chorley

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Monsoons management will meet with the City of Darwin later this week before lodging a submission to be considered by council when meetings resume in February.

The plan follows support from several Mitchell Street venues to create a pedestrian-only mall on the nightclub strip during busy times.

Closing Nuttall Place would also allow the popular nightclub to increase its capacity.

“We’re at two thirds of what we can legally allow in. If Nuttall Place is closed off that will put us back to what our capacity was pre-COVID,” Ms Balding said.

“We’re just looking to be able to create a space so people can line up with social distancing measures in place.

“At the moment, they are a bit crammed on that footpath, so if it was closed we could create a snake line instead of people spilling onto the street.

“It would probably also allow us to check people in on the Territory app a lot easier.

“Monsoons was the second highest check-in point behind the Casino, so we are very good at being able to do that.”

Hospitality NT chief executive Alex Bruce said Monsoons’ proaction and the proposed initiative was exactly what Darwin needed to ensure ideas had a chance of coming to fruition.

“Allowing existing venues to activate and explore new ways for locals to interact with our city is a cracking idea,” he said.

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NT Police say they were willing to work with any applicants on proposals that would improve safety at Northern Territory’s night time venues.

Monsoons hopes the closure of Nuttall Place will begin before the dry season.

Originally published as Nightclub’s bold plan to bring city side street to life could lead to trial of Mitchell St mall concept