Club hits flat note

Bringing a slice of the Big Apple to Perth by opening a New York style jazz club may appeal to many in the local music scene, but the plan has hit its first hurdle in the form of the liquor licensing public interest test.

WA Academy of Performing Arts music department head, Graham Wood, and business partner Bernard Kong are behind the proposed Ellington Jazz Club, which would be housed in the heritage-listed former Lung Cheong Laundry building on Beaufort Street in Northbridge.

Although the club would be located in the area once branded the ‘Village Northbridge’ by the East Perth Redevelopment Authority, the plan to infuse the area with a vibe like that of New York’s Greenwich Village has been met with eight objections from members of the public and one from the Police.

“The complaints were made about shortage of parking, fears of antisocial behaviour and the opening hours,” Mr Wood told WA Business News.

Members of the community can lodge objections to a liquor licence application in the 28 days advertising period included in the public interest test process.

However, Mr Wood regrets that there is no similar format to lodge support for an application.

Mr Wood said most of the music community was behind the project, with written support already provided by 120 people.

According to Mr Wood, the objections to the application all came from residents living in the old cottages located in the streets surrounding the proposed venue, whereas nothing was lodged from the residents living in the recently built apartment buildings along Beaufort Street, who are mainly young professionals.

“The jazz club clientele is rather sophisticated. I think residents got scared because of the terminology ‘nightclub licence’, but we are not opening a Northbridge-style nightclub,” he said

Messrs Wood and Kong applied for a nightclub licence so they have the flexibility to host up to three live acts each evening.

“In New York, the jazz clubs generally have a 9pm show, and 11pm and a 3am show,” Mr Wood said.

“In Perth if you want to go out after 12pm, you only have two choices, going to a nightclub or the casino.”

The venue, capable of hosting 283 patrons, would have a bandstand and bars downstairs, while the upstairs would have a lounge feel, Mr Wood said.