Opinion: Red Square Closes: Clubbing Standards Increase

CW: Sexual assault, Homophobia

An Anonymous Hater

The Establishment. MishMosh. Red Square.

For years, these were the bars students either avoided on a night out, or only ended up at once they were too pissed to care.

But with Red Square set to close its doors, a serious question now hangs over Wellington’s student nightlife: where will students go when they want to party without any standards?

On May 10, Red Square announced on Facebook that it would be closing after 23 years of operation. The bar, which is older than most current undergraduate students, is scheduled to shutter its doors on May 30. A venue that has witnessed generations of first-year mistakes, Vodka Red Bulls, awkward hookups, fire alarms, and questionable dance floor decisions is finally calling last drinks.

For some, this is the end of an era. For others, it is good riddance.

In 2023, Salient surveyed students about safety in Wellington nightlife. Red Square featured heavily. According to the survey, 41% of respondents said they had felt unsafe at the venue, while 24% said they had been harassed there. Only 15% said they felt safe. Eight students surveyed said they had been assaulted at Red Square.

The survey is now a few years old, and many current students were not at university when it was conducted. But as Red Square prepares to close, those figures remain worth revisiting. A venue’s legacy is not just built on who danced there, who worked there, or who had their first kiss there. It is also built on who felt unsafe there, who stopped going, and who was harmed.

One respondent to the 2023 survey said they avoided Red Square entirely because of fear:“As much as I love to go out, I now avoid Red Square at all times because of how scared I am and because of my friends' experiences there… I’ve also been wanting to send an email to Red Square but have been too scared too.”

Another described being groped across several venues, including Red Square:“I was groped in all of these places. There are also lots of creepy predatoryish guys in these places.”

One student gave an even more direct account:“No other way to say I got grabbed in the pussy 3 times in a row trying to protect my friends from being shoved off the platforms. Could not see who did it as it was way overcrowded.”

This is part of the bar’s history too.

Still, Red Square’s closure has prompted the kind of mourning that only a universally dragged student bar can inspire. Unlike other news organisations simply reporting on the Facebook post, or raiding the comments section for content, Salient asked students for their own tributes to the venue. And, unfortunately for everyone involved, you delivered.

So go to the Hunter Lounge, order a Vodka Red Bull, and pour one out for Red Square while you read along.

One former staff member remembered the place with genuine affection: “I worked there for a year! Man the stories I have, these people are like a family, genuinely.”

Another offered a more tactile tribute: “I liked to caress the ice bar with my hands.”

Some memories were less sentimental:“I saw a guy I went on a date with from Tinder and hid in the toilet, fire alarm went off and he found me.”—“My friend told me to not under any circumstances buy a drink from there and I had to pull up my bank details to prove that I literally couldn’t afford to even if I wanted one.”—“Started talking to myself in the mirrors they had on the wall and got kicked out.”

Several students remembered the venue as a rite of passage, though not necessarily one they would recommend: “Went there as my first club after turning 18 in halls. Had a panic attack. 10/10 would not rec!!” —“Being there when the lights turned on… suddenly exposed by the big light all sweaty and crusty.”— “In first year I got hit on by a 30 year old, average Red Square experience tbh.”—“Went there once with friends and a guy I met off Hinge. He didn’t text me back after.”

Others were more blunt: “BYEEE RED SQUARE IS SHIT!! I only went 3 times and each time I was sexually assaulted.”—“Walked in, got harassed, hit him, started a fight, got kicked out. In 5 mins tops, I have never been back.”—“Walked in and walked out.”—“Creepy guys inviting us to the VIP area.”

One student recalled homophobic abuse outside the venue, proving that sometimes the Red Square experience began before you even made it through the door: “Someone yelled out ‘POOFTER’ while I was walking by the entrance. It was 11am.”

For all its issues, Red Square was also the setting for moments of unexpected sweetness: “I had my first kiss with my now gf there :(”

One student described walking in just as everyone else was leaving. Another recalled a dance floor moment that, against all odds, almost sounds beautiful: “Once was at Red Square when I noticed a group of people had formed a circle in the middle of the dance floor and were cheering. I came over to check out what it was and in the centre of this circle was the smallest man I have ever seen absolutely breaking it down. It was like his moves had created their own orbit drawing everyone else in. The fun ended when someone put him up on their shoulders and the security was suddenly not so fond of our little dancing god.”

Perhaps that is the most accurate tribute possible: a tiny dancing god, briefly worshipped on a sticky floor, before security brought the night back down to earth.

Red Square was many things. It was a first club, a last resort, a workplace, a bad decision, a panic attack, a missed text, a fire alarm, a place where someone met their girlfriend, and a place where many students say they were harassed or assaulted.

Its closure does not erase any of that. It simply forces Wellington’s student nightlife to reckon with what will replace it.

Will its disappearance mark a higher standard for student clubbing? Or will the same issues just migrate somewhere else with cheaper shots and worse lighting?

For now, one student’s tribute may say it best: “Just a general hatred for the place. Too many people who are rude and too close together with overpriced drinks. Good riddance Red Square.”