Venues reverse gay shrinkage

Venues reverse gay shrinkage

Two new venues aimed outside the drinking-barn mould officially opened at the weekend -” the Beresford Hotel on Bourke St and Hush Lounge in Canberra, ending the decline of entertainment venues for the gay community.

ACT Government Minister Andrew Barr took a break from campaigning for the territory election this Saturday to attend Hush’s opening night along with his partner Anthony.

Hush manager Richard Allan, who answers to the name Rachel while on duty, said he was trying to create an alternative venue for the gay community that doesn’t require sign language to speak to each other.

The venue, located on Irving St in Philip, was also available for use for other activities specifically for the gay community, he added.

Back in Sydney, a Beresford spokeswoman said the venue was definitely trying to tap into the local gay and lesbian population but in a different way from nearby venues.

It’s also trying to target local fashion and local upmarket professionals, but still remaining open to anyone who’d like to visit, she said.

One would-be patron contacted Sydney Star Observer claiming a group of friends was told they didn’t meet the dress code, despite having just come from a restaurant. They questioned just how gay-friendly the venue was, when there were plenty of young people wearing sneakers inside.

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One response to “Venues reverse gay shrinkage”

  1. Like many other locals I’ve been watching the redevelopment of the Beresford for quite a while. When the scaffolding came down I was more than impressed with the exterior additions. It was obvious that along with alot of money quite a bit of though has gone into the makeover.

    Last Saturday night I along with a couple of mates went to check out what has been done with the interior.
    We all commented on what a great job had been done with the interior. How they had managed to successfully blend a combination of modern and traditional pub looks that works very well.

    Unfortunately, our enthusiasm was short lived. The front bar was fairly busy but not packed. We found a space at the bar and waited to be served. Then we waited and waited. After about 10 minutes we broke up and decided to place ourselves around the bar in the hope that one of us would be noticed. I was the lucky punter and with beers in hand walked out the back to have a look.

    We passed by the bistro area and went to have a look at the outside area. About to head outside we were stopped by a very polite security man who informed us that the outside area was closing down for the night and that we could not go out there. Not a problem we turned and headed back towards the front bar. It was then that my mate stopped me and told me to look back to the doors leading outside. There we saw three young women walk past the same security man and proceed to the outside area.

    My mates and myself while not in the first flush of youth but being gay are in a fairly good state of preservation and could passably knock a decade of our ages. So I had to ask myself was this a sexist or ageist rebuke that we experienced.

    Regardless of which it left a bit or a sour taste. We finished our drinks walked outside, jumped in a cab and headed out to Manacle at Petersham.

    If the Beresford is genuinely trying to tap into the local gay and lesbian population I think they might have a bit more work to do.