Shifting scene prompts closure

Shifting scene prompts closure

The Midnight Shift has shut down its regular Saturday night upstairs parties as dwindling numbers force the owners to look at new strategies.

It is the latest in a string of gay hot spots to close its doors, with the Newtown disappearing last year and the Imperial closed until at least June.

Then there was the closure of Manacle, though a new Manacle in the inner west is expected to open in six to eight weeks.
Midnight Shift general manager Paul Finnigan said dwindling numbers over the past 10 months had led to the unfortunate decision to close the regular Saturday night event.

We’ve agonised over this decision, Finnigan said. Our in-house promotions manager couldn’t get it going. Over the past 10 months we’ve really been struggling to fill the space and have really only been able to fill a quarter of the room on a weekly basis.

There’s a lot of different pressures on people at the moment. Interest rates are affecting people and I also think that there’s been a change in attitude in the community about how they like to party.

So we have to rethink our strategy. We’ve always managed to have successful parties and events here, when we get special guests in. So we’re looking at putting on a party once a month and then looking to find external promoters who want to use the space.

Of course we will be looking to find promoters from the GLBT community. We have always stayed true to this community, and we intend to continue that.

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