Butter Factory Co-op later Inflation, King Street

26 September 2023

This grand Neoclassical facade, featuring ionic columns, looks at home amongst the restrained 1850s bluestone classical warehouses at the bottom of King Street, but it’s actually much younger – it was built in 1937 for the Victorian Butter Factory, Cooperative, replacing, ‘two old bluestone warehouses’, and was designed by Marcus Barlow (famous for the 1932 Manchester Unity Building), and from the illustration perhaps it was meant to look like stone. It’s been Inflation nightclub since 1979, at a time when the whole strip of warehouses became a night time entertainment precinct. I had fun there on gay night on Wednesdays in the 80s, when it closed on the dot of 3am. This row of four warehouses was bought up by the (Kuwaiti based) St Martins property group, partners to the Grollo family, who together developed the Rialto towers, to protect the Rialto Tower area. In recent years the Grollos have bought out all four from St Martins, buying Inflation in 2019, and now they’ve put the whole lot up for sale. They’re all heritage listed and guidelines would not allow facading or cantilevering so hopefully they’ll stay just as they are, but something on legs on the back half seems likely.

The strip of warehouses c1978. Source : National Trust Victoria

18 June 2026

To celebrate pride month and my 63rd birthday, here’s a post from my own history – dancing at Inflation nightclub in King Street every Wednesday way back in the 80s !

It was pretty amazing, with three floors, each with a different feel, and lounges too. So super cool that there’s a scholarly article about it in the RMIT Archives journal.

It was created in 1979 by George Frantzeskos, who spent $1.1mill to remodel a former warehouse, hoping it would attract the cool and the trendy like the super famous Studio 54 in New York. That place had a famously queer clientele, and in Oct 1980 Wednesdays at Inflation became gay night. It was my first disco experience in maybe early 1984? – I just remember black carpet up the walls, rounded sofa booths, and a hologram of a naked lady in a tube that moved as you went up the stairs (fascinating but a bit tacky).

In 1983-4 it got a fabulous makeover designed by Biltmoderne (which evolved into wood marsh – hmm I think I saw Randall Marsh dancing there ! He also messaged me with precise dates). It was all zigzag neons and patterned tiles, including a wall of yellow neon strips that operated exactly like an equaliser board. Amazing. First two images are amusing photos by @johngollings from 1985 of I think the basement room. The top floor had a big video screen, so you could dance and watch the music video at the same time – when Thriller came on everyone stopped dancing and just sat down to watch.

For your $7 entry fee you got free wine or orange juice – the wine was terrible, but it was free ! I was not surprised when I watched a girl once just bend over and spew. It closed at 3, and when they played ‘good night ladies’ or similar, you had to get out otherwise the house lights came on and everyone looked ghastly.

I found various photos on Facebook and Insta – including some glam b&w pics from c1979, a Campaign article on the first gay nights from 1980, a poster by Robert Pierce from 1983, and a crowd pic same year. Then a whole bunch of fab pics from 1985 by Rennie Ellis, cool cool creative club kids, hair gel, hats, goths makeup, home made clothes ! Plus Miss Candy who was the door bitch at some point. And the @vic_archives has the 1985 plans.