Adelaide’s renowned Downtown to be revived as a major nightclub, entertainment venue
Paul Starick, Chief Reporter, The Advertiser
January 6, 2018 9:26am
A BORDERTOWN farmer turned major Hindley St hotelier is creating Adelaide’s largest nightclub and entertainment complex at the renowned former Downtown amusement arcade.
Woolshed and Black Bull hotel leaseholder John Meek wants to spend $3 million to create a five-level complex with capacity for up to 3000 people, called Downtown.
It will include a rooftop bar, street-level oyster wine bar, function rooms and two stage areas with capacity for 500 and 1500 people respectively.
Pinball machines at the Downtown Fun and Leisure Centre, 1979.
Opened in 1913 as the Wondergraph Theatre, the now-vacant complex was famed in the 1980s as the site of Downtown, which featured roller skating, dodgem cars and a games arcade. A Hungry Jack’s restaurant was also on the ground floor.
Exterior of the "Downtown" leisure centre building in Hindley Street, 1981.
Mr Meek, who also runs cattle and sheep on 1500ha farms, has operated nightclubs in the ground floor area but now has taken a 20-year lease over the entire complex.
Adelaide City Council has given development approval for the internal renovation but neighbouring property owners are objecting as part of a liquor licensing process, arguing Downtown’s capacity for 3000 people and 5am closing will create footpath congestion and safety risks.
Mr Meek, who took over the Woolshed in 2001, said he did not anticipate major queues but had some space inside for between 100 and 200 people to wait.
“Hindley St was and has been for some years the entertainment area. They didn’t operate one day a week 100 years ago (when the theatre had 1800 seats),” he said.
The complex, the first stage of which Mr Meek hopes to open in March, will include a ground floor restaurant/coffee shop in an oyster bar theme.
Three floors above are intended for daytime use as corporate function and restaurant facilities, becoming nightclub areas after 9pm.
Econ Property Group director James Economos, whose firm owns the neighbouring Adelaide Paringa Motel and Miller Apartments, said there seemed to be no consideration about how an already overcrowded Hindley St would cope with 3000 people arriving and exiting from one entry point.
“The Adelaide West End precinct and laneways are rapidly changing for the better but, unfortunately, Hindley St’s transformation is being hindered by the rapid development of more mega nightclub venues, without proper consideration to the inevitable impact on public safety in the area,” he said.
Adelaide City Council’s community acting director Vanessa Godden said the administration also had been concerned about queueing’s potential effect.
“The applicant’s business plan confirms that they intend to get patrons into the venue quickly rather than have queues,” she said.
Adelaide West End Association president Andrew Wallace welcomed businesses opening on Hindley St and said lessons learned from HQ nightclub’s opening in November included having daytime ground floor space and ensuring queues did not affect footpath traffic.
A 22-year-old man died last month after a brawl between more than a dozen people broke out on the popular party street, near the intersection of Morphett St.
