Shift to re-vamp upstairs club

Shift to re-vamp upstairs club

The Midnight Shift will hold its last dance party on Saturday, October 4.
The venue will close for a month after the Sleaze weekend so the upstairs section of the gay owned and operated club can be renovated and turned into a bar.
“It’s going to be a new-style bar and a new-style clientele. Of course it’s going to be 100 percent gay,” bar owner Tim Berry said.
“We needed to change direction with where we’re going with the Shift.
“I think Sydney, and around the world, clubs aren’t doing as well as they have done. I suppose it’s got to do with the internet and different things that people do.
“The big parties always do well over the long weekends, so we’ve got to adjust for that different sort of market, now that the party crowd just don’t do it every weekend like they used to.”
The new-look Shift has been designed to draw in new crowds, according to Berry, although he is sure regulars will be equally happy.
“We’ve got a lot of people we know who want this style of bar that we’re trying to do. Club bars are not doing well in Sydney,” he said.
“When we did big parties at the Shift they’d go off, but people don’t go out every Friday and Saturday night any more. They’ll go out for drinks but not parties, so we’ve got to adjust to the market. So we’re putting new bars in and ripping carpets up and it’ll be a clean, different look. Not so much a clubby look.
“We’ll be running it as a bar, but we’ll be doing DJs and things like that. We’re just trying to keep it a bit intriguing for people right now.”

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4 responses to “Shift to re-vamp upstairs club”

  1. A city like Sydney does have such a bar, in Manacle on Parramatta Road, so I think we’ve got that covered.
    As far as the Upstairs Shift- yep, it needs a huge makeover, and should be decked out to appeal to a diverse crowd who have supported this venue (upstairs and downstairs) over the many years. It should have the same feel as say the Imperial used to have before it closed for rennovations. And the interior should reflect that feel. It would be nice to see it all done up with very lush decor like some of the cool clubs in Melbourne.

  2. They’re crazy if they lose too much of the clubby feel. Don’t make it bright and shiny! The Oxford never fully recovered after the disastrous shiny metal makeover. The Shift should go for the leather/denim crowd. That was once its mainstay. And for a city like Sydney not to have a hardcore leather/denim bar in its heart is ridiculous!