The Northbridge Night Owl
Lake Street’s only newspaper, written after dark by people who should probably be in bed.
Fiction. The building’s voice, the rivalry, the letters and the legends are invented. The dates are real.
The Northbridge Night Owl · No. 1 ·
Lake Street Building Reopens, Says It Missed Us
After a quiet spell in 2020, 48 Lake Street opens its doors and immediately starts creaking.
The heritage building at 48 Lake Street welcomed visitors back this week after a quiet spell, and told the Night Owl it had “not enjoyed the silence at all”.
Asked what it had done with the time, the building said it had “decided what it wanted to be”, and that visitors would “find out downstairs”.
“I’ve stood here for a century. I can wait. I just don’t like to.” — Forty-Eight
The Northbridge Night Owl · No. 2 ·
Building Welcomes Sibling, Sends Card
New escape rooms under Hay Street Mall; the original is “delighted”, it says, through its teeth.
Escape This’s rooms under Hay Street Mall have begun taking bookings, five to ten minutes’ walk from Lake Street.
The original venue sent a card. The Night Owl has seen it. It says “I was here first” three times and is signed “with love, more or less”.
“We have a pirate ship. A whole one.” — The Basement
Real: Escape This Perth CBD’s first rooms appear on the booking system in September 2021.
The Northbridge Night Owl · No. 3 ·
Pirate Refuses to Leave Horror House
Calico Jack’s shanty stays put on Lake Street as the rest of the adventures sail for the city.
As Lake Street’s adventure rooms moved on, one pirate stayed: Pirate Island, which has played at Northbridge since Boxing Day 2021 and now sits among eight horror rooms.
“He is mine,” said the building. “The vampires have learned to live with the parrot.”
“The parrot is impossible. But the pirate brings his own rum.” — Count Dracula
Real: Pirate Island is the one adventure room at Escape This Northbridge, for up to ten players.
The Northbridge Night Owl · No. 4 ·
New Tenant Arrives on Halloween
Asylum opens on 31 October; the building denies choosing the date for effect.
A padded-cell horror room opened at 48 Lake Street on Halloween night, the Undertaker’s second room at the address after Buried Alive.
The building told the Night Owl the date was “a coincidence”, and then creaked in a way the Owl can only describe as smug.
“Hello. We’ve been expecting you.” — The voice on the intercom
Real: Asylum opened at Escape This Northbridge on 31 October 2023.
The Northbridge Night Owl · No. 5 ·
The Family Reaches Melbourne
A new venue on Collins Street, and a vampire hunter who has never been to Lake Street.
Escape This has opened in Melbourne, on Collins Street, with a vampire hunter called Van Helsing among its rooms.
Count Dracula, contacted at his crypt on Lake Street, said he was “not worried”, “very comfortable here” and “certainly not moving”.
“Melbourne asked for advice. I sent eleven pages.” — Forty-Eight
Real: Escape This Melbourne CBD’s first rooms appear on the booking system in August 2026.
