Main dancefloor area - Glasshouse, Wollongong NSW

In Wollongong (an hour from Sydney) tonight to check out the clubs. We have just left The Ivory, I am fuming and swearing to god about their bullshit no camera policy. Across the road is The Glasshouse, the next place on our list of clubs to visit, so here we go!

Saturdays @ The Glasshouse Tavern

Assessment Time: 12:30PM – 01:30AM
Opening Hours: Unknown – 03:00AM
Lockout: None
Website: No website available at time of writing
Address: 90 Crown St, Wollongong
Dress Code / Door Policy: Casual ok. No hats allowed inside. It was 50/50 casual, collared shirts for guys. Most girls had dresses. Dress up costumes were ok in here as well, as there was a group of people dressed up as the members of KISS.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: $10. We bargained the door girl to $5 for the four of us each.
Guestlist: None
Inside: As you walk inside the premise there is an outdoor courtyard, albeit very small. Walking inside the Glasshouse itself is large bar area to mill around with stools and tables. This is to the right. To the very left is a two stepped podium to hold about 15 – 20 people. In front of you is the main dancefloor, elevated from the rest of the bar (the entire Glasshouse venue is on a slope) to hold about 150-200 people. The entire place is wooden floor board.
Cloak Room: None
Bar: Did not drink here
Music: RnB, House, Pop, Top 40
Crowd: Mostly local Aussies / Caucasians. Young.
Entertainment: No MC. Just podiums.
Atmosphere: In the dancefloor it was constantly packed, and people were dancing about, but not much signing along. The vibe didn’t seem to be there – I think the venue itself just was a bit too airy for intimacy. Outside the dancefloor in the bar areas, it was not that busy. You could easily get a stool if you waited around for a minute or two.
Video: Walkthrough

Click here to view the embedded video.

Timeline:
Taking over the club – before we got in
Even before we got in, we were outside deciding whether to go inside or head on to Illawarra Hotel / Hostage X. Being the Glasshouse, the walls are of glass, and you can see inside. People inside can also see outside. Exploiting this fact, M and I just said ‘fuck it’ and we started dancing outside one of the glass walls, while people in line look at us. Soon after a minute or two, about 30 people inside the club closest to the glass window are staring at us and cheering us on. We have, again, taken over the club but this time, without being inside the club! Brilliant stuff!! Someone even walked by and yelled out ‘GROW UP!’ to us as we danced. I will take that as a compliment thank you very much.

No Vomit Here
A local had advised us the Glasshouse was pretty filthy and dirty. So much so that they even sprayed vomit over the cash registers to keep patrons away from the money, ha! Well that was a few years ago though. Tonight it seemed to be a clean open place, and there was not a trace of vomit or slime to be found, I am pleased to report.

an odd location for a podium
The main dancefloor was always busy, and its pretty spacey. However there provided no mechanism for us to take over. The podiums did not overlook the dancefloor at all, they were in a different section altogther, and it overlooked the patrons who are drinking at the tables and stools. It was more of a tiny performance stage converted to a podium for tonight. So when you stand up to dance at the podium, you don’t get much of an audience.

The bar stool seating area - Glasshouse, Wollongong NSW

Arrivederci
It was reaching 1:30AM and we were no longer feelng the vibe at all. We still needed to Visit our next club !

Recommendation
The music played here caters for all the younger crowd. Big venue, and it doesn’t smell or stink as previously insinuated by the locals. So if you haven’t been back here in a while, do try it out again, but do go with friends – you will find yourself pretty lonely without someone. The vibe just isn’t here. Whether it was the fact that it was a glasshouse and there was light coming in or it was just too airy – I just couldn’t put my finger on it.

Saturdays @ The Glasshouse – 6.0/10