Although you claim to cater to the LGBT community, greeting your patrons with a piss poor attitude and dry riding them with unjustifiably exorbitant cover charges does nothing but confirm your true intentions. There are limited venue choices in the city for this crowd, as we’re all aware. Yes, people go there to dance, but with reluctance. It’s a moral battle faced every weekend. Choose to make alternate plans or get treated like shit and pay a fortune to go out to meet other members of the community. Reluctantly, many support a location that exploits its patrons and does very little to give back to the community. It’s obvious that very little revenue is put back into the venue when you walk through the door and see the condition of the washrooms. They even remove the cold water taps to force patrons to buy bottled water – a public health issue. The idea that the crowd who frequents said “dance spot” are violent, drug-crazed and hard to manage is simply a misconception. Shit flies in both directions. This attitude is tolerated and confirmed the moment you enter the door. Door staff are aggressive, ignorant, unwelcoming and treat the majority of the patrons with little/no respect. If they’re concern is aggression and violence then staff are their own worst enemy.
Many of us have made the decision to avoid going there because of this. The staff not only condone aggressive behaviour, but have no concept of how to deal with confrontation when it does arise. It’s difficult to hold them responsible for their actions when most are participating in illegal drug sale & use in the bathrooms while on the job anyway. It’s well known in the city and they do little to hide it, which seems a bit puzzling they’ve been allowed to continue for so long.
Given the chance, a change in their attitude and some added courtesy would likely result in a positive change in behaviour from patrons as well. It would be nice not to feel like you’re getting raped at the door as well. Nothing is shown for the money they pull in. It’s a shame, really. But, the decision to go is ours and they won’t be pocketing any of my money. —Hoping4change
This article appears in Nov 3-9, 2011.
..moral battle..huuh?
OB, you’re just figuring that out now? Friends and I stopped going there years ago and found a better venue to hang out, socialize, and drink. Only the poor, lower class, riff raff of Halifax end up at that place you describe these days.
People still go “downtown”? lol… And subject themselves to this shit? For what?? Fuck if you want community, check out Craigslist… it’s free and there are no bouncers 😉
Well, didn’t that knot your rainbow!
Someone should open up a gay club that isn’t gross.
Other nightclubs aren’t MUCH better, by your description. There’s nothing stopping LGBT folks from going to those places.. I know I’ve seen them out before.
A business has the right to screw up, lose business, and go broke.
If you keep going back, you continue to support their mistakes.
I have nothing to base this on other than a hunch but, if the place the OB describes is the same place I think it is, it used to be owned/operated/managed by the Hell’s Angels. Perhaps it still has ties to the Hell’s Angels in one form or another. It could explain the apparent lack re-investment of revenue back into club, the alleged drug use/sale by staff, etc.
Again, just a hunch. Anyone have any thoughts?
Cover charge is just a scam to line pockets, unless there’s a live entertainment the rest of your mark-ups should cover costs.
ooooh..it’s the fight for your right to party dilemma ..soldier on ..be brave 🙂
I didn’t realize when you became a card carrying LGBT member it made it impossible to go to any other club than a “gay” club. Seems to me there are lots of bars in Halifax, correct me if I’m wrong but I believe there are more bars here per capita than in any other city in Canada. Surely with all the choices you can find something that suits your taste. It’s a funny thing about business, if there aren’t enough steady customers to make a LGBT bar, other than the aforementioned place, profitable then why would someone open one. There have been many “gay” clubs opened over the years, but only one seems to be able to make a go of it. Simple business equation, works for both gay and straight… No customers + no profit = no business.
I know someone who has owned several bars in Halifax/Dartmouth over the years.
He presently owns one now that no longer caters to live acts , or late night crowds & instead his place usually closes by midnight & what he’s after are the lunch time after work crowd, which he says is ‘where the money is’ if your food is good.
The problem accordign to my friend the Bar owner, is so many of these venues get people in there who take up space but buy little or no drinks. They make their money off over priced drinks…but if people are buying few or none, how do you make enough to cover expenses…never mind making a profit.
just an FYI, I’m not sure which Halisux dive your talking about, but it works the same way for all of them.
Sebastard’s got a “gay club” in his pants…
and you’re invited.
tell them to all go to your place seb, no cover charge, and first gulp is free. hell, you might even meet some big shot politicos there.
The bouncers at refs have always been pretty nice to me. Oh, and the water tap thing always pissed me off but they changed it so it’s not scalding hot anymore. Honestly I find most clubs in Halifax just as gross but at least at refs I’m not threatened by random guys and don’t have glasses or bottles thrown at me, which has happened to me within minutes of being in places.
Sounds like every other bar in the core.
I have a gay friend and yeah, he doesn’t have to go to a gay club but he told me he just doesn’t usually feel too comfortable going elsewhere which I didn’t really think of when I would drag him to Pacifico. Don’t be shitting on the OP for wanting to go where they feel comfortable. Well, comfortable in terms of not getting beat up and yelled at but uncomfortable in terms of the bathroom situation and general dirtiness of the place.
As far as I know, I have never met a gay person, but I once met a guy that didn’t drink beer. maybe he was gay.
You know, there’s more than one GLBT bar in this city. Just sayin’.
When I read Battle Faced I immediately thought Gloria Mc Clucker or Mary Walsh
maybe..maybe a bear shits in the woods.