TOTALLY USAIN MAN
SINCITY FALLOUT TAKE 2,
I ONCE asked a Gold Coaster for their favourite nightclub.
“SinCity,” they replied, eyes flashing in excitement. “Just because of the craziness. You never know what might happen.”
Indeed a lot has, certainly in the 13 years Rockbah Bar Pty Ltd has had the Surfers Paradise tenancy.
But it came to an abrupt halt late last week when Melbourne landlord David Brandi’s Bada Bing Holdings locked the longtime operator out during an escalating dispute including alleged rent arrears of $250,000-plus since September.
Rockbah Bar disputes any arrears, claiming a new lease deal in December for $10,000-a-week rent – which it has paid – and it claims has been accepted without complaint until coronavirus shutdowns a month ago.
Whether SinCity ever reopens remains to be seen. But if you had been a patron, chances are you will have bumped into anyone from Gold Coast tennis pro Bernard Tomic to sprint legend Usain Bolt who occupied a back bar VIP booth six nights in a row during April 2018’s Commonwealth Games.
On his first night, Bolt took over the DJ tables. With a dance floor chanting “Usain! Usain!”, he yelled into the mic “you mother---kers are awesome”.
Five months later, visiting music stars Usher and Lil John took over the front bar for a huge party, using their own personal security detail on top of the nightclub’s bouncer team.
A year earlier, Aquaman actress Amber Heard sent staff into a slight panic by ordering red wine – not a typical drink request. But she was sufficiently impressed by their ability to scurry and find her a bottle that she returned on several occasions.
As well as being able to handle most VIP requests (including allowing Bolt to enter and exit through a discrete back door) the club prided itself on being risqué – female bar staff were dressed in lingerie – while the star attraction of its weekly ‘ladies night’ was a half-dressed chiselled male troupe who would pose for photos.
It’s the venue where Tomic was infamously photographed getting an impromptu lapdance by patrons on his 21st and where an Irish boxer at the 2018 Commonwealth Games was fined $756 for public nuisance after allegedly punching on with bouncers. It prompted Australian Games team bosses to warn its athletes about going there.
But “the craziness” which fuelled its profile and saw patrons packing in seven nights a week appears over – at least at the central location amid the Orchid Avenue party strip.
The Bulletin yesterday revealed the interior has been completely stripped in what property manager Greg Bell slammed as something he
had never seen the likes of in his 43-year career.
The landlord’s legal representative alleged it amounted to vandalism.
But Matt Keegan, of Artesian Hospitality which has an interest in SinCity via Rockbah, said the stripping out of the venue’s equipment and fittings was due to suppliers going in – as he believed they had every right to do prior to the locks changing – to claim what they owned. He said Bada Bing’s lease breach threat prompted the suppliers to strip the venue and it had left his team devastated as it “fully intended to reopen” after coronavirus restrictions lifted.
The ugly dispute is headed for the court with Mr Keegan saying Rockbah Bar is quantifying alleged damages – due to the unlikelihood of a post-coronavirus reopening – before lodging a claim in the Supreme Court.
It is a claim Bada Bing Holdings Legal team has called “fanciful”.
Mr Bell claimed the landlord Bada Bing would have to spend $500,000 to refit to have any chance of getting a new tenant. Bada Bing’s legal team have indicated it will “commence proceedings against those responsible for the damage done to our client’s property”.