One of Australia’s longest-running and most iconic party venues is pouring its final drinks after more than four decades of hook-ups, break-ups, birthdays, New Year’s celebrations, Riverfire and wild nights on the riverfront. Fridays Riverside announced on social media it would close its doors, marking what many locals described as the “end of an era” for Brisbane nightlife.
“After more than 40 years on the Brisbane riverfront, Fridays Riverside is saying goodbye,” the venue posted online. “Come down and enjoy one last Friday at Fridays, or make it a Sanctuary Saturday by the water. Either way, join us for a final drink, a final dance, and a proper farewell to one of Brisbane’s icons.”
The closure sparked an outpouring of nostalgia online, with hundreds of former patrons reminiscing about cheap cocktails, hens nights, Riverfire parties and late nights on the dance floor. “Is like part of my youth is dying,” one person wrote. Another said: “I still remember the amazing times we had here. I can still hear the music and picture us dancing.”
Others recalled the venue’s reputation as a rite of passage for young Brisbane partygoers in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. “Remember the secret way up (through the menswear shop) to avoid the bouncers checking ID?” one commenter joked. “So many cheap cosmos,” a person recalled. “An absolute institution,” another wrote.
Located beneath Brisbane’s Riverside Centre on Eagle St, its biggest selling point was always the riverfront position overlooking the Story Bridge. Fridays became synonymous with the city’s nightlife long before the rise of entertainment precincts like Fortitude Valley and Howard Smith Wharves.
The venue opened in 1986 as part of the Riverside Centre development on Eagle St, designed by famed architect Harry Seidler ahead of Expo ’88 as a modern riverfront precinct aimed at after-work crowds and late-night drinkers. At the time, Brisbane was still widely viewed as a conservative city that shut down early, but Fridays quickly became a favourite for office workers, students and tourists as the once-sleepy river city evolved into a booming nightlife capital.
Over nearly four decades, the venue survived floods, changing nightlife trends and the disruption caused by the COVID pandemic, remaining one of the last long-running venues from the inner-city’s original Eagle St entertainment strip. Fridays Riverside’s final trading day will be Sunday, May 24.
