What to expect at Pink Pony, the new gay club from the owner of Palms

Pink Pony, the new Sydney club set to take over management of Flash’s former Oxford Street venue Two 3 One, will “unashamedly” position itself as being for gay men aged 18-35, feature dance pop and harder house/tech style music, and undergo a revamp before opening at the start of summer.

The new club, initially set to open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, is the brainchild of Palms owner Kevin Du-Val, an 80-year-old publican whose career has also included work in alternative medicine as a chiropractor and iridologist – someone who examines the iris of the eye.

Du-Val has bought the Two 3 One building at 231 Oxford Street outright, meaning he now owns both the land and property. While the sale price hasn’t yet been disclosed, property records indicate the site last traded for $3.8 million in November 2021.

Du-Val’s right hand man, Palms venue manager Michael Lewis, 57, is also involved in the new business, having recently been promoted from Palms venue manager to CEO of Tuloch Pty Ltd, the parent company of both Palms and Pink Pony.

The two men, who are both gay, say their experience running Palms and their deep roots in the community will set Pink Pony apart from the rest of Sydney’s gay bars when it opens in the first week of December.

“Gay people understand gay people more than maybe some of the [other] venues understand what they [gay people] want,” said Du-Val. “We’re not doing anything miraculous [with Pink Pony]; we’re doing what I like and what Michael likes, and that’s what the gay people like.”

Each floor of Pink Pony will have its own DJ, with multiple sets per night, and entry will cost $15 on Fridays and $25 on Saturdays, with the first house spirit drink included with the cover charge. While it will initially open three nights a week, Lewis intends to eventually expand this to six nights.

Tuloch Pty Ltd registered the business name “Pink Pony” on July 22 last year, according to company records. On the same day, “Coconuts on Oxford” was also registered, which Lewis said was “another concept” the company “may yet pursue”, but it “would be a least another year away”.

A gay club for gay men

Pink Pony will “unashamedly be targeted at the boys, pretty much 18 to 35, and of course there’ll be overlapping above that, just as there is underlap at Palms [with] under 35s”, Lewis said.

“But predominantly it will be targeted at the Flash/Arq/Déjàvu demographic/customer. Of course the girls will be welcome, but it would certainly be our desire that it is predominantly gay boys, and when I say predominantly, I’m sort of talking 90 per cent plus.

“Obviously we’ve got legal hurdles … in terms of how much we can vet the crowd while still complying with the law … but it is our intention for it to be predominantly gay.”

On this point, Lewis said he often received patron feedback about other Oxford Street gay bars “not being gay anymore”, in the sense that they had begun attracting more of a straight crowd.

“It’s a bit sad for Oxford Street, but certainly an opportunity for us,” he said. “If the gay boys don’t feel comfortable anymore, they stop coming, and then of course the more they stop coming, the more it shifts in the other direction [straight]. And then … it becomes sort of like a cascade effect that can’t be stopped.

“There are a couple of venues on Oxford Street at the moment that have, unfortunately, been caught in that trap of chasing revenue at any cost and not controlling their door or trying to filter their patrons with the best interests of the majority of patrons in mind – and it’s ultimately come at a cost.”

Why it is named Pink Pony

Lewis said the Pink Pony name was inspired by Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony” song, which the singer has described as being related to her time at The Abbey, a gay bar in West Hollywood.

“[The name has] got very broad appeal across both gays and lesbians, in terms of being a safe space and a venue where people can be themselves and express who they are,” he said.

Responding to criticism on Pink Pony’s Instagram questioning why the venue was targeted “specifically for 18-35 (state of mind) gay men”, the venue wrote: “Hopefully all gay venues are accepting of the full spectrum of our community, we are just being honest and open about our reason for being and our target demographic and preferred clientele.”

An Instagram commenter, whose remarks have since vanished, responded: “‘preferred clientele’ so like, come but we don’t want you? offft… this is a miss but good luck.”

Gay-owned and operated

Palms has long positioned itself as Oxford Street’s only gay-owned and gay-operated bar, with no other venues stepping forward to dispute this.

Gay party Poof Doof, which originated in Melbourne and now occasionally pops up at various Sydney venues following the closure of Arq, where it used to be based every Saturday night, once marketed itself as being “a gay club for homos” but has since repositioned itself as a “queer party brand”.

This came after it found itself in the centre of an online storm in 2019, when a leaked photographer brief, which it later apologised for, instructed photographers to not take photos of women, “skinny boys” or “boys with bad skin”.

“No one is here to see girls. Ever,” it read.

The club’s Melbourne general manager Susie Robinson told Star Observer at the time: “Initially [in 2011] we started out with the tagline ‘a gay club for homos’, but now it’s ‘a gay club for everyone’.”

DJs, not drag, on main nights

The ground floor of the three-level Pink Pony will feature harder dance house/techno music, the middle level will serve as the main room with high-energy vocal pop and dance music, and the top level will be a lounge-style cocktail area with a dancefloor that plays a softer, more relaxed sound similar to Palms but “with a bit of a kick”.

The club will focus on DJ-driven entertainment on its main Friday and Saturday nights rather than featuring drag performers, Lewis confirmed, but themed events can be expected, such as underwear and Halloween parties, white and red parties, and Mardi Gras celebrations.

Speaking on the capacity constraints of the venue, which Flash was forced to confront when the site was inspected by the City of Sydney for being overcapacity, Lewis said that within 12 months’ time he hoped to address these by “dropping another staircase and having a revision [by council] to that capacity”.

The club’s capacity is currently set at 312 people spread across three levels, all of which will be open on the main Friday and Saturday nights. A 5am liquor licence will also allow the venue to trade late.

Venue upgrades

Significant investment is also being made to upgrade the venue, including new sound and lighting systems, improved bar functionality, fresh paint, and a focus on efficient service.

“The absolute first thing that’s happening is the cold rooms are being doubled in size and post mixes are being put in at each level,” Lewis said, referring to the systems that power hoses behind bars that dispense soft drinks. “So … you’ll be able to get a drink without having to wait half an hour.

“We’ll also be doing some work on the beer taps, getting beer to the top floor as well, and we’re putting an ice machine on every level, because at the moment they’ve just got one big ice machine in the middle, and the poor staff have to carry ice up and down stairs.

Pink Pony customers can also expect high-quality alcohol, Lewis said, and the price of drinks would also be affordable. “It’ll be the same pricing as Palms, which is pretty much pub prices.”

Before Flash moved into the space with Two 3 One as the venue’s lessee, the previous tenant was Meraki Arts Bar, which collapsed in October last year just one year after opening. When Meraki closed, the venue was put up for rent in November. As Flash became Two 3 One’s Saturday resident in April this year, the building was put up for sale around the same time.

Other businesses the building has been home to include Limelight on Oxford, Tonka Bar, Bad Hombres, De Nom, and The Gay Bar – which was co-founded by Stephen Craddock, who runs Adelaide gay bar Mary’s Poppin as well as LGBTQIA+ touring and events company ITDEVENTS.

The Gay Bar opened in 2013 and lasted just a year before closing.

Editor’s note: Palms is an occasional sponsor of the irregular Gay Sydney News “what’s on” guides. This article is not sponsored.