Flinders to close weeknights
The Flinders Hotel will shut its doors to weekday trade in a pre-emptive strike against the economic shit storm anticipated by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. From this week the Flinders will only open its doors for trade between Friday and Sunday nights.
The venue’s general manager, Chris Milne, said the move was necessary to protect against further economic downturn.
We’re concentrating all of our energy into the weekend because our Fridays and Saturdays are fantastic, but it’s quiet during the week anyway, and then you have the economic downturn and we’re going into winter, he said.
This is a pre-emptive move. We’re doing it so we can stay afloat in the future, but it’s not like we are in financial difficulty right now.
Milne said plans to renovate the venue would probably be delayed until better times.
The Flinders is not a walk-by pub. We have to make it a destination venue, he said. Heaps of people don’t come out during the week and that’s where people are cutting costs … so we’re just concentrating our efforts into making the weekends bigger and better.
Other venues are still reporting decent numbers, although many are finding it difficult to differentiate between the impact of the slowing economy and the impact of the 2am lockout.
What’s affecting us most is the 2am lockout, but in these economic hard times it is difficult for us to understand why the Rees Government would be inflicting that on us as well, Arq owner Shadd Danesi said.
Stonewall owner Craig Bell similarly reported good figures, but was wary of any sudden change.
We haven’t yet seen any major drop in numbers, but it’s something we are concerned about, he told Sydney Star Observer.
It’s something that’s on everyone’s mind. But at the moment it’s a bit difficult to tell because we’ve had the 2am lockout nonsense which has impacted and we’ve just come through Mardi Gras as well, so maybe through the next six weeks we’ll be able to get a better idea of how things are travelling.
mike – good call of yours to “makes it mandatory that all business here have to have at least 80% of their workforce identify as gay”, however it is illegal to discriminate against someone based on their sexual orientation (among other things).
The solution is to make the whole of oxford street a , “gay heritage precinct” , in other words no s8 nightclubs allowed and no tacky fast food venues , instead it should have gay clubs , bars , bookshops , galleries , restaurants and other gay friendly businesses . There should also be a strict rule that is enforced by law that makes it mandatory that all business here have to have at least 80% of their workforce identify as gay …this would go a long way to sorting out the people issue on this street and encouraging more gay and gay friendly people to the area . This would also discourage homophobes as they would be totally outnumbered . Lets remember this is supposed to be the heart of “gay” australia and needs to be claimed back as such . I believe nothing short of the above will sort out the mess that is currently oxford street .
. . . . .im very interested in starting a regular Exorcisms weeknights at the Flinders. . . .i will pay a hire venue fee and bring the holy water. . . now where would i find a troupe of evil spirit demonic people to exorcise . . . Oh Yea ! ! ! they’re all listed above .
Unfortunately it seems like Sydney’s nightlife is increasingly being taken over and run exclusively by the big pub barons and the infamous Kings Cross/Darlinghurst nightclub ‘promoters’ such as John Ibrahim and his many family members and associates. It doesn’t leave much room for a decent gay scene. I’d love to see some new gay bars open in Sydney away from the strip… somewhere around Elizabeth Bay or Potts Point or anywhere else that is somewhat separated from the suburban weekend bogans. I came across a number of really nice, well fit out, clean and modern gay bars in New York. Same with San Francisco. There is a definite calling in this city for gay venues where you can get a quiet drink, socialise and meet people. We really don’t have much of that at the moment. If I had a few more $$$ I’d open one up for sure
robert, when I first came to this town, the gay golden mile really did run for a mile. There was Capriccio’s, Club 80, the Paddington Green Hotel, the Unicorn Hotel, the Beauchamp Hotel, the Oxford Hotel, Ivy’s, the Beresford Hotel, the fabulous Jools Cabaret,m Palms, Ruby’s, Tropicana, Flo’s Palace, Scooter’s, Patchs and the Exchange Hotel. Sydney really was one of the gay capitals of the world. The Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras was for gays and lesbians, the party was one huge drunken bacchanal. Gay and lesbian venues stretched from Coogee to the city and out west. Sure, we were still fighting for those rights that you take for granted, but that made us close, that bonded community. Dawn, who owned Capriccio’s was known to pay the bail money to release gay men from police custody. We built that scene as a place to come out, to be ourselves, and to celebrate our sexuality every night. It was a far cry from the sad shambles that remains of that community and that scene.
Like I said, I think there’s a number of reasons for its demise, the drugs got ugly, the queer politic changed, and we became more assimilated, less proud and more prissy..and less in need of a safe enclave in a hostile world.
But it was people like Gary Burns, and a thousand others like him, with the balls to stand up and fight that got us here… instead of the moaning ignorant nellies that wouldn’t know how to “join togerther (sic) and move forward for the common cause.” even if they had a “common cause”.
The gay secene in Sydney is appalling. What happened?
There really is nowhere decent to go anymore. I’m an expat Sydney guy who lives in Europe and the scene over here is bustling….even in cities that are much smaller than Sydney.
I was back in Sydney recently and everything seems to have closed down. Its a shame and a little embarrassing I have to say. Sydney is a beautiful city and the tourists love it….but for gay nightlife….it scores a zero.
I live in Erko, if the Newtown or Impy was open I’d never venture to Oxford St, it’s just an awful place now.