WA venues: Hip-E Club blaze, Raffles court win, alleged bashing at Mint

Three venues across WA made the news over the weekend.

Fire began on the top floor of Leederville nightclub, the Hip-E Club, taking 29 firefighters an hour to bring under control.

A department of fire and emergency services spokesperson said it was being treated as an accident.

Seven News claimed the damage at $500,000, but this was disputed by club owners who said that only the Manor Room was damaged.

‘WE WILL BE TRADING AS NORMAL!!!’’ they posted, and that the club would be open as scheduled tomorrow night.

The Raffles Hotel in Perth won an attempt by mining billionaire neighbour Derek Ammon to close down its bar and beer garden closed down because of noise.

During the Supreme Court trial, Ammon claimed the hotel’s noise “hammering my eardrums” had significantly impacted his life, and admitted to at one point throwing tomatoes and water bottles at the sound system.

However, the court’s Master Craig Sanderson dismissed the complaint, telling Ammon that he must have known of the Raffles’ long history as an entertainment venue when he bought his $2 million apartment in 2009.

Seven also reported that a man who had attended a buck’s turn at Mint nightclub in Northbridge was dragged down an alleyway and beaten.

Police are investigating claims by eyewitnesses that the bashing had been conducted by club security.

The club’s owner has declined to comment until he saw his establishment’s security tapes.

The injured man, Ricky Wakefield, of Osborne Park, said he had a broken nose, a closed-up right eye, six stitches in his forehead and extensive bruising.