Buy the Hells Angels’ Adelaide clubrooms
The clubrooms of Australia’s feared outlaw bikie gangs would be among the most exclusive properties in the country.
Usually reserved for members of the gangs, what goes on inside and what they look like is an intriguing mystery to most.
But the decision by the Hells Angels to sell one of their clubrooms in Adelaide’s southern suburbs has provided a rare glimpse inside.
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The Clarence Gardens property, with its heavily fortified front fence, was home to the notorious gang’s Adelaide southern chapter for several years.
Inside it is immediately clear the residence has hosted its fair share of gatherings over the journey, with a central lounge and bar area that includes a pool table.
If only these walls could talk.
The property also includes a gym and a workshop.
Photos on realcommercial.com.au show the property has been somewhat “de-bikied” but several nods to its owners remain.
For example, in the lounge/bar area the “Angels Forever — Forever Angels” motto has had the “Angels” painted over.
A smattering of CCTV cameras are also installed across the property.
Other photos show plenty of empty hooks on walls, where presumably Hells Angels paraphernalia previously hung. Nowadays, a framed Adelaide Crows guernsey is on the wall.
The marketing spiel dubs the former clubrooms as an “exceptional commercial zone property” with a “ton of appeal”.
“The site and structure could ideally be used as a retail space, workshop, warehouse, office space, or a multitude of other options,” it says.
A multitude of other options indeed.
The property is on the market with an asking price of $550,000 and will go to auction on Saturday, July 13.
The clubrooms have become basically unusable for the Hells Angels since the South Australian government introduced strict bikie legislation in August 2015.
The laws declared ten bikie gangs as criminal organisations and also identified about a dozen known clubrooms in South Australia where it became an offence for them to congregate.
Bikies were also prohibited from being together in public in groups of three or more, as well as wearing club colours or jewellery and accessories in licenced premises.
Five Hells Angels members and prospects were the first to be charged in South Australia under the new laws following a series of raids in December 2015.
The Hells Angels in South Australia have largely managed to steer clear of publicised trouble in recent years.
Earlier this decade, they waged a bloody war against Adelaide street gang the New Boys, headed up by Hells Angels defector Vince Focarelli.
They also fought a dangerous tit-for-tat feud with the-then Finks bikie gang. Police believe tensions between the Hells Angels and Finks led to the 2012 murder of panel beater Jason De Ieso in a case of mistaken identity.
Those bikie battles were linked with the Hells Angels northern chapter in Adelaide.
More recently, David Norris, who had links to Hells Angels, was murdered in an ambush attack in Adelaide’s north in September 2017.
In November last year, Jesse Ray Penhall, another man with links to the Hells Angels who had previously been the victim of a bikie shooting, was found guilty of the murder. He is yet to be sentenced.
Selling agent Stuart Costello, from Magain Real Estate, says the property has an interesting history with a bit of character.
He says he does not believe the property’s past would have any bearing on its sale, with prospective buyers more focused on the underlying attributes.
“It’s a commercial-zoned property on 800sq m of land in a busy traffic spot and I think that’s the way buyers will see it,” he said.
Costello says one possible use for the site would be a custom motorcycle workshop, in keeping with its past.
“It would certainly have a lot of character. It would be like starting a surf shop in an old surf club on the coast,” he says.
This article from The Advertiser originally appeared as “Inside the lair of one of Australia’s most infamous outlaw bikie gangs”.