As Brisbane venue owners prepare themselves for what will likely be a protracted battle against Queensland’s draconian new lockout laws, one venue owner is hanging in the lurch after having his liquor license suspended without warning.
According to a post made to the official Facebook page of much-loved Brisbane venue Beetle Bar, venue operator Robert Lee recounted how officers from the Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing (OLGR) informed him at 7.55pm Friday that his license had been suspended.
Lee insisted the venue liquor license had been suspended “without any breach recorded” and that he subsequently helped police officers evacuate the venue to ensure “everyone went home safe”. However, the issue of just why the license was suspended is unclear.
In his statement, Lee directs “creditors, debtors or holders of any contracts” pertaining to Beetle Bar to the venue’s landlords, Hump Backpackers Group, insisting that he has “nothing to hide. I am broke but I’m not dead”.
Lee subsequently told The Music that the circumstances surrounding the suspension of the license are complicated, saying only that the blame does not rest with the OLGR and that the situation is instead the result of “a commercial agreement that went south”.
“All I can say is thank you for the support of the entire Australian music community,” he added. The OLGR has not yet released an official statement and in his statement Lee wrote that he “no longer [has] possession of the Beetle Bar”.
The news comes as Brisbane faces a trying time for late-night venues and live music. As Tone Deaf recently reported, the five biggest venues in the city’s Fortitude Valley district saw a 20 percent drop in business in the first week of the lockouts.
