source : the age
Few places still standing today capture Brisbane’s arts, music and alternative culture scene like The Bearded Lady.
The bolthole has called Boundary Street home for more than a decade, in that time cementing itself as a beloved hangout for West End’s colourful community and one of the city’s most important local live music institutions.
Owner Jamie Simmonds says The Bearded Lady – or The Beardo to its regulars – became a local arts icon by accident.
Owner Jamie Simmonds says losing The Bearded Lady has been “gut wrenching”. Credit: Courtney Kruk
“I first had a restaurant café here called JamJar,” Simmonds explains. “The first year it was going really well [but] the second year just bottomed out.”
The idea for a live music venue surfaced as the café was closing. “Back then, West End was all about reggae, funk and world music.
“Some of my staff were musicians living in West End and playing in rock’n’roll bands, and they were saying ‘there’s nowhere for us to play’.
“So when the café stopped, we thought stuff it, let’s just turn it into a live music venue.”
The vision, Simmonds says, was a place where young, start-up bands could play, similar to New York music club CBGB.
That was September 2013. Now, four months shy of their twelfth birthday, The Bearded Lady is preparing to close for good, announcing last week that Friday will be their final day of trade.
The news wasn’t a complete surprise. In March, Simmonds launched a fundraiser to “help keep the bearded lady alive” citing rising trading costs, inflation and the cost of living as factors making it hard to “keep the doors open”.
The Bearded Lady held a “wake” for the venue on Monday night. Jamie says it ended up being one of the best nights he’s had in the venue.Credit: Courtney Kruk
“The last two years have just been absolute shit,” he says.
“And it’s not just in Australia, it’s all over the world. We’re losing hospitality and music venues everywhere.”
The GoFundMe raised nearly $30,000 of a $200,000 goal. Enough, Simmonds says, to pay back some of the venue’s smaller suppliers to whom they had become in debt, and cover rent while they looked for someone to take over the business.
Until recently, this looked promising. The Staple Group, a collection of companies including Fortitude Valley venues Black Bear Lodge and The Brightside, were in talks to acquire The Bearded Lady, and keep it running as a live music bar.
But negotiations with the landlord collapsed suddenly about a month ago after the family trust, to which the building belongs, voted against continuing it as a hospitality venue.
“At the end of the day, he’s been an amazing landlord. We’ve been with him for nearly 15 years and he’s really looked after us,” Simmonds says.
“But the family trust made a decision not to go forward with any more hospitality within the building, they want to try and do something else.”
What that might be is unclear, but the changing face of Boundary Street spilling from the West Village development, gives some indication.
“I don’t like using the word ‘gentrified’, I hate that word. Yes, it’s changing, and the problem with any sort of area that changes is we don’t have enough power and enough fight in us to do anything about it.
“The one thing we need to do to actually keep creative places from closing is come up with a way where we can buy the buildings, and unfortunately no one’s come up with it yet.”
Simmonds says he’s still processing the end of The Bearded Lady. The shock and grief has been reflected by others in the local music community.
Brisbane artist Thelma Plum called the news “devastating”, adding “West End won’t be the same without you”. Local rock group Full Flower Moon Band said The Bearded Lady had given Brisbane, and the larger Australian arts community “so much for so long”.
“God knows where underground local and touring acts are going to go now. The silence is deafening. Thank you for over a decade of being there for us,” they said.
Simmonds says he’s been “very humbled lately” by responses such as these.
“I’ve always known The Bearded Lady’s been important, but not this important.
“We are very proud of what we’ve done here and the way we have allowed people to make it their home too.
“It’s hard to think about it not being here anymore.”
