Your Disco Needs You!
Just when the inner-west thought things were getting gayer in their neck of the woods, two pieces of bad news have been handed down – one concerning the Imperial, the other the Newtown Hotel.
The re-development of the Imperial Hotel is being discussed at the City of Sydney Council meeting next Monday 30 June at 5pm. The re-development plans include a proposed increase in the numbers of people allowed inside to a number that the owner has advised is consistent with Australian building and fire safety regulations.
While Council officers have said that the capacity of the venue can increase, they’ve only granted it for 212 people – which is only half of what the Imperial have asked for. In addition to this, Council officers have rejected a proposal to have a stiletto fixed to the rooftop.
On top of all of this, a group of local residents are gathering together to stop the capacity of the venue getting any bigger. They’re basically piggy backing on a database they built earlier this year, when a bunch of people complained about a proposed Woolworths opening in the area. We wonder how these people feel about their names being used against the re-opening of the Imperial? They’re hardly the same thing. You can take a look at their website here.
So, here’s the lowdown. If the approved capacity of the Imperial is too low, it not only compromises the viability of the venue, it also means more people standing in queues out on the street, which means safety issues for punters and actually more noise for locals.
Quite frankly, Sydney’s gay community can’t afford to lose another venue. An action group called Save The Imperial has been created by concerned community members. According to them, there are two things you can do to help.
The first is to actually go to the Council meeting next Monday evening. It’s on at Town Hall House, 456 Kent St, Sydney. It starts at 5pm, but there’s some other business up first, so you don’t have to be there right from the beginning. They are asking everyone to wear something pink, as a sign of support and solidarity!
It’s also important that as many people as possible write to City Of Sydney councillors, particularly Lord Mayor Clover Moore.
In your letter you might want to mention the following:
that the Imperial is one of the very few gay venues left in the inner west;
that it’s part of the essential character of inner Sydney and many similar venues have already been lost;
that the Imperial financially assists important community organisations to the tune of over $1 million in the last decade;
and that the approved capacity of the Imperial needs to be based on independent, expert evidence, and not influenced by political factors.
Here are the email addresses to send your emails to:
cmoore@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au
tpooley@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au
pblack@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au
vfirth@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au
charris@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au
mhoff@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au
rkemmis@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au
mlee@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au
jmcinern@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au
smallard@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au
Meanwhile, the final nail has gone into the coffin that was once the Newtown Hotel. As reported last week by the Sydney Star Observer, the owners of the building that once housed the much loved Newtown Hotel have advertised that they’ll be seeking their own licence.
David McHugh from McHugh Holdings, the operators of the Newtown Hotel, say that this move means the Newtown Hotel won’t be re-opening. “Their attitude has been all about money, not about restoring an iconic pub. Right from the start, that was their objective and this just shows that. I still don’t know what’s going through their heads, because we still hold the licence there. I’m pretty sure the other hotels in the area will object to another licence being issued so we’ll have to see what happens. We’ll probably just transfer our licence to somewhere else.”
Your Thoughts
Hey there, you need to be logged in to get involved with SameSame, click here to login if you're already a member, or here if you need to become a new member.
weathervain
said last fortnight