About Fringe Common Rooms

Fringe Common Rooms is Melbourne Fringe’s year-round home for independent arts, live events, and celebrations of all kinds. Housed in the historic Victorian Trades Hall in Carlton — one of Melbourne’s most iconic buildings — it’s a place where the room itself has something to say before the night even begins.

A Building Built on the Arts

Art and culture have long been a part of Trades Hall. Musical and literary events raised funds for the first stage of the Trades Hall building in 1873, so the Hall was literally built on the arts. From 1997, Paddy Garritty and Jim Rimmer ran Trades Hall Arts, a year-round bar that supported the independent arts scene at a very critical juncture. This included being the second largest venue for Comedy and Fringe Festivals for a number of years, and a more general focus on theatre (including being a venue for Melbourne Workers Theatre, The Torch, Brian Munich and Friends), music (especially Indigenous music), literature (numerous launches and festivals featuring the likes of Christos Tsiolkas, Jeff & Jill Sparrow, Bob Ellis, Amanda Lohrey etc), and more.

From 2005-2017, Bella Union operated the space, supporting the independent arts – including significant Melbourne Fringe programs. Bella Union’s association with Trades Hall started with the premiere season of KEATING! The Musical in March 2005, progressed to operating across four seasons as a lively independent comedy festival hub between 2006 and 2009 before becoming a year-round proposition in late 2007 and the name of Trades Hall’s licensed venue. This included popular events including Finishing School, Soul A Go Go, Crap Music Rave Party, A Swinging Bella Christmas and annual Eurovision and New Year’s Eve Parties.

In 2018 Trades Hall undertook a significant restoration project for the building, restoring the rooms to their original heritage glory, and updating the space to meet modern disability and accessibility standards. Melbourne Fringe took over the lease in 2019, opening Fringe Common Rooms, a year-round home for the independent arts.

Everyone's Room

Fringe Common Rooms is a culturally and physically safe space for everyone. That’s not a disclaimer, it’s the point. We welcome LGBTQIA+ people, First Nations people, Disabled and d/Deaf people, people of all backgrounds, workers, and members of the union movement. We welcome artists taking creative risks and audiences willing to take them with us.

The building has always belonged to the people who make Melbourne what it is. We intend to keep it that way.

How the Venue Works

Fringe Common Rooms is a cultural enterprise, which means bar sales from commercial events — weddings, functions, public event hire — directly support Melbourne Fringe’s work with independent artists. Every celebration held here helps fund opportunities for artists to test ideas, reach new audiences, and make work that pushes boundaries.
So when you hire the room or come along to a night, you’re part of something bigger than the event itself.

Accessibility

Getting Here

Fringe Common Rooms is centrally located in Carlton, five minutes from Melbourne CBD, in the heart of the city’s arts and culture precinct. Easy to reach by tram, train and bus, with multiple stops within walking distance. See how simple it is to get to Fringe Common Rooms.

Fringe Common Rooms

Trades Hall

Cnr Lygon & Victoria Sts

Carlton VIC 3053

03 9660 9600

[email protected]