THE GREAT OUTDOORS
Surfers Paradise hospitality just keeps on upping its game and the latest play is for an alfresco boutique bar at a large new venue
THE Surfers Paradise venue revamps just keep coming – this time relative newcomer White Rhino is adding a swanky outdoor bar area.
White Rhino Bar & Eats, in designs exclusively revealed to ATG, will spend about $150,000 installing an alfresco bar with green turf flooring on the Cavill Avenue end of its deck area.
Artesian Hospitality partner Matt
Keegan, whose stable of venues includes White Rhino plus Orchid Avenue nightclubs SinCity, The Bedroom and Havana, said it would take two weeks to complete.
Construction would start “straight after Melbourne Cup” next Tuesday, he said, adding: “The place is going very well and a lot of feedback from the customers is they love being outside, they love the outdoor vibe so we’re building an outdoor garden bar.”
Mr Keegan said the popular two-storey venue with a distinctive lifesize rhino sculpture would remain open throughout. “Our construction crew will be working day and night to be finished as quickly as possible.
“Off the back of the success we have been having with the place we want to continue to expand it.”
Friday and Saturday nights have become popular with the after-work and slightly older dining and drinking crowd, with a live music duo playing cover favourites and sparking a lively dancer floor.
White Rhino launched a year ago with a megabucks $2 million fitout, a rock feature waterfall bar backdrop and mezzanine floor private dining spaces.
It followed the arrival in Surfers Paradise of The Island rooftop bar and its downstairs restaurant. More recently Cavill Mall institution Beer Garden unveiled a multi-milliondollar renovation and installation of the largest beer towers in the city.
“A lot of feedback is people love the outdoor vibe”