Oxford Street Dance Party Visited By Council Inspectors Over Capacity Concerns

A weekly Oxford Street dance party was momentarily put on hold by council inspectors, after an alleged anonymous tip-off that the venue was over capacity.

As reported by Gay Sydney News, dance party Flash came to a halt on Saturday night when inspectors from the City of Sydney Council arrived over an alleged late night tip-off that the venue, Two 3 One, was over capacity.

Flash has been running weekly late night gay dance parties at  Two 3 One since April 26.

Confused partygoers, including those who had pre-purchased a ticket online, were denied entry from around midnight, and were prevented from heading to the upstairs dance floor for “hours”.

Although the building, which operates under a 5am liquor licence, can hold up to 312 people, the top level dance floor is restricted to 72 people, while the level below is capped at 120.

However, as the third space on the street level has thus far been used as a cloakroom every week, the room’s capacity of 120 people has been sacrificed, meaning the party is only approved to hold 192 people, including staff and performers.

A City of Sydney spokesperson told Gay Sydney News that they took “the safety of its residents and visitors very seriously”.

“After being contacted by a member of the public, staff inspected a nightclub on Oxford Street early on Sunday morning,” they said on Monday.

“Our staff observed the establishment was over capacity and they also identified issues relating to fire safety equipment, fire safety doors and fire exits.”

The council said inspectors worked with Two 3 One staff to address the capacity issue, which included a temporary restriction on partygoers entering the venue.

“We will continue to engage with the nightclub to ensure they properly address the issues identified on Sunday morning so the safety of their patrons is a priority,” the spokesperson said.

The source of the tip-off remains unknown.

Organisers: “something we can fix and learn from”

On their Instagram on Tuesday, Flash organisers Joel Siviour, Rojdar Zengin, and Ryan Marshall released a joint statement about the matter.

“Council did a headcount upstairs (something we haven’t seen in 12 years of working in nightlife) and we were 27 people over capacity. Again, it’s quite tough to manage the flow of the venue. Another issue that was flagged was the clock room potentially blocking the route to one of the fire exits downstairs.”

The two issues led to the organisers being given a 24-hour entry ban on the venue.

“Harsh, but sure, something we can fix and learn from,” the statement said. “At the end of the day, we are just three queer mates that work full-time jobs, only trying to create a space that we’d want to go to with our friends.”

In changes being implemented from this week, Flash organisers have moved the locations of the entrance and exit, and opened the downstairs area as a “chill space”. The number of online ticket sales will also be reduced, taking a “first in, best dressed situation”.

Organisers said that they were trying to recreate the feeling of a “house party where you can move around as you please”, and warned that if patrons remain upstairs, they would continue to face issues from the council and could risk losing the space.

“We are not intimidated by heavy handed council discipline, nor are we going to entertain local ‘news’ social media accounts who try and tear down anyone having a go for clicks instead of empowering the gays and building the community,” the statement concluded.

While some expressed concern that the incident was end of “hope for Sydney gay nightlife“, the hiccup hasn’t impacted organisers’ current plans, and tickets continue to be sold for this Saturday’s party.