It’s Official: Sydney’s Legendary Gay Bar ARQ Teases Return
Image: Image: ARQ Sydney
There have been hushed whispers and periodic rumours of a sale or of the bar making way for luxury apartments. But, we can officially confirm that Sydney’s legendary gay bar ARQ is reopening.
Two years after ARQ downed its shutters and stood down staff during Sydney’s 2020 lockdown, the bar on Friday put out the briefest of posts: ARQ is coming!
The news immediately sent social media into a tizzy and gays on Sydney’s Pink Mile aflutter. Within a few hours the post had raked up around 650 likes, over 250 comments and around 100 shares.
The news of ARQ’s return could not have come at a better time – after the end of COVID lockdowns and ahead of Sydney WorldPride in February 2023.
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ARQ Is One Of Sydney’s Longest Running Gay Bars
ARQ opened in 1999 and soon achieved legendary status on Oxford Street, Sydney’s gay neighbourhood. After it downed its shutters in 2020, there were two attempts to put the building that housed ARQ and neighbouring Bodyline Sauna at 4-10 Taylor Street in Darlinghurst on sale.
The first time the properties were listed on the market was in August 2021. By the end of the day the listing was pulled.
A month later, owner Shadd Daniel Danesi changed his agents and the buildings were re-listed to be sold by expression of interest by Savills Australia & CBRE. The properties were listed for an eye-watering sum of $50 million. The sale did not appear to have gone through.
Save ARQ
An online petition in September 2021, urging Danesi to “save” ARQ, Bodyline and Albion House from residential development, garnered around 4,000 signatures.
“ARQ, Bodyline & Albion House has been a needed home for many, including the LGBTQIA+ Community spanning for over 2+ decades. The club’s loyal punters and the sauna’s regular patrons have patiently waited to experience the renovations promised to them earlier this year,” petition said, adding, “these spaces are crucial for the community and is here to stay for future generations to come.”
Not everyone was excited about ARQ’s return. “Why are people excited about Arq? It was a dodgy club which amplified the toxicity of queer culture in Sydney. Hopefully it’s reopening changes thing but all my experiences there were bad,” said one Twitter user.
Earlier this year, ARQ posted ads for bar staff and, in recent months, passersby noticed that renovation works were being carried out at the venue. A rumoured October or November opening awaits and we will keep you posted. Watch this space.
