Sydney live music venue Newtown Social Club will be revamped by its new owners to open as a mini-golf bar.
The announcement of the venue’s impending closurewas made in January, and Sydney music lovers reacted with a mix of disappointment and anger.
Now, the BRAG can reveal that the newproprietors of the venue formerly known as The Sando plan to renovate the bar and reopen it as Holey Moley Sydney, a mini-golf club similar to the Holey Moley bar in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley.
Funlab, the Victorian-based company that operates Holey Moley as well as the Sky Zone trampoline centres and the Strike Bowling chain, has expanded its mini-golf operation into the Sydney market with its lease of the King Street location.
Crucially, Funlab says it will “continue to support” live music at the venue.
Funlab CEO Michael Schreiber told the BRAG, “We’re very conscious that Newtown Social Club has been an absolute cornerstone to the Sydney live music industry, helping launch and support local artists, and we intend only to strengthen its reputation with the launch of our new Holey Moley venue.
“We have been looking for a space in Sydney for a long period of time. The space at the Social Club became available and we were fortunate to be able to lease such a great space in a suburb like Newtown. We plan on providing the community in Newtown an entertainment alternative, a social space which brings people together to have fun.”
“We’re committed to maintaining a music element and have some absolutely phenomenal plans in place to assure the venue reflects the tastes of the community,”Schreiber added.
“Holey Moley is a contemporary interactive 21st century concept which has been incredibly well received in Brisbane. We feel confident that the Newtown community will be proud to host this centre.”
Holey Moley is on track for an opening in early June,Schreiber said.
In January, Newtown Social Club blamed its closure on “the current regulatory climate in Sydney and the inherent challenges therein”.
Mini-golf image courtesy holeymoley.com.au / Newtown Social Club image via Facebook
Newtown Social Club’s final gigon Sunday April 23 will feature The Drones frontman Gareth Liddiard.
