Small pubs raising the bar on fun

THE driving force behind the small bar scene on the Gold Coast is hungry for more new venues on the back of his thriving business ventures.

Hospitality veteran Scott Imlach says his latest bar, Night Cap at Nobby Beach, has exceeded expectations since opening last month.

The business holds the first small bar licence to be issued outside of the entertainment precinct and was modelled on the success of his Burleigh bar, Night Jar.

“It’s busy all the time. We’ve got live music seven nights a week. It’s just really cranking to be honest,” Mr Imlach said.

“We always knew it would be good but we just didn’t expect it to be as good as it was.

“There’s nobody doing those style bars that we are doing on the Gold Coast and they are completely different.”

Mr Imlach began pushing for small bar licences when he moved to Queensland after a 10-year stint in the UK.

Asked why he wanted a small bar, he said: “Because I couldn’t afford a pub.”

“It was very hard to buy a

pub in this sort of area and I wanted to live on the Gold Coast. So, to get into the industry I wanted to be in, I needed to get this small bar licence through,” he said.

But he had also not liked the direction he said Queensland pubs were heading.

Mr Imlach lobbied the State Government and council for years to secure a small bar licence on the Gold Coast. He said changes to the draft city plan in 2016 made it possible.

It meant he could operate a small venue without serving food.

The style of venue drew inspiration from the small dive bars across the United States.

He opened SOHO Place at Broadbeach in 2017 on the back of the amendments and at the time said it would change the city’s night life. The venue has since been sold.

Mr Imlach’s venues across the Gold Coast include Hideaway Kitchen and Bar at Broadbeach, Mr Hizola’s at Burleigh and Bine Bar and Dining at Mermaid Beach.

The hospitality veteran of 25 years worked as a wedding planner in his native New Zealand before taking up a position at Walkabout Inns in the UK, where the venue would attract more than 1000 people.

But it is the smaller venues he now runs on the Gold Coast that he enjoys better.

“There’s nothing like having a big Australian pub on a sports day when you’ve got the Rugby World Cup or State of Origin. You’ve got 2000 people jumping … it’s fantastic,” he said. “(But) the smaller ones definitely light up my life a little bit better, and are a lot easier to control.”

Mr Imlach, who paid about $70,000 to soundproof Night Cap to keep the neighbours happy, said he was always looking for a new venue.

“We want to do more. It’s just a matter of finding the right locations,” he said.