NEXT BIG THING IN BRISBANE
Brisbane’s gay hub, Fortitude Valley, is in the middle of a fabulous make-over!
is described as a “new world city”. It’s a business hub for Australasia, a stepping-off point for international visitors, and more and more Australians are choosing to make it their home: it recorded a two percent population growth rate between 2016-17.
Fortitude Valley, the city’s LGBT village, is seeing towering, luxurious apartments like The Coterie rising up. But the village looks set to retain its distinctive pink flavour.
The Valley, which includes Wickham, James and Brunswick streets and the multitude of reclaimed lane ways between, is a bustling LGBT and multicultural neighbourhood with all the diversity of shops, cafés, restaurants and bars that that implies.
Top of the list for the LGBT crowd is Big Gay Day, usually the second weekend in March when then the block around the Wickham Hotel is closed off to traffic for a massive outdoor gay street party. 2018’s live acts included Alfie Acuri, Sneaky Sound System and Samantha Jade, plus DJs.
The Valley hosts three of Australia’s most iconic gay venues: the throbbing Beat nightclub, The Wickham with its laid back beer garden, and The Sportsman’s Bar, famous for its rough-diamond charm.
For saunas and sex-onpremises, options include The Den, Wet Spa and Sauna, and Club 29, which hosts regular themed nights like Tradies Night, a swimwear fetish party, and boasts top DJs in a sex-andparty atmosphere.
For the higher arts, the Valley’s proximity to the Brisbane Powerhouse Theatre puts Valley dwellers a short cab ride from the city’s leading theatre venue. Events to pop in the calendar in 2019 include Joel Devereux’s Rumble Cabaret, The Brisbane Comedy Festival and The Melt Festival Of Queer Art.
The Valley’s proximity to beautiful parks like Roma make it a jogger’s paradise and in the hotter months head to The Valley Pool. There are plenty of great gyms in the area including Good Life, Jetts Fitness, Snap Fitness, Biologic Lab and Sweat Gym.