Oxford Street gay bar Stonewall Hotel has extended its lease of neighbouring venue Diva bar, ensuring long island iced teas will continue to be poured from the pink-coloured watering hole for at least another three years, seven months and 27 days.
Stonewall Hotel Sydney’s promotions and marketing manager Glenn Hansen confirmed the extension to Gay Sydney News on Saturday, saying “it has been officially renewed until June 30th 2029”.
The lease renewal follows Gay Sydney News’ January report revealing Stonewall’s lease of Diva was due to expire on November 3 unless it exercised a renewal option.
It also comes as Gay Sydney News can reveal the building housing Diva bar was recently sold. Pricefinder.com.au records show the sale occurred in August for an undisclosed amount, with settlement still pending, meaning the final price is yet to appear in land title records.
The pending expiration of Stonewall’s lease was made public by GSN when Ray White Commercial listed the entire building at 177 Oxford Street for sale on November 8 last year – including ground-floor Diva bar, level-one Millk Medi Spa, and a storage room used by the spa – with a price guide of $3.7 million.
The property last traded on June 26, 2007, for $925,000, according to pricefinder.com.au.
Ray White’s November listing, which has since been removed, stated the property generates an annual rental income of $192,694.88. The listing also noted the building was being sold on behalf of court-appointed trustees under section 66G of NSW’s Conveyancing Act 1919, a mechanism used to resolve disputes between co-owners.
Bali expansion
Confirmation of the Diva bar lease extension comes after Stonewall’s new US-based parent company Pride Holdings Group announced on October 13 that it had acquired a gay bar in Seminyak, Bali, also called Stonewall.
Pride Holdings Group bought Stonewall Hotel Sydney – including Diva bar – on July 9 this year as part of its global expansion strategy targeting LGBTQ+ hospitality and entertainment. The acquisition only came to light in August when GSN discovered the deal while researching another story.
The Bali venue features drag shows, DJs and themed nightly events.
“Stonewall Bali will support the local talent and DJs who live there,” Hansen told GSN.
Stonewall VIP cardholders will receive discounts across Stonewall Sydney, Stonewall Bali and “future Stonewall destinations”, according to the October announcement.
“We will be doing fabulous parties and looking after Stonewall Sydney cardholders with discounts when in Bali,” Hansen said. “It is a fantastic venue and we can’t wait to be working together and bringing all the fun of the Stonewall name. So many Aussies visit Bali and it is the right fit for the Stonewall brand and the Pride Holdings Group.
“We have had some of the drag queens from Bali at Stonewall Sydney before and they are lots of fun. We have a great relationship with the performers in Bali and they know a lot of the Sydney queens.”
Neither Pride Holdings Group nor the Sydney and Bali venues are affiliated with the Stonewall Inn in New York, the historic site of the 1969 riots that sparked the modern LGBTQIA+ rights movement.
Stonewall’s top-floor plans
The expansion to Bali follows GSN’s report in August that Stonewall Sydney’s top floor will be transformed into a pay-to-enter upmarket all-male nude strip club named Johnsons, as part of efforts to revitalise the 28-year-old venue.
At the time, Pride Holdings director of business development Matt Colunga – who previously owned two Johnsons bars in Florida before selling them to Pride Holdings – said he planned to travel to Sydney to oversee the fit-out and remain for six months “to make sure everything goes nice and smooth”.
“I’ll bring a couple of my dancers up from Tampa to teach the [Sydney] dancers the proper way to dance … because go-go dancing and stripping are two totally different things,” he said.
During winter last year, Stonewall ceased trading seven days a week, closing on Mondays and Tuesdays. It has yet to reopen on those days. Despite reduced trading hours, Stonewall renovated Diva bar in recent times and removed poker machines to create more seating space.
Ben Grubb is the founder and editor of Gay Sydney News, an independent publication covering LGBTQIA+ news. A journalist with more than 15 years' experience, he has reported and edited for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, WAToday, Brisbane Times, The Australian Financial Review, News.com.au, ZDNet, TelecomTimes and iTnews, primarily on the topic of technology. He previously hosted The Informer, a queer current affairs program on Melbourne’s JOY 94.9 radio station, and contributes to LGBTQIA+ media including Stun Magazine. Ben has also appeared as a technology commentator on Channel Ten's The Project, ABC RN’s Download This Show and commercial radio stations 2UE, 2GB and 6PR. Contact Ben: ben.grubb@gaysydneynews.com.au
