ABOUT THE VENUE
It was the romanticised era of flappers, suffragettes and bootleggers. While Prohibition has long gone, the legacy of the speakeasy still stands. Most significantly, Prohibition introduced a sophisticated drinking culture. It is this labyrinthine experience that Prohibition Brisbane presents, where illicit spaces showcase recycled materials fused to raw modernism.

The macho overtones of saloons pre1920s were previously a men’s only territory – and the bad women who associated with them. But the speakeasy introduced a co-ed experience of jumping jazz, The Charleston and muddled moonshine liquor. Illegal drinking dens sprang up in basements and back rooms, open only to those who knew the password – and even then, through a grill before the door was fully opened. As with anything of taboo, defying the law became a game: secret rooms housed secret passages, trap doors and fake walls.