Hindley Street has always been full of character, but traders fear tough lockout laws are turning people away from the party strip. Picture: Tom Huntley
Source: News Corp Australia
WHEN British politician Charles Hindley fell mysteriously ill in November 1857 he was prescribed a radical yet dangerous treatment.
His physician Dr Robert Bentley Todd reportedly instructed the 61-year-old to drink “six pints of brandy in 72 hours”.
Within a week Hindley was dead — from alcohol poisoning after consuming the equivalent of 88 standard drinks
Three years later Dr Todd died in his London consulting rooms from a gastric haemorrhage, reportedly due to excess alcohol consumption.
Black Bull bar manager Dom Barryn pours drinks for Jared Spence, 28 and Daniel Trembath, 25. The Black Bull is undergoing a $1 million upgrade. Picture: Dave Cronin
It’s perhaps only fitting that Hindley Street — named in honour of Charles Hindley a socialist and crucial financier of the South Australian colony — would become the city’s beating heart of binge-drinking, 24-hour partying, and the playground for those chasing a late-night pash or a one-night stand.
But today Hindley St traders — those behind the bars, nightclubs and strip joints — say the pulse of the entertainment strip is weakening and foot traffic is fading as tough liquor licensing laws decimate trade.
Since the Government enacted it’s controversial 3am lockout laws in October 2013, several West End venues have closed, including the Dog and Duck Alehouse, the Colonel Light Hotel and Lavish Nightclub.
Strat’s strip club owner, Strat Kostoglou with staff Jojo and Maddie, says trade has fallen by 50 per cent since lockout laws were introduced in Hindley Street in 2013. Picture: Tom Huntley
The Sunday Mail understands several more venues in the Hindley St area are on the brink of closure.
The multi-million-dollar expansion of the UniSA and the new Royal Adelaide Hospital and related medical facilities such as SAHMRI are also putting pressure on Hindley St’s traditionally unsavoury character.
UniSA has purchased four former nightclub premises with the aim of expanding its services for students.
Strat Kostoglou has been part of Hindley St since 1995 and he says revenue at his strip club has been down 50 per cent since the 3am lockout was enacted.
“I’ve had regulars coming in here for nearly 20 years and now they don’t bother coming in because of it (the lockout),” he says.
“If people are working in hospitality jobs until 1am or later it’s not worth coming into the street any more.
“How many more hard working people will lose their business or job before this moronic decision is reversed?”
Mr Kostoglou says he is angry that the casino is exempt from the lockout laws which prevent people from entering a venue after 3am.
“I don’t think it is sleazy for a woman to take off her clothes in front of a room full of strangers; what’s sleazy is to make people gamble if they want to have a drink after 3am,” he says.
He believes the State Government and Adelaide City Council are trying to change Hindley St forever by forcing out venues such as his.
“I’ve been on the street for more than 20 years and they are trying to force us out,” Mr Kostoglou says.
The Late Night Code introduced in October 2013 prevents patrons from entering venues after 3am and anyone who leaves a pub or club after that time from re-entering.
Licensed venues are also banned from serving shots, free-drink promotions, or glassware in pubs and clubs after 4am while drink marshalls, CCTV and metal detectors are also mandatory.
The Sunday Mail reported last November that in the first year of the lockout laws more than 1300 fewer crimes and anti-social offences were committed.
Imprints Booksellers co-owner Jason Lake said he supported the lockout but there needed to be a vision developed for Hindley St to prevent it from sliding into decay.
“There’s no reason to come down here any more,” he said.
“The street has been neglected for too long and we need someone with a vision to give people a reason to go to Hindley St.
“The only places that are doing well are shisha bars, convenience stores and massage parlours — and we don’t need any more of those.”
Mr Lake, who has worked on Hindley St for almost 25 years, said it had suffered a steady decline for the past 15 years.
“There has been this focus on improving all the other areas of the city but no one has really touched Hindley St,” he said.
“We have lost that diversity in the street and we really need more retailers and restaurants to encourage more people to come here in the day time.”
The push to gentrify Hindley St could spell the end of the area’s infamy as the late-night party spot in the city.
Australian Hotels Association SA Branch chief executive Ian Horne says Hindley Street is unlikely to be replicated anywhere else in the city.
“Back 15 or 20 years ago that whole area of Hindley St (between Morphett and Liverpool streets) was nightclubs and pubs, but these days it has certainly been gentrified — almost beyond recognition,” he says.
“Every city has a late-night party strip or nightclub strip, whatever you want to call it.
“Sydney has Kings Cross, Brisbane has Fortitude Valley and Hindley St has always been Adelaide’s equivalent.
“If Hindley St goes then there’s really no where for it to re-emerge in the city.”
Dog and Duck Alehouse owner Wally Hogdens told the City Messenger in February that the lockout and slowing economy were to blame for the demise of his business.
“It (the lockout) really changed the culture of going out here in Adelaide,” he said at the time
“People just aren’t coming in here (to Hindley St) like they used to and they have less money to spend.
“The lockout has been really bad for the street and there are a lot of (venues) that are feeling it.”
The introduction of pop up bars has also hit bricks-and-mortar venues hard, with the industry claiming they have been given an unfair advantage over existing businesses.
The Royal Croquet Club has come in for particular criticism, with the industry claiming its success has come at the expense of city pubs and clubs.
But even bricks-and-mortar venues are jumping on the pop-up bar bandwagon.
Antony Tropeano, who is managing director of the company the runs The Palace and Red Square, has opened his own pop up bar Brew and Chew outside his other two venues.
The bar will sell craft beer and cider, along with US-style gourmet fast food.
Bars on Hindley St West are worried about a different problem — the expansion of UniSA.
The university has bought up several buildings in the area west of Morphett St in an almost $20 million buying spree over the past decade, including purchasing the former Vodka Bar nightclub on Hindley St, for $1.32 million, in 2010.
Cargo Club closed in 2010, after the building it was in was bought out by the university.
Former proprietor of the venue Larry Salerno says he is concerned Hindley St is becoming unrecognisable because of the university’s expanding property portfolio.
“UniSA has pretty much bought everything out,” he said.
“I think it has become sterilised in the last couple of years.”
Mr Salerno says the university’s property buy up was a major factor in the Cargo Club closing.
“They bought the building we were in and they jacked up the rent by about $25,000, which they had the right to do but it basically gave us no option but to close,” he says.
Caos Cafe and Bar owner Mel Gardiner says she is also concerned about the university’s property buy up.
“I feel like we are in a David and Goliath situation here,” she says.
“We run a business and have to get a long-term lease so we need to know what (the university’s) intentions are before we make that sort of commitment.”
Ms Gardiner said the whole area had suffered as a result of the botched Hindley St road works conducted by UniSA.
“We still haven’t found out who is responsible and who is liable,” she said.
But UniSA facilities management director Philip Clatworthy said the university had helped transform Hindley St in a positive way.
“When you consider what this part of Hindley Street was like just 15 years ago — dark and in decline — I think we have really helped to turn the precinct around,” he said.
“(The university has) established a campus community that will blend very well with all the new developments nearing completion in the West End including the new Royal Adelaide Hospital, the (South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute) and our own Health Innovation building which will start to take shape this year and will have an amazing public science gallery for children and families.”
But it hasn’t been all “doom and gloom” on Hindley St, according to publican John Meek, who is spending $1 million on refurbishing the Woolshed and Black Bull and hopes Hindley St will find a new normal in the near future.
“There has been a lot of challenges over the past couple of years but we are hoping everything will level out soon,” he says.
“As long as (the State Government) don’t make the lock out any earlier then Hindley St can start to bounce back a bit.”
Mr Meek says he believed there was still a profitable future for bigger venues and small bars but questioned the viability of medium-sized venues.
“The big guys (venues) should be all right and a few of the small bars will probably do well but those in the middle might struggle,” he says.
“My future is wound up with Hindley St and I wouldn’t be investing this much money if I didn’t think there was anything in it.”
Business Services and Consumers Minister Gail Gago says a review into lockout and other measures introduced to combat alcohol-fuelled violence is underway and the Government will report results in May.
“As part of the review process, feedback and information from licensees has been sought and I anticipate this will provide great insight into the overall impacts of the measures contained within the codes,” she says
However, she declined to directly answer questions about licence holders’ concerns about the lockout.
