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Melbourne · Venue

The Toff in Town

A compact late-night band room and cocktail bar in Melbourne’s Curtin House, shaped around railway-carriage booths.

Upcoming shows
19
Address
252 Swanston Street, 3000 Melbourne
Phone
(03) 9639 8770
Next show
Wed, 30 Sept 2026
Official siteDirections
The Toff in Town in Melbourne

About The Toff in Town

The Toff in Town is a Melbourne live venue listed for up to 300 standing patrons on level two of Curtin House. Its defining feature is a split personality: a compact band room sits beside a bar built around railway-carriage booths with sliding doors. A show here can feel stage-focused on one side and lounge-like on the other, with both experiences contained within the same late-night floor.

A second-floor arrival

In 2000, investor Tim Peach and partners bought the worn six-storey Curtin House and began restoring it for creative tenants, food and entertainment. The Toff opened on its second floor in 2007, co-owned by Camillo Ippoliti, whose Cookie restaurant already operated one level below. Its launch made the building’s reuse concrete in a purpose-built late-night music room: brass, leather and marble sat alongside secret doors, a cabaret-style performance area and private rail-carriage booths. Architect Phillip Schemnitz linked the look to the illicit atmosphere of nineteenth-century Swanston Street, then associated with red-light and gambling precincts. The technical side carried equal ambition. A 2011 AudioTechnology report documented paired Soundtracs/Digico desks, a dedicated mix room two floors above and a Nexo Geo S-8 line array with CD12 subs, giving the venue an in-house setup designed to record performances as well as present them.

The room on a show night

Programming keeps both halves active: the performance space hosts bands and DJs, while the carriage side also takes DJ sets. Late-night Tuesday jazz is a recurring free fixture, and the current calendar ranges across electronic, indie, pop, R&B, rock and Latin-leaning nights. Expect a close floor at the stage, red curtains around the band room and a cocktail bar beside it for a pre-show booth or post-set reset. A rear outdoor area and front balcony provide breathing room between sets.

Sources

  1. Art Deco Architecture Tour — Walking Tours of Melbourne
  2. The Toff in Town — Broadsheet Melbourne
  3. Live Recording Melbourne, Issue 65 — AudioTechnology
  4. The Toff in Town — What’s On Melbourne
  5. The Toff in Town | 2 / 252 Swanston Street, Melbourne — Flickr
  6. The Toff in Town — Time Out Melbourne
  7. The Toff In Town, Melbourne Review — Concrete Playground

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