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Melbourne · Venue

The Workers Club

A 250-capacity Fitzroy pub and bandroom in the former Rob Roy Hotel, built for close-range local and touring shows.

Upcoming shows
29
Capacity
250
Address
51 Brunswick Street, 3065 Fitzroy
Phone
(03) 9415 6558
Next show
Wed, 30 Sept 2026
Official siteDirections
The Workers Club in Melbourne

About The Workers Club

The Workers Club is a Fitzroy pub with a Band Room capacity of up to 250 people. Its distinguishing feature sits in plain view at the Brunswick and Gertrude streets corner: the current gig space operates inside the former Rob Roy Hotel, a Patrick Scanlan-designed building erected in 1859–60. That combination gives a small-capacity concert room an unusually substantial architectural frame, with the public bar and dining spaces feeding into the music side of the venue.

A hotel remade for the bandroom

The site’s hotel licence dates to 1857, preceding construction of the present Rob Roy building by a few years. One defining chapter came in the 1920s. Thomas and Mary Ellen Mooney took on the Rob Roy in 1923; after Thomas died in 1925, Mary Ellen continued running it, acquired the freehold in 1926 and commissioned architect Harry Johnson for a renovation in 1928, completed the following year. The 1929 parapet date traces back to that work. The venue became The Workers Club in late 2009, when Jerome Borazio and the team behind St Jerome and Sister Bella took over the former Rob Roy and gave the old hotel a music-led identity. Broadsheet described the exterior as largely unchanged from its Rob Roy days while the interior housed a public bar, side bar, dining room, courtyard and bandroom.

The room on a show night

The Workers books a rotating mix of local and touring acts, with gig enquiries handled by an in-house band booker. Its program has a clear emerging-artist emphasis: independent, rock, punk, hip-hop and electronic shows all fit the room’s established lane. Arrive early for the front bar and pub food, then move through to the Band Room, which the venue also uses for large live-music functions. The layout extends beyond a single hall, with a public bar, side bar, dining room and rear courtyard creating places to regroup before or after a set.

Sources

  1. The Workers Club Fitzroy — Functions — The Workers Club
  2. 51 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy (Rob Roy Hotel) — Fitzroy Research, Melbourne
  3. July 2019 Newsletter: Mary Ellen Mooney and The Rob Roy Hotel — Fitzroy History Society
  4. The Workers Club — Broadsheet Melbourne
  5. The Workers Club — Time Out Melbourne
  6. The Workers Club bandroom — Visit Victoria

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