‘It’s getting tougher and tougher’: cherished Gabba bar closes permanently

Celebrated Brisbane bar Can You Keep a Secret? has poured its last drinks, WITH the Woolloongabba boozer closing permanently after service on Saturday, April 4.

Owner Emily Dennis originally announced the news three weeks ago in a post to social media.

“I know how much this place means to so many of you, and I promise I have done absolutely everything in my power to keep it going – through some incredibly challenging years,” Dennis wrote. “Reality is, the industry still hasn’t recovered from COVID. Throw in rising operating costs – including insane alcohol taxes – and simply put, it is no longer financially viable to keep this little bar that YOUR LOVE BUILT open.

“For now, all I can say is THANK YOU to everyone who helped make this place a HOME for our community over the years,” the post continued.

“This little bar has been so much more than just a (venue?) it has become an icon of Brisbane music, connection, community, and TRUE LOVE. From the bottom of my heart… Every single one of you made this place what it is… and what an incredibly special place it has been!”

Talking to this masthead on Wednesday, Dennis said she made the decision after she couldn’t agree on terms with her landlord on a proposed increase in rent.

“It wasn’t a massive surprise. Like everything, the rent was going to go up,” she said. “It was just hanging on as it was. It was covering its costs, basically.”

The bar’s closure marks the end of a turbulent eight months for Dennis, which has seen the shuttering of sister bar Still A Secret in South Brisbane, but also the early October opening of Mirrorball Ministries, where Dennis is moving much of the equipment from Can You Keep a Secret?

“Exactly, it’s just getting tougher and tougher,” she said. “I’ve just been through what I’ve been through with It’s Still a Secret. None of that was expected. So I’m exhausted, even if Mirrorball has a lot of potential.”

Can You Keep a Secret? regulars perhaps won’t be surprised by the closure after Dennis took to GoFundMe in 2024 to crowdfund the survival of her venues.

“I’m here for the community, and to ask them for help was absolutely the last straw,” she told this masthead at the time. “But basically, it was do or die.”

Later that year, Fortitude Music Hall and The Triffid owner John Collins was appointed Queensland’s first Night-Life Economy Commissioner. That took place against a backdrop of other key initiatives including $1.6 million in funding for live music venues. Dennis said the initiatives have had “literally no difference” on her trade.

“I wasn’t hopeful that it would reach me on a grassroots level, but [there’s been] nothing.”

Can You Keep a Secret? first opened as a vintage store in Greenslopes in 2010, before moving to Woolloongabba in 2014 and opening its bar component in 2015. Its 11-year tenure coincided with a rapid evolution in the city’s food and beverage scene.

“We just created a space that was nice but not pretentious, and safe. Everyone could feel comfortable, which was what was missing. There was just nowhere where people felt like they might find people like them … It attracted like-minded people.

“I honestly don’t feel any sense of failure, which is surprising. I think if the public had received it differently, it might have stung more, but everyone’s just been so amazing. I’ve had the most beautiful cards and messages. It’s incredible.”