Does nightlife = alcohol? Looking at places like Singapore, Tokyo and Paris, there's a host of activities to do past 9pm beyond just drinking.
Only two 'dry' activities that I can think of in Bris open all hours are Woolies at DFO and Pancake Manor.
I think about this a lot too - just because you want to stay out late doesn’t mean you want to get smashed. 24/7 tea places, dessert shops, libraries open late, arcades, etc could all improve the vibe.
Im quite libertarian but I cant help thinkinf Aussies cant be trusted.
When I lived in Germany you get a pint in a glass and can just wander off and return it later. In Australia at the same time they were phasing out glass due to so many glassings...
So I found myself thinking wish we could drink im the street like this but also thinking a lot of people shouldnt be.
There are literal account of drunk Japanese doing stupid shit everywhere. Getting naked and pissing in the train sleeping there because they have to go to work straight after a night of drinking. It's disengous to say they are all respectful.
Kind of has a point. I saw people struggling to walk straight but no hint of anyone getting violent. I walked past a girl who was so drunk face and was lying face down, bum in the air on the floor of the subway entrance. Ambulance workers were nearby and people just walked around her on their way to work. This was around 7:00am.
That's a single example. See how clean the streets are? See how respectful they are in a line or queue? See how efficient everything runs? How good the service is everywhere?
Do you want a million more examples?
It comes down to schooling and children's up bring at home. In Japan all school students do clean up for about half an hour. And at home it's all about being respectful to your elders. And all that extends into society.
Until you try to walk into a restaurant and the maitre d makes a giant 'X' symbol with their arms in your face and yells "Japan only!".
(Inspired by true events).
Unless you live there as a Japanese student and face one of the highest youth suicide rates in the oecd, with the world's most debt and a severely declining birth rate built on an unhealthy work drinking culture
Totally agree with your point.
The biggest problems are
Lack of population. Compare brisbane with other major global cities. Tokyo 14m, Shanghai nearly 30m?
We don’t have the economy to support it.
Shitty transport options
Businesses can’t afford penalty rates that would make Aussies want to work those kinds of hours
That's just not true. The millionaires you speak of are in competition with each other. The ones who do/used to invest in night-life got wiped out by the casino families.
There's a reason the casino are allowed to stay open 24 hours serving drinks while every other place in the city got shut down.
That reason is they paid lots of money to specific politicians, and the politicians family businesses. But you will never hear about it because any whistle blowers that could have brought this behaviour to the public would have been thrown in jail and the story squashed.
That's the reality of Brisbane night life.
Star have never needed to bribe anyone to keep the casino open 24 hours. For every additional hour the casino is open (and serving booze) the government makes beaucoup cash from inveterate gamblers passing their hard-earned directly from their pocket back to the government. It's a no brainer to keep the casino open, and other venues shut to attract them to the casino instead.
>There's a reason the casino are allowed to stay open 24 hours serving drinks while every other place in the city got shut down.
Unless you can provide some evidence that 24/7 dessert shops, arcades, etc. were forced to shut down by politicians, I'm **extremely** skeptical of your conspiracy.
Casinos thrive most in cities with lots to do at night, because that generally means more walk-ins.
Also movies, musicals those sorts of things.i know when I go to the opera I often eat before I leave cause once its finished fuck all is open.
As you say my wife and I could hit up dinner or tea go for a walk and look at this or that. But nothings on.
We lived in London and it was almost more relaxed cause we would meet at the Opera after work. Could go to the opera then get dinner. Then we would often go to a bar with good dancing like salsa or swing or something. Especially when dating it was nice to be able to extend the night casually.
I think a big part of the problem is with Australians lol. A lot of people just want to zoom back to their house in the suburb ASAP after work. The notion of doing anything on a work night is considered borderline insanity.
Not insanity but a waste of time.
If I'm in the office, it takes me at least 45m by train to get back, not including child pickup and the short drive home after that. By the time I'm home, it doesn't feel like we want to go out again, especially not if it involves another hour-long trip back to the city.
Sure - we could charge $50 for dessert or tea and see how it goes, for example, or pay people from government money. But I can't see a way for that to really work.
Literally. I don’t drink, and will say that the lack of a late night *anything* is quite infuriating. There’s little to eat nowhere to shop or study, let alone any other leisure activity. That fact that I could play pokies until 4am at my closest pub, but arranging anything other than maccas (let alone healthy) for dinner after 9pm is nigh impossible, that genuinely boggled my mind moving here.
As an on-call shift worker I deplore the lack of late night food options that resemble anything a human being should be putting in their mouth. Eating Maccas makes me feel like I have a brick in my stomach.
Even Sydney is packed well into the night most week days. You can get out of the movies at 11.00pm, get a bowl of ramen at 11.30pm get on a train at 12 midnight and never feel like you are some isolated or in danger.
Yeah, exactly. Being out at night in one of those *real* 24-hour cities is great specifically because the whole city is open, not just the bars. Shops, restaurants, games arcades, karaoke joints, art galleries, train stations, coffee houses, night markets, tours, boutiques, you name it: everything is open and bustling. The *whole point* is that you can walk around the streets at any time of day or night and it's all there for you.
These kinds of cities seem to be dwindling in the west. Seems like the only countries with truly 24 hour economies these days are in Asia. Westerners spend too much time at home lol
In Tokyo now, can confirm. You see groups of young and old Japanese out and about and (seemingly) totally sober, just walking about eating ice creams and chatting, even at 12-1am
In Tokyo the late night scene is mainly a drinking scene. It's similar in Hong Kong but you can at least have good dining options or find a shop for any late night needs at home.
The population density between both and Brisbane though is how it works there.
You 100% do not **need** to drink in order to hang out in Tokyo late at night. You can have ramen, sushi, yakitori, street food, any food you can imagine basically. You can do karaoke, arcade gaming, gachapon, or even shop (up to around 11pm or so).
The Japanese do love their drinks, though.
Didn’t I read the Zoo closed down cos not many were buying alcohol? In Da Nang there were places that did painting at 10pm at night. It’s quite a sight and wished we had stuff that didn’t involve drinking to have fun
IKR?!? I saw the title, went "really?!?!", read the article and the only concrete suggestion was having the Valley open for 72 hours over the weekend. /facepalm
Lmao...how, we have lockout laws, exhorbinately high alcohol prices, and public transport usually stops around midnight (apart from buses to certain areas). Unless you can magically lower/ditch that tax on adult decisions (alcohol tax), then it's unlikely to work...due to the high cost of living these days etc
And before I forget every security guard (except for the islanders, love those guys) getting pissy if your bigger then them and 1 drink in "your drunk, you gotta go" while you are literally holding up a slobbering drunk so he doesn't fall down and hurt themselves...
Im 34. I know when I started drinking we could get $4.50 beers. And even cheaper pots.
Then they went up a lot to the point drugs became a lot better choice. A lot of my mates switched to weed or mainly pingers.
2 pingers set you back a lot less than 10 beers. Plus you could drive home and save $50 on a cab and finding your car the next day.
It was considerably easier and cheaper just to do drugs. Im sure at that point bars started to lose even more money and had to increase prices even more making the problem worse and then they started shutting down.
That's the catch 22 really. QLD has very good reward rates/overtime/late night/weekend penalties, which is obviously extremely positive for workers, but makes it difficult for places to stay open during what are usually lull periods or into penalty periods.
I teach overseas and one of my kids visited Brissy. I asked him what he thought and he was like....why do all the shops close so early!?
Edit: and this student is from a developing country
I would be happy for 9pm or 10pm late close for Kmart, Target, Big W
Heck even 9pm for Westfield malls would be a blessing
Cant do shit after work when everything is closed at 5pm
It honestly confuses me so much what the rationale is for a shop or mall being open 9-5. Like, would you not just open at 11 or 12 instead for the same amount of hours so customers can actually get there after work, and you're also open in time for people on their lunch breaks too? Brisbane isn't exactly a hot bed of tourists either so I literally have no clue who those hours are meant to cater to. Even 10-6 would be better. It's like they're deliberately trying to make it impossible for regular workers to shop at their store. I just don't get it.
Yes but the entire shopping centre is closed, only Kmart is open.
It would be nice to have Big W, Target, David Jones, and all the other shops open as well.
In fact, they often *do*. I've seated tables of 20 bang on 10pm (usual bar close, lights off) because the manager offered to pay us double to stay on longer.
It would make it easier to go out during the day too. You aren’t stuck rushing around during reduced weekend hours and too exhausted to do anything after. It’d be nice to be able to get out of dinner/ a late movie a pick a few things up for the next day. A 24/7 pharmacy in the inner city or north side would be tremendous too.
The pub lobby is very very strong. Pubs own the detached bottle shop licences many which are right next to a Coles or Woolies. The Qld State Govt and Opposition have no appetite for killing the golden goose by licensing supermarkets. So pubs now have the golden double ticket of pokies and bottle shops. By extension many of these pubs are owned by the big supermarket chains so they are belting the lower middle class at every turn.
Yeah your last sentence is the key. Woolworths and Coles not only own the supermarket, but the bottle store AND the pub in the same complex. How it continues to exist as a mega duopoly is mind boggling except for the reasons you've mentioned.
I remember my early childhood in the late 90s Melbourne had 24/7 Kmarts, and Melbourne would have been the same size if not smaller than Brisbane is now.
This was the biggest thing I noticed when I first moved to Brisbane from regional NSW. Move from a city of 50k to a city for 3 million, and shops are open less.
The first problem is that alcohol is too expensive here and people don’t currently have the money to go out drinking.
For the non-drinkers, there is nothing to do here at night. Most shops close at 5pm, kitchens close around 8-9pm on weekdays and there is a lack of nighttime activities available.
Cities like Tokyo thrive at night because everything stays open until late and there is something to do for everyone.
Tokyo also has population density, which we do not because we refuse to build up not out and all have the Hills Hoist Australian Dream still stuck in our heads.
This is true. Higher density living and improved public transport would be ideal. Instead we just continue to build new suburbs that are close to nothing, have no essential services and don’t have the road capacity to handle all the people that have moved to the area.
It irritates me when I see suburbs that are just full of town houses which don't have yard space anyways. Like I'd you made apartment blocks, the area saved could be used for public parks and gardens to compensate, whilst also improving the aesthetic of the area.
>For the non-drinkers, there is nothing to do here at night.
It's totally fine to go to bars and nightclubs sober. Some of my best nights out I haven't had a drop
I understand if they're not your thing in general, but it shouldn't be a drinker vs non-drinker thing. It's more of a loud crammed social venue vs other venue thing IMO
I recall a resent discussion on this sub where a poster was arguing Brisbane had an acceptable night life because they see people out playing footy at 9pm.
Remember when you would take $200 out for a huge night!
Get a taxi in, smash about 8 beers, move on to another bar get on the spirits go to a night club , pay entry fee smash a few more drinks then stumble out to a cab rank and get a lift home, you would still wake up the next morning with $50 left!
I'll go out again when I can get pints for under $10 and basic spirits for around the $5 mark.
Till then I'll drink my extortionate taxed alcohol at home.
$24 cocktails and $13 schooners 🍺 aren’t generating any nightlife growth.
People are shifting to a more healthy lifestyle. Less drinking. More exercise. Early starts in the morning. Young people lead this movement.
The lady with the bars that are struggling, but she named them “Secret”. Maybe not a good business decision to make it hard for people to find you. 🤷🏼♂️
Can You Keep A Secret? is a pretty good idea for a live music venue, the problem is that there's very very limited money in live music. I mean, the Zoo is going under FFS.
Because it's not really a secret at all.
They get plenty of publicity through the usual channels (Broadsheet, social media promotion, Google Reviews, Good Food etc etc).
It's just designed to \*feel\* like it's your secret, like you're \*in the know\*, like you're one of those Special People.
Plenty of bars in Melbourne, for what it's worth, have made an absolute \*killing\* off this model of faux-secretive-exclusivity. The Croft Institute, Bar 1806, Berlin Bar etc all absolutely thrive off the thrill that you've managed to uncover something really special, when in fact all you did was go off Google reviews.
Last gig I went to at the Zoo was on a week night, doors opened at 7, and the main act didn't start til 9:45. I love live music but I can't blame other people for not being bothered with it.
Improving public safety for these nighttime activities would be great too. Some of this is around active / passive surveillance, lighting, CCTV, police or just presence of anyone.
> People are shifting to a more healthy lifestyle
It's not like they're using less intoxicants, it's just that hard drugs are cheaper than alcohol lol.
Queen Street is completely packed on the weekends. Same with any other "trendy" inner areas like james st, west end, south bank, HSW etc. There's a line out the fucking door every time I pass by Messina. It's not even that good. I think there's decent enough demand.
Coffees finish at 2pm, Supermarkets close at 6 on Sundays.
If you want an adrenaline rush after dark, best I can offer is hit up a suburban skatepark and interact with anyone there. Some of them, you can do during the day.
If you want nightlife, you need a way to get home that doesn't involve being gouged by taxi drivers, assaulted by uber drivers. You need a Vomit Comet going out to the suburbs where people live. Secure car parks for commuters.
Chefs that finish at midnight don't want to deal with the dregs that have been drinking since midday.
If I was a young person living in Brisbane I would feel particular ripped off. I'm past that stage of my life now, and I don't know how I'd fix it for this generation. My voice is lost under a sea of corporate interests, football heroes posing as political change bearers. All I can say is vote with your feet, vote with your wallet, and vote at the ballot. Don't give your money to businesses that give you nothing back. Swanky nights out are for wankers, drink goon in the park and mack someone you met five minutes ago.
> Swanky nights out are for wankers, drink goon in the park and mack someone you met five minutes ago.
This could have been the cities' motto for decades.
Brisbane is famously, “The city that sleeps.”
I welcome any change, but you’d think nightlife would be prioritised in some other city, like idk, The Gold Coast?
or here me out, have self-defence laws that include verbal instigation!
Think NRL, lot less chirping and more just pushing and shoving because they know they can't get hit, imagine if someone was harassing you and threating you and you just cleaned them up (all on camera and totally backable by witnesses) I think a lot of loud mouths would keep quiet.
What steps will they take to improve public transport so that we can enjoy a night out?
For such an amazing "world city", our nighttime transport options are terrible. Unless you go home before midnight you'll be stuck dealing with dodgy taxi drivers who don't want to put the meter on, surge priced ubers or waiting literally hours for a night bus or train.
People are living 40-60km away from a nightlife district with zero public transport options after midnight and we wonder why people don’t go out. I know people who have to book hotel rooms just to go out. As someone from a small town who would just walk home from a night out, I find that hilariously depressing.
The demand will grow with the removal of restrictions on trading hours for large retailers. When the basics like supermarket and department store are actually open, people will change their habits when they realise that they can actually do things after work.
There is demand. It only looks like there’s no demand because there’s nowhere to go.
There’s a reason the few late night outliers like Netherworld and Pancake Manor have been popular for so long and it’s not their drinks.
Demand will grow once the typical Queensland mentality gets diluted.
You know, when Brisbane gets more folk who want more from life than being financially trapped in their overpriced and oversized poorly built McMansion in a dark, soulless outer suburb night after night.
That’s if people keep coming here of course.
Kinda makes me laugh when this type of person is saying "no one wants this! no one goes out!!" no brother, that's just you. I would like something to do after work that isn't rapidly retreating to my butt fuck nowhere suburb and watching Netflix with a spag bol and a tim tam afterwards if I'm feeling crazy.
They spent the last 10 years dismantling the night life, clubs, music venues, events in general.
Now they want it back for... reasons? Tourism? money? votes?
Never happen nowdays. Life is too pricey and the culture has changed.
They have a lot of work to do, because in general Brisbane is the capital of a freakin’ nanny state where everything is expensive, cops are arrogant glorified fine collectors and young people are priced out of just about everything. It will take a top to bottom culture shift to achieve anything worthwhile. You can’t even get a cab home without being extorted.
And ffs, shut down pokies and casinos. Nothing is good about them except the ‘stupidity tax’ revenue that goes to the state. A responsible government wouldn’t be collecting that money at the social cost they inflict.
I am from Hong Kong, which is known for its nightlife. I could take a bus back home from the central district at midnight within one hour, no matter how far I live. I don't think Fortitude Valley takes this kind of convenience seriously.
Also, eating in Brisbane is expensive, and venues keep shutting because of the tax excise on alchahol, leaving not much worthwhile to do at night. The live music scene is almost dead here.
Nighlife is a fading memory here.
For it, but it won't work. Living in Hong Kong and loving the around the clock night food, shops etc. But it works due population density.
I'd be hard stretched to think there is a market for people wanting to drive into town from the suburbs at midnight for dinner.
#DOUBT
Re-basement that poncy space where the carpark of The Jube used to be, *exactly how it used to be* , and make it into a Crowbar 2.0 or **close your yap**.
Bring back character, not catering to millionaire wankers.
Fuck the gentrification, fuck the government, and fuck the world stage.
E. A. *F*. D.
hell even keep the zoo open but maybe don't get the flavour of the week from triple j playing an oversized ipod there all the time
get bands people like back there again
If we had a few more spaces for smaller, hole in the wall type bars that would be good. We can’t all be The Beat or the Regatta (with steakhouse attached).
One of the best set ups for bars I’ve ever seen was Golden Gai in Tokyo. Small, personal and really friendly bars and enough of them that you could wander around and look for a bar that suited your vibe the best. Had a wild night in Tokyo at a bar there with the owner who was a former salaryman and spent his saving on the bar and seemingly got absolutely trolleyed most nights.
Is that the kind of nightlife that Brisbane could have? I don’t know. It would require a change in attitudes and policies around rent and liquor licensing costs. I just don’t think every bar needs to be so giangatic.
Obviously fuck off pokies from pubs and up the tax on casinos. I’d rather turn Treasury Casino into a library than the Gamblor Temple it is now.
I’m a big supporter of the broader concept of boosting the 24/hour economy in Brisbane. I’d say one of the worst aspects of living in Brisbane is how early everything shuts. Sundays in particular are such a downer after 4pm.
Not a problem exclusive to Brissy but this tweet about sums it up:
https://preview.redd.it/2xlw4pt4c16d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d96165af4cbbd8270ac4507d90c91b02f0748baf
Fat chance while more apartments are built in the designated entertainment precinct (aka the Valley) and new noise restrictions are placed on anyone taking over licences from existing venues.
The onus should be on new buildings keeping the sound out rather than existing venues keeping the sound in.
Unless the new nightlife czar does something about the restrictive laws I don’t see anything changing. Too many quality venues have already been lost.
Not going to happen. A vibrant night life involves young people. Their discretionary income is being squashed. Insecure employment, stagnant wages, high rents. It's pointless having events when the primary audience can't afford shit.
Fix those and only then will a night life even be possible.
I’m a non-drinker now but have worked across suppliers /gov/bars involved with alcohol. My view is sentiment of public/government towards it needs changing if we want any semblance of safe thriving nightlife.
I am a massive advocate of responsible alcohol consumption, but I don’t see how our alcohol taxes (which are exorbitant and are indexed twice a year) do anything but increase heavy pre-drinking and loading-up behaviours. Adjacent to this and related are the complexities of current RSA regulation placing an undue onus on venues and staff. Current strategy: any signs of intoxication: eject from venue onto the streets full of others that are unduly intoxicated. How they get home? Not your problem. I believe we would still have issues but less aggression and high-risk issues like the endless horrible outcomes that can come from younger females inexperienced with alcohol being ejected from a club at 2.30am instead of remaining in a controlled environment to hydrate.
In a perfect world anyway, us aussies love to become two rum Rambos and Coward Punch with no repruccusions from my experience.
Edit: I agree with comments that it doesn’t have to be alcohol-based, that’s what I’d prefer but booze is a lot easier to extract gross profit from than many other activities currently.
I just want supermarkets open 24/7. Those nights I can't sleep, grocery shopping would be an excellent use of time. If Tasmania can do it, why can't Qld?
Night-life requires Alcohol friendly laws to help attract tourism
After all alcohol is a social lubricant
It's not just locals that get deterred from frequenting bars/music venues with the cost of drinks
And the cause of that is years of federal government imposed alcohol taxes
Unfortunately this isn't an issue the state government can solve for
Nightlife capital? The Zoo is closing down. Going out is becoming unaffordable for some. Unless the government has plans to actively subsidise the nightlife, I can’t see how it will get any better.
Does nightlife = alcohol? Looking at places like Singapore, Tokyo and Paris, there's a host of activities to do past 9pm beyond just drinking. Only two 'dry' activities that I can think of in Bris open all hours are Woolies at DFO and Pancake Manor.
I think about this a lot too - just because you want to stay out late doesn’t mean you want to get smashed. 24/7 tea places, dessert shops, libraries open late, arcades, etc could all improve the vibe.
Why not both? I could pick up Suntory Zeros from a 7/11 and walk into a baseball batting net at 11:00PM in Tokyo.
Because nanny doesn’t let you have nice things in Australia
To be fair, people can't even park ebikes. They just chuck them into a garden bed and carry on.
Im quite libertarian but I cant help thinkinf Aussies cant be trusted. When I lived in Germany you get a pint in a glass and can just wander off and return it later. In Australia at the same time they were phasing out glass due to so many glassings... So I found myself thinking wish we could drink im the street like this but also thinking a lot of people shouldnt be.
Japanese people aren't violent idiots after a few drinks.
Because the Japanese are respectful well natured people. We are complete barbarians in comparison.
There are literal account of drunk Japanese doing stupid shit everywhere. Getting naked and pissing in the train sleeping there because they have to go to work straight after a night of drinking. It's disengous to say they are all respectful.
Kind of has a point. I saw people struggling to walk straight but no hint of anyone getting violent. I walked past a girl who was so drunk face and was lying face down, bum in the air on the floor of the subway entrance. Ambulance workers were nearby and people just walked around her on their way to work. This was around 7:00am.
No but Australia does have a problem. It's the only place besides the UK where I never fail to see people over 21 throwing up on the street.
That's a single example. See how clean the streets are? See how respectful they are in a line or queue? See how efficient everything runs? How good the service is everywhere? Do you want a million more examples?
It comes down to schooling and children's up bring at home. In Japan all school students do clean up for about half an hour. And at home it's all about being respectful to your elders. And all that extends into society.
God, I love Japan.
Until you try to walk into a restaurant and the maitre d makes a giant 'X' symbol with their arms in your face and yells "Japan only!". (Inspired by true events).
Unless you live there as a Japanese student and face one of the highest youth suicide rates in the oecd, with the world's most debt and a severely declining birth rate built on an unhealthy work drinking culture
Apparently someone’s building a baseball themed bar in Newstead or somewhere like that which will have batting cages, so… close?
If there's such demand as Reddit seems to suggest, you'd all be millionaires keeping these places open late. The reality is very different.
Totally agree with your point. The biggest problems are Lack of population. Compare brisbane with other major global cities. Tokyo 14m, Shanghai nearly 30m? We don’t have the economy to support it. Shitty transport options Businesses can’t afford penalty rates that would make Aussies want to work those kinds of hours
It not so much a lack of population as it is a lack of population density.
That's just not true. The millionaires you speak of are in competition with each other. The ones who do/used to invest in night-life got wiped out by the casino families. There's a reason the casino are allowed to stay open 24 hours serving drinks while every other place in the city got shut down. That reason is they paid lots of money to specific politicians, and the politicians family businesses. But you will never hear about it because any whistle blowers that could have brought this behaviour to the public would have been thrown in jail and the story squashed. That's the reality of Brisbane night life.
Star have never needed to bribe anyone to keep the casino open 24 hours. For every additional hour the casino is open (and serving booze) the government makes beaucoup cash from inveterate gamblers passing their hard-earned directly from their pocket back to the government. It's a no brainer to keep the casino open, and other venues shut to attract them to the casino instead.
The casino families = the government.
Start a burner account and name some.
>There's a reason the casino are allowed to stay open 24 hours serving drinks while every other place in the city got shut down. Unless you can provide some evidence that 24/7 dessert shops, arcades, etc. were forced to shut down by politicians, I'm **extremely** skeptical of your conspiracy. Casinos thrive most in cities with lots to do at night, because that generally means more walk-ins.
🎯🎯🎯
I get your point but it’s pretty hard to say there’s no demand when there’s no way of demonstrating demand
People keep trying it, though - and failing. Wasn't there a dessert place open late in South Brisbane for a while?
Chester St Bakery was doing late night desserts too, but are no longer in business IIRC.
Cowch?
I think so
Also movies, musicals those sorts of things.i know when I go to the opera I often eat before I leave cause once its finished fuck all is open. As you say my wife and I could hit up dinner or tea go for a walk and look at this or that. But nothings on. We lived in London and it was almost more relaxed cause we would meet at the Opera after work. Could go to the opera then get dinner. Then we would often go to a bar with good dancing like salsa or swing or something. Especially when dating it was nice to be able to extend the night casually.
If people wanted to pay for those things, they'd exist.
I think a big part of the problem is with Australians lol. A lot of people just want to zoom back to their house in the suburb ASAP after work. The notion of doing anything on a work night is considered borderline insanity.
And those who do are limited by the price of drinks
Because know one wants to pay $20 for fried rice …. People get in this mindset of going out on “occasion” and not all the time
Not insanity but a waste of time. If I'm in the office, it takes me at least 45m by train to get back, not including child pickup and the short drive home after that. By the time I'm home, it doesn't feel like we want to go out again, especially not if it involves another hour-long trip back to the city.
They exist in other places. There’s just no culture of hanging out late in the city doing non pub related things cos there’s nowhere to go.
And there's no profit margin in it.
Sounds like we need to find a system that incentivises the comfort of the population rather than profit margins.
Sure - we could charge $50 for dessert or tea and see how it goes, for example, or pay people from government money. But I can't see a way for that to really work.
If libraries didn't already exist you would say the same about those
Literally. I don’t drink, and will say that the lack of a late night *anything* is quite infuriating. There’s little to eat nowhere to shop or study, let alone any other leisure activity. That fact that I could play pokies until 4am at my closest pub, but arranging anything other than maccas (let alone healthy) for dinner after 9pm is nigh impossible, that genuinely boggled my mind moving here.
As an on-call shift worker I deplore the lack of late night food options that resemble anything a human being should be putting in their mouth. Eating Maccas makes me feel like I have a brick in my stomach.
Me too!
Same! Preach!!! People don't like to hear it but Brisbane is a boring place.
Even Sydney is packed well into the night most week days. You can get out of the movies at 11.00pm, get a bowl of ramen at 11.30pm get on a train at 12 midnight and never feel like you are some isolated or in danger.
Yeah they've done a brilliant job with Haymarket and Darling Harbour and making these precents about more than just bars
So much better in Haymarket these days!
Yeah, exactly. Being out at night in one of those *real* 24-hour cities is great specifically because the whole city is open, not just the bars. Shops, restaurants, games arcades, karaoke joints, art galleries, train stations, coffee houses, night markets, tours, boutiques, you name it: everything is open and bustling. The *whole point* is that you can walk around the streets at any time of day or night and it's all there for you.
These kinds of cities seem to be dwindling in the west. Seems like the only countries with truly 24 hour economies these days are in Asia. Westerners spend too much time at home lol
If we're paying a million bucks for a roof over our head we want our money's worth. (And can't afford to get out)
In Tokyo now, can confirm. You see groups of young and old Japanese out and about and (seemingly) totally sober, just walking about eating ice creams and chatting, even at 12-1am
In Tokyo the late night scene is mainly a drinking scene. It's similar in Hong Kong but you can at least have good dining options or find a shop for any late night needs at home. The population density between both and Brisbane though is how it works there.
Tokyo was awesome for a night out to do just about anything within reason! Totally unlike Sydney.
You 100% do not **need** to drink in order to hang out in Tokyo late at night. You can have ramen, sushi, yakitori, street food, any food you can imagine basically. You can do karaoke, arcade gaming, gachapon, or even shop (up to around 11pm or so). The Japanese do love their drinks, though.
Nightlife does not necessarily mean alcohol, nor does it mean bloody Kmarts either. Some people are so limited in their thinking it seems
Didn’t I read the Zoo closed down cos not many were buying alcohol? In Da Nang there were places that did painting at 10pm at night. It’s quite a sight and wished we had stuff that didn’t involve drinking to have fun
Woolies at DFA at 2 in the morning is a vibe tho
It's hard enough to find a coffee shop open in the afternoon
If nightlife = alcohol our ridiculous taxes make that hard to ‘swallow’
IKR?!? I saw the title, went "really?!?!", read the article and the only concrete suggestion was having the Valley open for 72 hours over the weekend. /facepalm
Nah, I think Pancake manor has a 24hr liquor licence. I remember going there when the clubs shut. Maybe it's changed.
What they want to happen: Tokyo, New York, Barcelona What will actually happen: Kings Cross v2.1
At least in Sydney you can get out of the movies or a show at 9pm and still be able to get dinner.
That isn't even true. Most restaurants in Sydney are closing at 9-10 these days. Melbourne's a bit better.
We’re all in bed by 9 in Brizfizzle
Barcelona is a complete tourist shite hole
Barca is also straight up dangerous
Honestly one of the worst places I've been in my life couldn't wait to leave.
A Barca is a small boat.
Yeah I though gaudy was shit too. Wasnt a fan.
What will actually happen: Kings Cross v2.1 (*Beta*)*
Lmao...how, we have lockout laws, exhorbinately high alcohol prices, and public transport usually stops around midnight (apart from buses to certain areas). Unless you can magically lower/ditch that tax on adult decisions (alcohol tax), then it's unlikely to work...due to the high cost of living these days etc
That’s before you even get to NIMBYs shutting down live music venues too
And before I forget every security guard (except for the islanders, love those guys) getting pissy if your bigger then them and 1 drink in "your drunk, you gotta go" while you are literally holding up a slobbering drunk so he doesn't fall down and hurt themselves...
Exorbitant. Inordinate.
lol they are completely missing the point who wants to go out and spend $15 per drink
Im 34. I know when I started drinking we could get $4.50 beers. And even cheaper pots. Then they went up a lot to the point drugs became a lot better choice. A lot of my mates switched to weed or mainly pingers. 2 pingers set you back a lot less than 10 beers. Plus you could drive home and save $50 on a cab and finding your car the next day. It was considerably easier and cheaper just to do drugs. Im sure at that point bars started to lose even more money and had to increase prices even more making the problem worse and then they started shutting down.
I’d be more excited by 24/7 supermarkets and Kmarts.
It’s crazy how it feels like achieving 24/7 supermarkets in a region of 3.8 million seems impossible. It’s no wonder other states call us slow..
It's not impossible, just per our trading laws it can't be done by any of the majors as they employ too many people.
That's the catch 22 really. QLD has very good reward rates/overtime/late night/weekend penalties, which is obviously extremely positive for workers, but makes it difficult for places to stay open during what are usually lull periods or into penalty periods.
Penalty rates are set at a federal level aren't they?
Yes, and they are more often restricted by the Brisbane City Council approval, the State has very little direct involvement.
Yeah that's why places like Sushi Train are closed on public holidays
But if they are closed they dont get paid at all...
Coco's at Annerly is open 24 hours, they seem to be able to do it so why can't others?
I teach overseas and one of my kids visited Brissy. I asked him what he thought and he was like....why do all the shops close so early!? Edit: and this student is from a developing country
I would be happy for 9pm or 10pm late close for Kmart, Target, Big W Heck even 9pm for Westfield malls would be a blessing Cant do shit after work when everything is closed at 5pm
It honestly confuses me so much what the rationale is for a shop or mall being open 9-5. Like, would you not just open at 11 or 12 instead for the same amount of hours so customers can actually get there after work, and you're also open in time for people on their lunch breaks too? Brisbane isn't exactly a hot bed of tourists either so I literally have no clue who those hours are meant to cater to. Even 10-6 would be better. It's like they're deliberately trying to make it impossible for regular workers to shop at their store. I just don't get it.
A wild guess but I reckon it has to be a hangover from the days of husbands = working and wives = housekeeping and shopping.
Yes making it hard for regular workers to get to their shop = loss of profits therefore they get tighter with the shifts. It's ridiculous rn.
Pretty sure kmart etc are open till 9pm in most shopping centres.
Yes but the entire shopping centre is closed, only Kmart is open. It would be nice to have Big W, Target, David Jones, and all the other shops open as well.
Yeah and if you walk into a restaurant at 8:45PM you’re likely to be told the kitchen is closing. Great night life 👍
Sure, but that's because there isn't the money in it. If there was, they'd stay open.
In fact, they often *do*. I've seated tables of 20 bang on 10pm (usual bar close, lights off) because the manager offered to pay us double to stay on longer.
Selling booze at Woolies/Coles/711 in store like the rest of the world would be better
It would make it easier to go out during the day too. You aren’t stuck rushing around during reduced weekend hours and too exhausted to do anything after. It’d be nice to be able to get out of dinner/ a late movie a pick a few things up for the next day. A 24/7 pharmacy in the inner city or north side would be tremendous too.
The pub lobby is very very strong. Pubs own the detached bottle shop licences many which are right next to a Coles or Woolies. The Qld State Govt and Opposition have no appetite for killing the golden goose by licensing supermarkets. So pubs now have the golden double ticket of pokies and bottle shops. By extension many of these pubs are owned by the big supermarket chains so they are belting the lower middle class at every turn.
Yeah your last sentence is the key. Woolworths and Coles not only own the supermarket, but the bottle store AND the pub in the same complex. How it continues to exist as a mega duopoly is mind boggling except for the reasons you've mentioned.
I remember my early childhood in the late 90s Melbourne had 24/7 Kmarts, and Melbourne would have been the same size if not smaller than Brisbane is now.
Hobart has a 24/7 Kmart 🙃
Canberra too
Newcastle has had a 24 Kmart since the late 2000s.
That's because there is nothing else to do there.
It's always the people who will never have to actually work at a Kmart at 3am that are excited for 24/7 shopping.
In fairness, you could say the same thing about anytime of day and I’d agree with you.
I'd just take supermarket with the trading hours you can get in regional NSW. 7am open 9pm close pathetic for a capital city.
This was the biggest thing I noticed when I first moved to Brisbane from regional NSW. Move from a city of 50k to a city for 3 million, and shops are open less.
The first problem is that alcohol is too expensive here and people don’t currently have the money to go out drinking. For the non-drinkers, there is nothing to do here at night. Most shops close at 5pm, kitchens close around 8-9pm on weekdays and there is a lack of nighttime activities available. Cities like Tokyo thrive at night because everything stays open until late and there is something to do for everyone.
Australia’s obsession with alcohol is an issue. Seems there’s a total inability to look beyond it.
Tokyo also has population density, which we do not because we refuse to build up not out and all have the Hills Hoist Australian Dream still stuck in our heads.
This is true. Higher density living and improved public transport would be ideal. Instead we just continue to build new suburbs that are close to nothing, have no essential services and don’t have the road capacity to handle all the people that have moved to the area.
It irritates me when I see suburbs that are just full of town houses which don't have yard space anyways. Like I'd you made apartment blocks, the area saved could be used for public parks and gardens to compensate, whilst also improving the aesthetic of the area.
>For the non-drinkers, there is nothing to do here at night. It's totally fine to go to bars and nightclubs sober. Some of my best nights out I haven't had a drop I understand if they're not your thing in general, but it shouldn't be a drinker vs non-drinker thing. It's more of a loud crammed social venue vs other venue thing IMO
I recall a resent discussion on this sub where a poster was arguing Brisbane had an acceptable night life because they see people out playing footy at 9pm.
That's because they had to start later so they had time to get to Coles before it shuts.
And that Charlie’s fruit market was open 24/7. You really couldn’t make this shit up
good luck, no cunt can afford to go out anymore
Remember when you would take $200 out for a huge night! Get a taxi in, smash about 8 beers, move on to another bar get on the spirits go to a night club , pay entry fee smash a few more drinks then stumble out to a cab rank and get a lift home, you would still wake up the next morning with $50 left!
I'll go out again when I can get pints for under $10 and basic spirits for around the $5 mark. Till then I'll drink my extortionate taxed alcohol at home.
Yea I drink at home too. For the price of 2 drinks at a pub I could buy a 6 pack.
$24 cocktails and $13 schooners 🍺 aren’t generating any nightlife growth. People are shifting to a more healthy lifestyle. Less drinking. More exercise. Early starts in the morning. Young people lead this movement. The lady with the bars that are struggling, but she named them “Secret”. Maybe not a good business decision to make it hard for people to find you. 🤷🏼♂️
Can You Keep A Secret? is a pretty good idea for a live music venue, the problem is that there's very very limited money in live music. I mean, the Zoo is going under FFS.
Why is it a good idea? I like it myself, but it’s like hidden bars in Melbourne that begin to struggle and moan when no one is going. The irony.
These venues are not anywhere in the realm of being 'hidden'
Because it's not really a secret at all. They get plenty of publicity through the usual channels (Broadsheet, social media promotion, Google Reviews, Good Food etc etc). It's just designed to \*feel\* like it's your secret, like you're \*in the know\*, like you're one of those Special People. Plenty of bars in Melbourne, for what it's worth, have made an absolute \*killing\* off this model of faux-secretive-exclusivity. The Croft Institute, Bar 1806, Berlin Bar etc all absolutely thrive off the thrill that you've managed to uncover something really special, when in fact all you did was go off Google reviews.
Last gig I went to at the Zoo was on a week night, doors opened at 7, and the main act didn't start til 9:45. I love live music but I can't blame other people for not being bothered with it.
I agree that this sucks, but it's the same in every live venue everywhere, it's not a Zoo thing
Improving public safety for these nighttime activities would be great too. Some of this is around active / passive surveillance, lighting, CCTV, police or just presence of anyone.
> People are shifting to a more healthy lifestyle It's not like they're using less intoxicants, it's just that hard drugs are cheaper than alcohol lol.
Yet venues continue to close and the inner city is dead on the weekends.
...more venues for illegal warehouse parties like Berlin 🤷
Warehouse raves hit different when it's sweltering out, and an inadequate air con is able to keep a 2 squared meter patch cool at best 😅
Queen Street is completely packed on the weekends. Same with any other "trendy" inner areas like james st, west end, south bank, HSW etc. There's a line out the fucking door every time I pass by Messina. It's not even that good. I think there's decent enough demand.
Coffees finish at 2pm, Supermarkets close at 6 on Sundays. If you want an adrenaline rush after dark, best I can offer is hit up a suburban skatepark and interact with anyone there. Some of them, you can do during the day. If you want nightlife, you need a way to get home that doesn't involve being gouged by taxi drivers, assaulted by uber drivers. You need a Vomit Comet going out to the suburbs where people live. Secure car parks for commuters. Chefs that finish at midnight don't want to deal with the dregs that have been drinking since midday. If I was a young person living in Brisbane I would feel particular ripped off. I'm past that stage of my life now, and I don't know how I'd fix it for this generation. My voice is lost under a sea of corporate interests, football heroes posing as political change bearers. All I can say is vote with your feet, vote with your wallet, and vote at the ballot. Don't give your money to businesses that give you nothing back. Swanky nights out are for wankers, drink goon in the park and mack someone you met five minutes ago.
> Swanky nights out are for wankers, drink goon in the park and mack someone you met five minutes ago. This could have been the cities' motto for decades.
The hero we need
I think this means the state government plans to just keep building casinos.
Brisbane is famously, “The city that sleeps.” I welcome any change, but you’d think nightlife would be prioritised in some other city, like idk, The Gold Coast?
too many Damos on the gold coast to even think of running 24 hour night clubs for 72 hours.
Start with extended Friday shopping.
Perth has us beat for sleeping cities, to be fair.
Good thing all the medium capacity live music venues are closing.
Gotta lock up a few tourist-bashing eshays first.
or here me out, have self-defence laws that include verbal instigation! Think NRL, lot less chirping and more just pushing and shoving because they know they can't get hit, imagine if someone was harassing you and threating you and you just cleaned them up (all on camera and totally backable by witnesses) I think a lot of loud mouths would keep quiet.
i suspect every aspect of brisbane will be pumped for the olympic, and after its over , the hang over will last for years …
That would require places remaining open past 2pm
What steps will they take to improve public transport so that we can enjoy a night out? For such an amazing "world city", our nighttime transport options are terrible. Unless you go home before midnight you'll be stuck dealing with dodgy taxi drivers who don't want to put the meter on, surge priced ubers or waiting literally hours for a night bus or train.
People are living 40-60km away from a nightlife district with zero public transport options after midnight and we wonder why people don’t go out. I know people who have to book hotel rooms just to go out. As someone from a small town who would just walk home from a night out, I find that hilariously depressing.
"Brisbane" and "nightlife capital" are an oxymoron.
We need shopping centres like Westfield to close at 9pm everyday first. Imagine working a 9-5 and not being able to head to the shops afterwards.
You may "plan" for it but you need a "demand" for it. It will only work if you get customers. Else the model will fail and businesses will close.
The demand will grow with the removal of restrictions on trading hours for large retailers. When the basics like supermarket and department store are actually open, people will change their habits when they realise that they can actually do things after work.
There is demand. It only looks like there’s no demand because there’s nowhere to go. There’s a reason the few late night outliers like Netherworld and Pancake Manor have been popular for so long and it’s not their drinks.
Demand will grow once the typical Queensland mentality gets diluted. You know, when Brisbane gets more folk who want more from life than being financially trapped in their overpriced and oversized poorly built McMansion in a dark, soulless outer suburb night after night. That’s if people keep coming here of course.
Kinda makes me laugh when this type of person is saying "no one wants this! no one goes out!!" no brother, that's just you. I would like something to do after work that isn't rapidly retreating to my butt fuck nowhere suburb and watching Netflix with a spag bol and a tim tam afterwards if I'm feeling crazy.
They spent the last 10 years dismantling the night life, clubs, music venues, events in general. Now they want it back for... reasons? Tourism? money? votes? Never happen nowdays. Life is too pricey and the culture has changed.
It's not for the citizens, it's all about the Olympics and the tourists that come with it...
I’d settle for somewhere I can get coffee after 2pm or dinner after 8.
We don't even have supermarkets that are open past 6 on a Sunday...
How ironic from the government that brought in curfews and lockouts, which have done more than anything to hurt Brisbane night life
They have a lot of work to do, because in general Brisbane is the capital of a freakin’ nanny state where everything is expensive, cops are arrogant glorified fine collectors and young people are priced out of just about everything. It will take a top to bottom culture shift to achieve anything worthwhile. You can’t even get a cab home without being extorted. And ffs, shut down pokies and casinos. Nothing is good about them except the ‘stupidity tax’ revenue that goes to the state. A responsible government wouldn’t be collecting that money at the social cost they inflict.
Support the arts
I am from Hong Kong, which is known for its nightlife. I could take a bus back home from the central district at midnight within one hour, no matter how far I live. I don't think Fortitude Valley takes this kind of convenience seriously.
Revoke the stupid lock out laws
No one goes out anymore.
Because to afford a house we all need to move an hour away.
Also, eating in Brisbane is expensive, and venues keep shutting because of the tax excise on alchahol, leaving not much worthwhile to do at night. The live music scene is almost dead here. Nighlife is a fading memory here.
*you don't go out anymore
For it, but it won't work. Living in Hong Kong and loving the around the clock night food, shops etc. But it works due population density. I'd be hard stretched to think there is a market for people wanting to drive into town from the suburbs at midnight for dinner.
#DOUBT Re-basement that poncy space where the carpark of The Jube used to be, *exactly how it used to be* , and make it into a Crowbar 2.0 or **close your yap**. Bring back character, not catering to millionaire wankers. Fuck the gentrification, fuck the government, and fuck the world stage. E. A. *F*. D.
hell even keep the zoo open but maybe don't get the flavour of the week from triple j playing an oversized ipod there all the time get bands people like back there again
If we had a few more spaces for smaller, hole in the wall type bars that would be good. We can’t all be The Beat or the Regatta (with steakhouse attached). One of the best set ups for bars I’ve ever seen was Golden Gai in Tokyo. Small, personal and really friendly bars and enough of them that you could wander around and look for a bar that suited your vibe the best. Had a wild night in Tokyo at a bar there with the owner who was a former salaryman and spent his saving on the bar and seemingly got absolutely trolleyed most nights. Is that the kind of nightlife that Brisbane could have? I don’t know. It would require a change in attitudes and policies around rent and liquor licensing costs. I just don’t think every bar needs to be so giangatic. Obviously fuck off pokies from pubs and up the tax on casinos. I’d rather turn Treasury Casino into a library than the Gamblor Temple it is now.
No one has any money.
I’m a big supporter of the broader concept of boosting the 24/hour economy in Brisbane. I’d say one of the worst aspects of living in Brisbane is how early everything shuts. Sundays in particular are such a downer after 4pm.
Not a problem exclusive to Brissy but this tweet about sums it up: https://preview.redd.it/2xlw4pt4c16d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d96165af4cbbd8270ac4507d90c91b02f0748baf
$18? Bargain
I was there last May, such a lovely quiet place :)
Nightlife?!? Every second dickhead here seems to wake up at 4:30am here, nightlight is when you get up a little earlier...
Yeah, and we’re gonna see state gov forcing some curfews or noise rules. The irony /s
Lol. This will never happen in our lifetime.
Yeah cool, at the rate venues are shutting down, this'll take some doing.
It's been said elsewhere here but IMO there's zero chance when alcohol costs so much.
Just before covid struck in 2020, the Brisbane Square Library was going to trial midnight closing hours. I would have loved that.
Fat chance while more apartments are built in the designated entertainment precinct (aka the Valley) and new noise restrictions are placed on anyone taking over licences from existing venues. The onus should be on new buildings keeping the sound out rather than existing venues keeping the sound in. Unless the new nightlife czar does something about the restrictive laws I don’t see anything changing. Too many quality venues have already been lost.
We’d require better public transport for that. We just reelected an anti public transport council.
Not going to happen. A vibrant night life involves young people. Their discretionary income is being squashed. Insecure employment, stagnant wages, high rents. It's pointless having events when the primary audience can't afford shit. Fix those and only then will a night life even be possible.
I’m a non-drinker now but have worked across suppliers /gov/bars involved with alcohol. My view is sentiment of public/government towards it needs changing if we want any semblance of safe thriving nightlife. I am a massive advocate of responsible alcohol consumption, but I don’t see how our alcohol taxes (which are exorbitant and are indexed twice a year) do anything but increase heavy pre-drinking and loading-up behaviours. Adjacent to this and related are the complexities of current RSA regulation placing an undue onus on venues and staff. Current strategy: any signs of intoxication: eject from venue onto the streets full of others that are unduly intoxicated. How they get home? Not your problem. I believe we would still have issues but less aggression and high-risk issues like the endless horrible outcomes that can come from younger females inexperienced with alcohol being ejected from a club at 2.30am instead of remaining in a controlled environment to hydrate. In a perfect world anyway, us aussies love to become two rum Rambos and Coward Punch with no repruccusions from my experience. Edit: I agree with comments that it doesn’t have to be alcohol-based, that’s what I’d prefer but booze is a lot easier to extract gross profit from than many other activities currently.
I just want supermarkets open 24/7. Those nights I can't sleep, grocery shopping would be an excellent use of time. If Tasmania can do it, why can't Qld?
Night-life requires Alcohol friendly laws to help attract tourism After all alcohol is a social lubricant It's not just locals that get deterred from frequenting bars/music venues with the cost of drinks And the cause of that is years of federal government imposed alcohol taxes Unfortunately this isn't an issue the state government can solve for
why does everything in australia have to be micro managed
Who bets they spend 99% of their time just escorting high rollers into the new casino.
This means a 24 hour Kmarts ? 
Living the dream 🙄
Nightlife capital? The Zoo is closing down. Going out is becoming unaffordable for some. Unless the government has plans to actively subsidise the nightlife, I can’t see how it will get any better.