The opening of Surry Hills sex-on-premises venue Trough X has been put on hold and construction has halted due to significant financial challenges, its owner has told Gay Sydney News.
Originally slated to open before Mardi Gras in February this year, Trough X had to postpone its launch due to what it then described as construction delays.

In the last update it provided on its Instagram, on February 29, it said that while it would not be ready to open in time for Mardi Gras, it was “still working incessantly on a daily basis to get the venue up and running ASAP”. More than 130 days later, the venue remains incomplete.
“Anyone know when or even if Trough will reopen? I go past it regularly and it appears there’s been no progress for many months,” wrote Instagram user @jameshesketh22 on Trough’s Instagram last week.
Trough founder Nik Dimopoulos, who lives in Melbourne, told Gay Sydney News: “We pushed very hard to meet the original deadline, but due to delays beyond our control that became costs we could not manage, we had to pause and announce to the community that we were unable to meet this [Mardi Gras] deadline.”
Construction on the venue has since come to a halt as the team reassesses their course of action. “In a nutshell, yes,” Dimopoulos confirmed when asked if the project had run out of funds.
“We have completed around two-thirds of the renovation but have had to pause the project while we correct course,” Dimopoulos said. The primary issue is a lack of funds needed to finish essential building upgrades and ensure compliance with health and safety guidelines, as well as licensing regulations.
On Thursday night last week, insulation could be seen through the front window of the venue resting on the floor. Silver-coloured material was also seen wrapped around its sign and walls, while its logo, which incorporates the Sydney Opera House design, was attached to an awning.

To address the financial challenges, Dimopoulos said he will soon embark on fundraising efforts and plans to engage the community for support.
“It is challenging for businesses of our nature – [which] financial institutions consider ‘high risk’ – to secure funding. But Trough’s goal has always been to provide alternative spaces for the LGBTQIA+ community to explore their identities and express them freely, and we hope that by inviting the community to contribute, we can together bring a new energy to the precinct,” Dimopoulos said.
He said a GoFundMe campaign would be launched soon to aid in these efforts. “Stay tuned,” he teased.
Dimopoulos highlighted the significance of bringing Trough X to Sydney’s nightlife scene, particularly after years of what he called stringent regulations impacting LGBTQIA+ spaces.
He has been running Trough events in Melbourne and London for several years and has previously said he wanted to turn the Sydney venue into something that emulates Berlin nightclubs, many of which offer so-called “dark rooms” for sex.
“After years of very strict and almost authoritarian laws placed upon Sydney’s nightlife and especially LGBTQIA+ spaces, it feels like the right time for Trough to enter the chat,” he said.

If completed, Trough X will join other nearby sex-on-premises venues such as Bunker, Sauna X by 357 (previously Bodyline), Sydney Sauna and The Den Club.
“How privileged we are right now to give the community such a choice of sexual expression and freedom in the heart of Sydney’s largest gaybourhood. There is strength in numbers,” Dimopoulos said.
Trough X aims to stand out by providing a variety of special events catering to the full spectrum of the LGBTQIA+ and fetish community. If it opens, it will operate as a local bar with cruise spaces during the week and transform into a dance and cruise club on weekends.
Multiple sources close to the project who did not wish to be named said Trough X was in significant rent arrears with its landlord to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars.
Dimopoulos did not deny this, but said that the landlord had “been very supportive of what we are trying to achieve with this venue and for this community”.
“They see the potential in supporting a very ambitious project that hasn’t quite existed in this city before. They do also understand that this type of ambition comes at a price,” he said.
A representative for the building’s owners echoed this sentiment, telling Gay Sydney News, “We understand that there have been delays in the opening of the new Trough location on Crown Street.
“As the building owners, we are working closely with the operator to facilitate the opening and believe that the operator is in the process of seeking community support to raise the funds required to complete their fit out.”
When asked about Trough X’s expected opening date, Dimopoulos remained hopeful yet non-specific. “Soon!” he said.
He urged the community to support the upcoming GoFundMe campaign, which will offer incentives for contributors.
“Once we release our GoFundMe campaign, we would appreciate support and donations to help raise funds for us to get this one-of-a-kind venue open and ready so we can give back to the community.”
The venue is located on the site previously occupied by Trade, which was owned by Dean White, who now lives on the Gold Coast but also operated it as a sex-on-premises venue and ran parties such as Barcode.

White told Gay Sydney News he was open to returning to Sydney to make Trough X come to fruition, but only under the right circumstances.
“The only way it could work is if I came back but as a silent business partner and Nik was the promoter.”
Trough events lean heavily on techno music, which Dimopoulos told Gay Sydney News in January he believes is a lot more accessible now than “back in the day [when] it was harder to get people to listen” to the music genre.
While Trough has predominantly been a male-orientated party for a long time, Dimopoulos also said at the time that he wanted to “make very clear” that Trough X was for all genders, “as long as people are comfortable being in it if it’s predominantly a male space”.
“We wouldn’t knock back anyone,” he said. “We’re allowing the space to be more open than just a male-dominating space, even though it will be predominantly. We just want to get that information out there and just slowly sort of see how that flows.”
He said Trough events were typically made up of about 3 per cent women.
Gay Sydney News editor