Liquid Nightclub Rockingham

Liquid Nightclub, known by locals as Liquids or Liquos, was located at 26 Kent Street and formed part of the Rockingham Hotel property, which extended between Kent Street and Rockingham Beach Road.

 

Although Liquid was a more recent addition to the site, the land it occupied was part of an older entertainment precinct. Heritage records describe the hotel as part of a considerably larger recreational site that once occupied the block, with the hotel and surrounding grounds used for social gatherings, entertainment and holidays for more than a century.

 

The entire property eventually covered approximately 1.15 hectares at 25 Rockingham Beach Road and 26-40 Kent Street. By the late 2010s, it contained the Rockingham Hotel, Liquid Nightclub, a drive-through bottle shop and petrol station. It was described at the time as the largest waterfront landholding on the Rockingham foreshore.

 

Before Liquid Nightclub

Historical aerial photographs show the property later occupied by Liquid, originally contained several smaller buildings, including houses. During the late 1950s, two larger buildings appeared among them, including a building on the corner that was constructed as a service station. A long rectangular building, a nightclub, was later constructed diagonally across part of the site, replacing two of the earlier houses.

 

Palermo Nominees Pty Ltd and Mirco Bros Pty Ltd took Broad Construction Service Pty Ltd to court over problems with the nightclub that had been constructed on the hotel site. Broad Construction had been engaged as project manager for demolition works and the construction of a new service station and nightclub. When the nightclub reached practical completion in October 1994, it was found to have poor internal acoustics and excessive reverberation.

 

The owners argued that Broad Construction should have arranged an independent acoustic report before the nightclub was built. The court agreed, finding that the acoustic requirements of a nightclub went beyond what would normally be expected of an architect and that Broad Construction had failed to obtain the specialist advice needed to ensure the venue was suitable for its intended use.

 

The old service station was demolished and subsequently rebuilt sometime later.

 

Both the service station and nightclub was remain until they were demolished in late 2024.

 

Liquid Nightclub

Liquid eventually became one of Rockingham's best-known nightclubs. Contemporary descriptions show that it was bigger than a suburban bar, containing several bars, a main dance floor and podium, an upper level with pool tables and lounges, a quieter downstairs area and an outdoor balcony.

 

It traded late into the night, with advertised Friday and Saturday sessions continuing until 5am. Over the years it hosted DJs, touring performers and special events and became particularly targeted Rockingham's younger nightlife crowd

 

The exact date that Liquid permanently closed has been difficult to confirm. Online activity attributed to the venue continued into 2022 but by the end of that year, the buildings were disused.

 

Mirco Bros Pty Ltd &  Palermo Nominees Pty Ltd

Mirco Bros and Palermo Nominees jointly bought the Rockingham Hotel in 1988 and operated the property through a partnership. During the 1990s, the former beer garden was built over to create what became Liquid Nightclub.

 

Palermo Nominees Pty Ltd was registered on 26 August 1978 and remains registered, with its registered office in Burswood.

 

Mirco Bros Pty Ltd was registered on 11 March 1977 and also remains registered, with its registered office in Henderson. A number of other companies, trusts and business names have been associated with the Mirco name in Western Australia, including Mirco Bros Machinery, Mirco Bros No. 2 Pty Ltd and Sound Oil Distributors.

 

Their business relationship later broke down and resulted in several years of Supreme Court proceedings over how the partnership had been operated and what each company was responsible for. The court judgment confirms that Palermo later agreed to sell its interest in the hotel to Mirco Bros, ending the partnership between the two companies. According to the property sales database, the transfer was recorded on 7 July 1999 for $2,515,000.

 

Further sale

The Rockingham Hotel property was offered for sale in 2018 and again marketed in 2019. At that time the entire 1.15ha waterfront site was expected to attract somewhere around $18 million to $20 million because of its size and redevelopment potential.

 

On 29 September 2022, 26-40 Kent Street was recorded as selling for $11.6 million to Foreshore Group Pty Ltd.

 

Interestingly, Foreshore Group Pty Ltd had only been registered eight days earlier, on 21 September 2022. The company subsequently registered Rockingham Hotel as a business name on 20 June 2023.

 

The $11.6 million acquisition was reported publicly, with Foreshore Group identified as the new owner of the approximately 11,497sqm property.

 

Demolition

After purchasing the site, Foreshore Group lodged plans to demolish both the Rockingham Hotel and Liquid Nightclub as part of the first stage of redevelopment.

 

This became particularly controversial because of the history of the Rockingham Hotel. The original Port Hotel dated from 1886, while the surviving hotel contained sections dating from 1898 and numerous later additions and alterations.

 

The City of Rockingham approved demolition at its meeting on 19 December 2023. Conditions attached to the approval required a Heritage Interpretation Plan, cataloguing and storage of heritage materials recovered from the site, and measures to prevent further unauthorised entry before demolition. The Heritage Interpretation Plan was eventually approved by the City on 15 August 2024.

 

The heritage-listed Norfolk Island pines and limestone walls associated with the former hotel grounds were to be retained.

 

Before demolition began, the abandoned buildings had increasingly become targets for vandalism and fire. It took a week for Liquid Nightclub to be completely trashed by the usual feral maggots, who always seem to take out their instability on abandoned buildings that can’t fight back. Obviously giving them a rare sense of purpose, considering how desperate they must be.

 

A fire was lit at Liquid Nightclub on 12 November 2023, followed by another suspicious fire on 14 December 2023, much like what happened to many abandoned buildings during this period. The nearby Rockingham Hotel had also been targeted by fires. In one incident, three juveniles aged between 11 and 12 were issued juvenile cautions for trespass in relation to the fire.

 

It was the usual bureaucratic Band-Aid response. No doubt authorities would face an inquiry if anyone dared suggest a penalty serious enough that the kids might not laugh at it. Still, I'm sure being handed a toilet-paper-sized juvenile caution dramatically changed their behaviour.

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Redevelopment

Foreshore Group originally proposed that redevelopment would begin with a new tavern and function centre complex, with Three Pound Group identified as the likely operator, who are behind a number of Perth hospitality venues including The Camfield in Burswood and The Elford in Mount Lawley.

 

Early concept images showed a substantial two-storey venue with ocean-facing balconies and a large beer garden. The new venue was to revive the historic name Port Hotel, the original name of the Rockingham Hotel. However, these plans have not yet been approved.

 

As of 29 April 2026, the City of Rockingham confirmed that it still hadn’t received a formal Development Application for redevelopment of the Rockingham Hotel site. However, the proponents had recently attended a City Design Review Panel meeting to discuss a concept tavern design as part of the pre-lodgement process.