Geelong Pub and Nightclub History
Over the last 20 or so years there has been quiet a few nightspots come and go and venues changing their names so we thought it would make an interesting story. If you can correct any of these or add to our list please drop us a line.
Lets start with some of the venues which are no longer with us, there’s the Railways Hotel in La Trobe Terrace which is now a showroom, the notorious Terminus which was once a “gentleman’s club” with risque entertainment in Mercer Street and the Bay View hotel a little way down the road. There’s the Wool Exchange Nightclub, Lyric Nightclub and the poor old Britannia which made way for the Westfield flyover, we have lost the the George and Dragon in South Geelong, which has now made way for a great Greek Restaurant known as Bistro@310, reverting to the restaurant format the building was known as during the 80’s and 90’s under the names of Tousson, The Source and 310. In late 2011 The Scottish Chiefs that held the claim of Geelong’s oldest licensed premises dating back to 1848 (although not continuous) has closed and reopened as a Mexican restaurant.
hat is now the Sporting Globe was the Halfpenny Bridge Hotel for a while after being the Preston for most of its life, it reverted to the Preston name for a while before taking on the current sporting theme. The venue has over the years featured nightspots called Chocolat, Desiree’s, Club Central and Rebar. The Limelight Lounge briefly graced under the T&G building that is no more and Basement 159 now takes its place.
Who could forget the Geelong Hotel at the top of Moorabool Street, its been the Refinery, Cotton Club, Pool Shark and more recently G Lounge- its last incarnation was as Two One Six upstairs and the Geelong Hotel downstairs, currently the venue is closed and word is the demolition ball might move in to make way for a St John of God Hospital expansion.
The venue we all love now as Home House has had a few lives starting out as Platinum, Pier 40, My Place, Impulse and even known as Escalations II for a short time during the 1990′s.
Rumours in James Street was once home to the Martini Lounge, Cream, Venom Lounge, Bazzar Bar, Static, Zulu, Shaboom and Escalation and was one of Geelong’s first real nightclub Valentines dating back to the 70′s.
The Gentleman’s Club Alley Cat was once the Caledonian, while the Phoenix Hotel was the Wool Exchange Hotel, Joker’s was the Criterion before the pokies came to town and featured a bar called Club Zero for a while.
Beav’s Bar once housed the Hi Fidelity, Torpedo, Mr Gators, Brodies and was even once a venue called Onion.
Once part of Woolworths Department store in the 60′s and 70′s and later Space Odyssey a games parlour and even a McDonalds and a Chinese Buffet, the underground club on the corner of Little Malop Street and Moorabool Streets was once Soma, then after a few years and a huge renovation it re-emerged as Club 4 Play. The venue had a huge make over in 2010 and is now known as Rush nightclub. The Eureka Hotel was known as the ESSC or Eureka Sports Saloon Caf’e and now after a multi million dollar spruce up is called the Eureka Hotel again. The Bended Elbow was the ICON for a while and was known as the Corio Hotel decades before the rebuild.
The Queens Head became the Wild Westcoast Saloon before turning into Peoples Pub and then into Room 99 as we know it today, although it closed mid 2011, we will have to wait and see what happens to the site. The Max was once the notorious Golden Age, while the Queen of the West in Pakington Street transformed into The Barking Dog. Around the corner in Church Street the Saleyards got its name clipped to the just The Yardz.
Out in the Suburbs, the Dinosaur became the Peninsula Hotel. The Waurn Ponds Hotel had nightspots called Scanners, Gables with it’s laser show and lattice, then a bit later as the Bull Pen complete with bucking bull.
Out north the Sphinx was once the Golf View and the Bay International and its nightclub Bandstand was once the Sundowner home of Sugars Disco.