Chox Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 We seem to be going round in circles. Firstly, the comment about "fifty" gay people in Dempseys is obviously a generalisation but if you take-off your rose-coloured spectacles, you'll find it's a pretty accurate figure. How many gay people do you imagine to be there on a Saturday night? Next time you're in there, step back and take a proper look and actually do some counting, and then take-off maybe a quarter of the total who aren't gay. You'll find that fifty is a pretty close guess. And that's just a Saturday... As for why the various venues "aren't popular now" well I think you know the answer to that. They mostly closed. Cavaliers and the Bulldog were bought-up by Alan and Angel as part of their quest to take-over the so-called gay scene, and thanks to a mixture of poor management, a complete lack of promotion and the insecapable fact that lots of people just didn't want to support them (because of the way that they tried to "kill-off" any competition), the punters drifted away. Consequently, the whole East End scene died and so even the once-popular Norfolk Arms lost its customers too. If you're suggesting that they all closed because they were "gay" then you'd be wrong. The NA, cavaliers and The Club/Rockies, did fine for a long time. It was only the appearance of Planet and Alan/Angel's empire that ended it. Manchester, well it's a big scene with lots of places so obviously some places are straight, some mixed and some gay. My point is that the gay ones do very well and always have done. Naturally there are mixed places too but that's rather missing my point, isn't it? London? Well same applies to Compton Street. naturally it's a mixed crowd but in the middle of Soho it couldn't be anything else. Whether the straight or mixed venues do ok or not I don't know or care. My point was/is that the gay ones (Comptons, GAY Bar, Admiral etc.) all do fine without catering for mixed crowds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swordfish1 Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 First post on this thread as a straight man. I sometimes drink in Manchester and occasionally go to Canal Street. This is partly due to one of our crowd being gay, but also because it's always friendly and trouble free (helpful on a footy day) and ALWAYS welcoming. When we sometimes go without our gay friend, and with our partners, we always have a good time and don't feel awkward. Been to Dempseys once and was a distinctly uncomfortable feeling to the place, and also one bitchy comment about "only gays in here" to one of us. I don't actually care if I'm welcome or not. If I'm not, I'll just go elsewhere. Just thought it was a pity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carborundum Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 First post on this thread as a straight man. I sometimes drink in Manchester and occasionally go to Canal Street. This is partly due to one of our crowd being gay, but also because it's always friendly and trouble free (helpful on a footy day) and ALWAYS welcoming. When we sometimes go without our gay friend, and with our partners, we always have a good time and don't feel awkward. Been to Dempseys once and was a distinctly uncomfortable feeling to the place, and also one bitchy comment about "only gays in here" to one of us. I don't actually care if I'm welcome or not. If I'm not, I'll just go elsewhere. Just thought it was a pity. Well there you go then swordfish - if the mentality of one new poster is allowed to hold sway you would not be welcome in ANY gay bars - now how would that make you feel towards gay people - not exactly homofriendly I bet .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chox Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 What do you mean "well there you go" as if having proved something? Do you actually read and digest the contents of these posts before replying to them? I'm beginning to wonder:hihi: Frankly, with all due respect to Swordfish, the viewpoint of a straight person is irrelevant. We're talking about the gay scene (or lack thereof) which I rather thought would be designed for gay people? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigpugh Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 Hmm, the Julia whatnot example sounds like some kind of nazism, what did they do qwith the straight people they rounded up, wrere any of them seen again... sounds very like the kind of approach i think should be taken. Chox has a point, a more exclusively gay club would be good, because it would appeal to a different set of customers. It backs up my overall view that our city can easilly support a variety of gay venues, as long as each caters for differences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chox Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 Craigpugh, I'd be inclined to agree with you but I fear that even if anybody does make an effort to start anything new, Sheffield has plodded-along for far too long without a gay scene now, and anybody who does try to create anything new will have an increasingly uphill struggle to succeed. People's social circles have changed and people's social habits have changed, simply in order to suit what is actually available to them. Getting people to change again would be a very hard task. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyranna Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 Well I have a valid argument about this peace of utter tripe from you. You sound a very bitter person, you obviously have something against Dempseys. Friday`s is also busy, as you wasnt sure. The part of "no more than 50 in Dempseys on a Saturday night" is such a load of old crap, have you ever been on a Saturday ?, I was in last night and there was loads more than 50, LOL. I left around midnight and people were still coming in. Your bit about "no one has a good word to say about Dempseys", well they seem to be getting them in at the weekends, so NOT everyone seems to hate it. I actually might conduct this survey when I am next down, because you dont seem to have done your homework at all about the venue have you. As one who dearly loves Dempseys, those of you who speak up for them are right that NO other LGBT club in Sheffield is open 7 days a week, or has such an extensive premises (pub serving food downstairs with entertainment most weeks, and club with seperate cocktail bar and pool room upstairs. However, although we have seen welcoming improvements in the last couple of years, in particular the enlargement of the main bar upstairs, and the new flatscreens downstairs, the cold, hard economic realities of the Gay market will be inexorably pushing for far more exciting or comprehensive improvement of the venue, in order to compete with the nearby scenes of Manchester and Leeds, and the potential for someone else like Fuel to spy a 'niche' in the market to set up a brand-new 'superclub'. What the brief success of Fuel demonstrated (followed by its recent, quite disgraceful withdrawal altogether from Sheffield) was that when competition is there, Dempseys will invest big money in new features/equipment to keep us loyal members coming, but what price the investment of thousands in state of the art flatscreens, when the place is still full of an assortment of 1980's and even 1970's vintage furniture, smothered with coats of paint to keep it 'fresh looking' every few years? It might be the most environmentally sound thing to hang onto old furniture like this, but what does it do for the image of a venue that is otherwise doing its best to win over new, young customers from month to month, especially as Dempseys is one of the few constants on the Gay Scene in Sheffield, while other venues have closed, moved or gone bust? I know Colin has had plans for improvements for some years, which were held back because of the uncertainty about the future of the location due to the redevelopment of the Moor, but now that his lease is safe for several years yet, I would imagine that now is the time to start thinking big if there is any prospect of investing a large sum in updating the club as one truly for the 21st Century. I know I have harped on about how Dempseys could become a smaller Sheffield version of Nightingale in Birmingham, but any of you who have ever visited Nighingale, will know what you mean by the standard that that club sets for the scene, even shaming most London clubs (except perhaps Fabric) with the standard of facilities it offers. Interestingly, Dempseys shares some rare features with Nightingale, in particular, a range of hot food available all night, and a seperate Cocktail Bar (In Nightingale, they have a PIANO Bar, something I also remember in Hollywood SB in Manchester, but I don't know if they still have that there. Anyway, sorry if I've rambled on a bit too long, but I hope many Dempsey's regulars get the drift that in theory there could be a huge potential in waiting for the club over the coming years! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chox Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 Somehow I can't quite equate Dempseys with Nightingales! It's a nice idea, I agree, but it ain't gonna happen. Despite my comments about Dempseys, I can symapthise with Colin's position and I can't imagine he would have any appetite to throw huge sums of money at the place, when it would probably achieve very little, especially when his tenure there is temporary. For whatever reasons, and you can argue about these forever, Dempseys has it's own crowd of people which doesn't vary all that much. It's never packed to overflowing and for the major part of the week it's virtually empty. Given that this is the situation, it would be a brave man that poured a lot of money into further refurbishments when it would probably result in very little additional custom. Dempseys already divides people into different camps and I seriously doubt if those that hate the place would ever be inclined to change their view, no matter what colour the walls might be. Besides, when you know a venue is going to be bulldozed sooner or later, who would want to throw money at it? Frankly, if there was any ambition to develop Dempseys into a venue which could seriously be equated with Nightingale, I think you'd want to be starting in a completely different building. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carborundum Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 A piano bar for Dempseys? Now THATS an idea - I'm sure it would make it an even more classy venue now that it has a cocktail bar ..... I wonder if they will will want someone to volunteer to drape over the piano - perhaps a drag queen - who could emit sultry tones in the background .... any volunteers ? :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swordfish1 Posted April 1, 2008 Share Posted April 1, 2008 Frankly, with all due respect to Swordfish, the viewpoint of a straight person is irrelevant. We're talking about the gay scene (or lack thereof) which I rather thought would be designed for gay people? Thought that the title of the thread was "the dempsey's megathread", not "sheffield gay scene"? I'll leave you to your arguing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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