Which Brisbane entertainment venue has the most comfortable seating?

A FAT-shaming scandal at one of Brisbane’s biggest entertainment venues has prompted an investigation into which centres provide comfortable seats and those who try to squash you in. SEE THE STATS

The Brisbane Entertainment Centre has the widest seats, at 47cm for their fixed options.

• Fat shamed at Adele’s Brisbane concert

A FAT-SHAMING scandal at one of Brisbane’s biggest entertainment venues has prompted an investigation into which centres provide comfortable seats and those who try to squash you in.

The Courier-Mail has road-tested some of the state’s major event venues to analyse just how much wriggle room patrons are really given.

Of all the venues looked at it was The Gabba that had the skinniest seats, measuring just 41cm wide.

The Gabba, the venue for superstar Adele’s two Brisbane shows, has the skinniest seats. Picture: Jack Tran

And don’t be surprised if you’re rubbing hips with the person next to you either, with the venue allowing a gap of only 6.5cm between each person.

The measurements would come as no surprise to Victoria Point resident Leisa Bennett, who claimed she was fat-shamed, abused and assaulted while watching Adele perform at The Gabba earlier this month when she encroached on the space of the person sitting next to her.

Gabba seats allow for a gap of 6.5cm between each person. Picture: Jack Tran

Even though the Gabba had the most claustrophobic seating it was not rated as the worst of the 11 venues visited.

Overall, the General Admission section of the Queensland Tennis Centre, which offers only 27cm of leg room and a seat height of just 39cm, faired poorest.

They might have the widest seats but the Brisbane Entertainment Centre has a gap of just 3cm between fixed seats.

To determine which venue had the best seating, excluding padding and arm rests, which are common for indoor venues and corporate and members sections at stadiums, we rated each site on a sliding scale between 1 and 11 for leg room, gap between seats, the width of each seat and the height of a seat off the ground.

If you’re looking for leg room then the Brisbane Entertainment Centre’s new retractable seats are the business class of the major-event world.

Looking for leg room? Here’s how the city’s venues compare.

The retractable seats are situated between the upper section and the ground floor and have a whopping 48cm of leg room.

However they are somewhat compromised by a narrower seat (42cm) than those that are fixed (47cm) at the venue.

The Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre did not compromise on quality when they replaced their seats a year ago.

You’ll be sitting just 39cm off the ground in general admission seats at the tennis centre.

They have a spacious 41cm of leg room and a healthy 11cm between seats.

Overall, the first three placed venues under the rating system were all at QPAC.

The Concert Hall and the Playhouse tied for first with 38 points and the Lyric Theatre was third with 34 points.

At the other end of the scale, the Tennis Centre, with just 13 points, had the lowest score of the 11 venues, while the Gabba was 10th with 15 points.

FINAL SCORE

1: QPAC Concert Hall: (38 points)

1: Playhouse: (38)

3: Lyric Theatre: (34)

4: Convention Centre: Great Hall (30)

5: Tennis Centre: Baseline (27)

6: 8: Suncorp GA (24)

7: Entertainment Centre: Retractable (25)

7: Entertainment Centre (Fixed): (25)

7: Suncorp Members (23)

10: Gabba (15)

11: Tennis Centre: GA (13)

(Rated 11 — 1 points on a sliding scale with same point for ties)

Originally published as Which Brisbane entertainment venue has the most comfortable seating?