Sydney’s lesbian social scene will be transformed
next year with the opening of a full-time girls’ bar in the city.
The team from UK lesbian super-club Candy Bar will
visit Sydney in January to secure a venue, Candy Bar founder Kim Lucas told Sydney
Star Observer.
Candy Bar Sydney, which is due to open in late 2008,
is expected to join its sister bars, Candy Bar Soho and Candy Bar Brighton,
in becoming one of the world’s best-known lesbian venues.
The organisers of Sydney’s lesbian events will be
collaborating with Candy Bar in the lead-up to the Sydney opening.
Stephen Craddock from Slide’s girls’ night Cherry
has announced a partnership with Candy Bar, and Middle Bar’s Bitch
has been invited to tour the UK bars with drag king Sexy Galexy and DJ Renee
Stanton this month.
Bitch founder
Renee Schembri said Candy Bar Sydney was expected to operate four to five
nights a week.
“I believe there is potential here in Sydney for a
permanent girls’ night to work,” she said.
Craddock, who has just returned from a month in
Europe, said there were some “very exciting times” ahead.
“There are so many options for girls in Europe,”
he said, “especially in London, Paris and Madrid, with seven-day-a-week
bars and clubs all tailored for the girls.
“It’s definitely a sign of things to come in
Australia.”
The question of whether a fully operational lesbian
bar would be successful, however, has had Sydneysiders talking.
DJ Sveta said she would love a Sydney lesbian bar to
work, “but I am just not sure that it would”.
“Lesbians stop going out really quickly,” she
said. “There is a period from about 18 to 22 when they are out all the
time, but then they stop and the next generation comes through.”
Leana McInnes, the producer of Lickalisious
at Arq, said while some male clubs could afford to open seven days a week, a
permanent girls’ bar would be less profitable.
“Girl’s don’t necessarily go out every night
of the week,” she said. “The current girls’ nights sustain themselves
because they are so unique.
“The Bank is different to the Sly Fox, which is
different to Bitch, which is different again to what we do here once
a month.”
The Candy Bars in Soho and Brighton have based their
success on providing a vast range of spaces and entertainment options for the
girls.
Candy Bar Soho, a three-level venue, has a cocktail
bar, an upstairs pool lounge and a basement dance area.
Alex, 30, from Darlinghurst, said she would love to
see a girls’ venue that wasn’t scared of showing “a bit of personality”.
“Let’s have a space that’s got a bit of class,”
she said. “The first ever Fingers First at the W Bar came close in
some ways in that it attracted women of various ages who weren’t scene
queens.
“And you didn’t have to be E-ing off-chops or
consuming copious amounts of alcohol to get through the night.”
Tell Candy Bar founder, Kim Lucas, how you want
your Candy Bar to be, by filling out the questionnaire at
www.thecandybar.co.uk.
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