Private Bin

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.

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.