FORMERLY known as the Toucan Club, the reborn Norma Jeans club will be Mandurah’s new safer and more inclusive nightlife hub, according to Norma Jeans venue manager Ethan Male. “We now have a cocktail bar, a private whisky bar that can be hired out for functions, a dance floor and a smoking area on the balcony so there’s something for everyone,” Mr Male said.
Norma Jeans head of marketing Scott Pattrick said the club’s music had undergone change in an effort to attract a more diverse audience.
“We used to just cater for that 80s-style music but you lose a lot of audience so we now play everything from 80s, 90s, 2000s – we mix it up all the time,” he said.
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READ NOW“We’re starting to see new people coming through including a few AFL players, bucks parties and hens nights and we also had the boys from The Bachelorette come down.
“We’ve been trying to listen to our audience more and market research on social media.”
The change comes after conditions were imposed on the former Toucan Club early last year including restrictions on the sale of alcohol, identification systems and dress standards.
However, the club is now under new management and Mr Male said the issues it once faced had been “weeded out”.
“We can’t undo five years of history in a few months but we can tell by the five-star reviews we’re getting on Facebook that the feedback is really positive,” he said.
“In the first three to four weeks of opening we were still ironing out the kinks but since then we’ve continued to keep standards in place.
“We’ve hired an experienced, older, friendlier security team and have made changes to the dress code and club standards.”
Mr Male said since their relaunch, the club had escaped major violence-related issues.
“We’ve had times where we’ve gone for six or seven weeks without any issues,” he said.
“On New Year’s Eve, when it’s supposed to be a big night, we barely had a single violence-related incident.
“Crab Fest was a huge weekend too and we only had standard evictions so these really big dates on the calendar, we escaped major issues.”
Mr Male said the 340 capacity bar would continue to grow and they were in sync with their audience.
“We want people to feel safe, have fun, have drinks with friends – we want to create something Mandurah can be proud of, a nightlife we can be proud of,” he said.
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