7 July 2010

Private Bin

| Solidarity
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I was wondering if anybody had any media/pictures/good stories about the Private Bin, which existed in Civic where ICBM is these days?

Entirely for research use only, will not be published/publicly features etc.

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Skinzki7 I was the head chef there for a couple of years. Scottish Anne. Were you Joel’s apprentice with the blonde hair? So many stories of that place. Cooking in the dark when the lights blew. Peter making the kids eat brushed off burnt croissants that were in the bin (which I took off them when he left). He was a grafter alright. More than any of his business partners and staff.

Chef chris Ross5:30 pm 19 Mar 22

I was one of Joel’s apprentices from 1991 till the dramatic close of business:/

I worked at Waffles for approximately 4 years in the kitchen back in the early to mid-nineties (was one of the pastry fellas).

While Peter Mccoy may have been a crook he was most definitely a hard worker who was not afraid to get his hands dirty. I remember when the keg truck would pull up and Peter would be unloading the thing along with Guru, Phil and Macca. I always wondered what happened to those fellas.

When all that financial stuff happened towards the end of ’96 I remember hearing that people like Phil and Macca got burned pretty bad because they had invested into the business. Same with a guy called Jacque who had put a lot in also, he was the main chef in the kitchen.

We used to start work pretty early (3.30am) and thus we would get there when the dregs of the bin were still hanging around. Over the years we got to see everything, that place was a true no holds barred zoo.

One funny incident was when this drunk guy who was wandering around lost at about 6am when the sun had just come up. Some of the bin staff got the firehose and hosed this guy down. I’ll never forget that sopping drunk bumbling around completely lost as to what was going on.

That kitchen was a hothouse too as it had no air conditioning. In the summer we would we’d be baking in that place. It was noisy too because of this giant freezer we had in there. Joel, the head pastry chef, got ticked off one time and and stabbed the coils with his knife and gas went everywhere. He played the innocent man when Peter asked what happened.

So many memories of that place.

DJsimon said :

HELLO
I am the original DJ upstairs from the Private Bin from 1988 till 90s I am glad u all have great memories of the Bin it was the place to be if u braved the massive line ups
many people use to burn themselves on my smoke machine being in front of the DJ box didnt help either YES many a famous comedians started at the BIn Eric banner to the scarred little brothers it was the genius IDEA of a good friend off mine a American guy called LOU
we where the first club in australia in the 80s to play livemusic from club to air to FM 105 with malcome paul and myself as comperes and Dj saturday nite
Peter Mcoy was a good man dispite the greed and scams and was a generous boss and a good guy to work for i use to be so drunk 90% of the nites and DJ and we all had fun we had great staff and was a small family DJing 5 nites a week and 6 nites a week in summer did take its toll
Waffles was owned by Peter mcoy also
as for people sneaking in from waffles to the bin that was well known and management did know about it and the stamp at the door trick remember we did have cameras everwhere some (yes we did see all the sex in the booths too he he )
but as long as u came there and drank it was overlooked (sometimes)ha ha
at its peak and that lasted for 4 years it averaged 20,000 people a month
But from the diverse range of people fun was had by
R.I.P Private bin

feel free to email me mrdj40@hotmail.com
DJ Simon
rest in peace andy and rakesh who passed away a few years back in Perth a great barman and security and a dear friend from CITYCLUB

Andy C????

I got fishy fingers in the loo!

Also the zone…seriously Thurs night $10 all you could drink and ever remembered he walk to jolly jugs

grunge_hippy said :

We used to the the ‘bin trick’… we would line up for downstairs, which always had the shorter line, once we passed the threshold, we would scoot upstairs when the bouncers weren’t looking.

god knows why. I hated upstairs. it think it was just about sticking it to the man.

I was more a pandoras and knights girl. Jolly jugs and $1 drinks. back when binge drinking was encouraged!

We probably chatted at some point, because everything in your post rings true for me!

“Had a good night life”!

Dodging the line up downstairs to run upstairs and thinking you were awesome because you got away with not waiting the 20 minutes. The amount of times I burnt myself on the smoke machine, ae podiums! The dodgy downstairs and the funny random little “sports bar” upstairs, the awful girls toilets, going there before 9 to get your free stamp, the upstairs-upstairs bar were you’d get more change than you handed over. The Horrid “Bin Scum”that if you wore a dress would flick up your dress and stain your legs for days. Wednesday night comedy club, $5 jugs that it wasn’t a problem if you drank strait out of the jug..who needed a glass! Ohh the memories,not to mention the hangovers! As terrible as it was, I had some fantastic times there and kept going back. It was an Instantiation!! I know I have got older, but Canberra has changed. It has a fantastic night light life and it catered for all ages!!

we never played rock upstairs go downstairs
dance music only he he
DJsimon

DJsimon said :

I am the original DJ upstairs from the Private Bin

PLAY SOME KISS!!!

HELLO
I am the original DJ upstairs from the Private Bin from 1988 till 90s I am glad u all have great memories of the Bin it was the place to be if u braved the massive line ups
many people use to burn themselves on my smoke machine being in front of the DJ box didnt help either YES many a famous comedians started at the BIn Eric banner to the scarred little brothers it was the genius IDEA of a good friend off mine a American guy called LOU
we where the first club in australia in the 80s to play livemusic from club to air to FM 105 with malcome paul and myself as comperes and Dj saturday nite
Peter Mcoy was a good man dispite the greed and scams and was a generous boss and a good guy to work for i use to be so drunk 90% of the nites and DJ and we all had fun we had great staff and was a small family DJing 5 nites a week and 6 nites a week in summer did take its toll
Waffles was owned by Peter mcoy also
as for people sneaking in from waffles to the bin that was well known and management did know about it and the stamp at the door trick remember we did have cameras everwhere some (yes we did see all the sex in the booths too he he )
but as long as u came there and drank it was overlooked (sometimes)ha ha
at its peak and that lasted for 4 years it averaged 20,000 people a month
But from the diverse range of people fun was had by
R.I.P Private bin feel free to email me mrdj40@hotmail.com
DJ Simon
rest in peace andy and rakesh who passed away a few years back in Perth a great barman and security and a dear friend from CITYCLUB

troll-sniffer I remember a advert from the 80’s. “You meet the nicest people at the Private Bin”. Sometimes true but often not so true.

Oh the garbage bin as that’s what I called it.

sunshine said :

OMG what memories – i remember the bin and the other favourite being the club in Braddon – can’t remember…was it the underground??
opposite where maccas is now and next to the petrol station in braddon.

It was called ‘The Zone’. Run by the guy that used to run Jaggers.

Comedy on Wednesday night, JJs at Pandoras Thursdays, Friday night at Bobby McGees (or ‘The Pavillion’, now Rydges Capital Hill, before BMcGs opened), RSL then Bin Saturday night, rest day Sunday, hospitality night at BMcGs on Monday night. Those were the days

sunshine said :

OMG what memories – i remember the bin and the other favourite being the club in Braddon – can’t remember…was it the underground??
opposite where maccas is now and next to the petrol station in braddon.

Wasn’t that some kind of “Comedy Club”?

Where the plumbing shop is now?

Growling Ferret9:45 pm 07 Jul 10

Pandoras and Jolly Jugs on a Thursday. Many, many a Friday at work was spent trying not to throw up…

Saturday night was get a stamp at the Bin early so you didn’t have to line up later, get over to the RSL for dollar drinks, then stagger back over to the Bin when the Rissole was about the close and waltz straight back into downstairs Bin, stamp collected earlier saving a half hour sobering up session in the line…

grunge_hippy9:27 pm 07 Jul 10

We used to the the ‘bin trick’… we would line up for downstairs, which always had the shorter line, once we passed the threshold, we would scoot upstairs when the bouncers weren’t looking.

god knows why. I hated upstairs. it think it was just about sticking it to the man.

I was more a pandoras and knights girl. Jolly jugs and $1 drinks. back when binge drinking was encouraged!

OMG what memories – i remember the bin and the other favourite being the club in Braddon – can’t remember…was it the underground??
opposite where maccas is now and next to the petrol station in braddon.

Never Odd Or Even7:42 pm 07 Jul 10

georgesgenitals said :

Jim Jones said :

God that takes me back.

Me too. Remember Wednesday night comedy?

I remember seeing Eric Bana perform his comedy routine there one Wednesday night. The other fond memories I hold of The Bin are the feelings of monumental disappointment when I first saw the “beer garden” that I had built up into an oasis in my mind, and 10 cent beers during O-Week. I didn’t like beer so they sold me 10 cent wines. 10 drinks for $1 – talk about responsible service of alcohol! 😉

sirocco said :

p1 said :

Does anyone know off hand when the place finally closed it’s doors?

I know that Peter McCoy declared himself bankrupt and it was sold on to others around about 1998/99ish cos he became general manager of Bobby McGee’s about then.

But how long it lasted as the Bin after that time? Someone else would have to fill that in…

Couldn’t have last long after that. Purely based on when I turned 18 and the fact it didn’t exist all that long afterwards. Although records from the period are hazy at best.

p1 said :

Does anyone know off hand when the place finally closed it’s doors?

I know that Peter McCoy declared himself bankrupt and it was sold on to others around about 1998/99ish cos he became general manager of Bobby McGee’s about then.

But how long it lasted as the Bin after that time? Someone else would have to fill that in…

Holden Caulfield3:42 pm 07 Jul 10

dtc said :

If you ate at Waffles and then went to the toilet, you could divert yourself into the nightclub on the way back before you paid your bill, then disappear. So I heard.

Quite. But if you knew I went from cleaning the dunnies at the Bin then on to a dish pig/kitchen hand shift at Waffles you probably didn’t want eat there anyway, haha.

troll-sniffer3:30 pm 07 Jul 10

They had a radio ad that played on the Private Bin theme, anyone remember the details?

forgoodnessake1:24 pm 07 Jul 10

Wow the good old bin. Memories yes, plenty (most a bit hazy on the details…) But good ones? Not necessarily. I remember being way drunker than should be allowed, and once broke my wrist falling over on knee high spilt beer (that time I was sober too). And I had a (female) friend who once had a punch up with a very very scary young lady at the bar and didn’t get kicked out. If you wanted a quick fling, the bin or moose would cater for your needs. Or so I heard :]

If you ate at Waffles and then went to the toilet, you could divert yourself into the nightclub on the way back before you paid your bill, then disappear. So I heard.

Does anyone know off hand when the place finally closed it’s doors?

Clown Killer said :

I remember getting a nasty burn from poking my finger into the hole of the smoke machine, drinking way (way, way) too many vodkas and on one occasion having to break a young cadets nose when he couldn’t keep his hands off my girlfriend.

I don’t think I ever bought a drink there. I had to be monumentally blotto to set foot in the place.

Holden Caulfield11:45 am 07 Jul 10

Great photo at #1, many memories.

I don’t have any pics myself or too many notable memories, but I did work at the Bin and Waffles for a couple of years as a cleaner and dish pig.

I just remember Phil the hot dog man was a pretty good bloke. Rocking up at 6 in the morning to kick the stragglers out was often entertaining. The Female toilets were as bad, or worse, than the male toilets. The wait-kitchen staff ration was way out of whack at Waffles. And McCoy was a dirty piece of work, but handy with a paint brush, haha.

Clown Killer11:26 am 07 Jul 10

Downstairs, I remember the car hanging off the wall, the plaque with the names of all the people who’d consumed 24 Elephant beers in one sitting, the sticky floor (and the fact that if you got that stuff on your clothes it was never coming out). I remember getting kicked out for wearing a flanny and goming back in through the back gate to the ‘beer garden’.

Upstirs, I remember getting a nasty burn from poking my finger into the hole of the smoke machine, drinking way (way, way) too many vodkas and on one occasion having to break a young cadets nose when he couldn’t keep his hands off my girlfriend.

What happened at the Bin, stays at the Bin.

…probably still stuck to the floor!

Growling Ferret10:21 am 07 Jul 10

The Peter McCoy story would potentially be more interesting.

Owner of the Private Bin
Personal friend of Robbie Waterhouse and beneficiary of the Fine Cotton affair
The alleged victim of international scammers…

Good stories…..umm…..?
Stories – yes.

I remember when 3 RAR came to the bin, very messy indeed. Many a copper and MP were on site.

icantbelieveitsnotbutter9:48 am 07 Jul 10

‘good stories about the Private Bin…?’ Ah… no

colourful sydney racing identity9:47 am 07 Jul 10

Good stroies about the Private Bin were few and far between.

georgesgenitals9:41 am 07 Jul 10

Jim Jones said :

God that takes me back.

Me too. Remember Wednesday night comedy?

God that takes me back.

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