Bernie's Bar on Newcastle's King Street is a venue that refuses to be pigeon-holed, and that's just the way its founders intended it to be.
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Founders, not owners.
"We use the term founders because it's not just our space, it's a community space, and we don't like to 'own' the community space," Hollie "Grace" Tose tells Weekender. She is one of those founders, alongside Patrick Fisher and Kitt Nissen.
What started out - or so I thought - as a straight-forward food story for the Newcastle Herald very quickly morphed into something else. Yes, Bernie's Bar serves food, and alcohol, and non-alcoholic drinks, but it is so much more.
A quick glance at the venue's social media pages, for instance, reveals a colourful mix of past and upcoming events.
Student Night. Disney Night. Dungeons and Dragon Night (September 24). Queer Peers Trivia. Sextember Trivia. Drag Bingo. Queer ScreenFest (September 3). Bring Your Dog Day. RuPaul's Watch Party. Markets. Rainbow Refreshments: Gin Edition (September 3). PuppyCino Day RSPCA Fundraiser.
The list goes on.
On the venue's website it says: "We're not just building a bar; we're creating a symbol of pride and unity in Newcastle."
Bernie's Bar was a finalist in the business category at this year's Honour Awards despite opening in May, so the team must be doing something right.
Newcastle Pride was a finalist in the community organisation category, and Newcastle Pride founder Lee-Anne McDougall was in the running for the community hero award.
On Wednesday night Newcastle Pride and Trikone Australia were announced joint winners of the community organisation award at the 2023 Honour Awards ceremony in Sydney.
Having a safe space is not just slapping a sticker on the wall, it's actually built into the culture and the staff relationships at Bernie's.
- Grace Tose
"Newcastle Pride is amazing, we love to work with them as much as we can, and we always give each other a shout out or two," Tose says. "It's really nice seeing some recognition going their way."
Being inclusive is important to the founders of this queer-friendly space and they regularly meet with a community advisory group to discuss upcoming events and promotions, and generally bounce ideas off one another.
"We understand that the three of us - while we do represent some of the acronym - there are elements that we don't represent and we want to make sure those voices are part of the decision making too," Tose explains.
"It's helpful to find out what we're missing, where our blind spots are."
Everything that happens at Bernie's Bar, every decision made, is driven by the trio's desire to create a safe space for the LGBTQI+ community. It's why the venue opened in the first place.
Tose says the "anti rhetoric being used to attack trans folk, for example, can feel pretty aggressive and alienating for a lot of people".
"Having a safe space is not just slapping a sticker on the wall, it's actually built into the culture and the staff relationships at Bernie's and, I guess, in the way that we run things," she explains.
"We've had some negative incidents, not large ones, and not anything that has ever affected our clientele, and we have procedures in place to deal with it.
"We've been called groomers and paedophiles and all the rest of it. That sentiment, it's definitely out there, it's in the community, but it's overwhelmingly a minority in terms of our interactions, which is good.
"The community is so protective of us, which is super heartwarming."
Read more: Bernie's Bar to open at Star Hotel site
"We've got a lot of amazing drag performers in Newcastle and a lot of them are nationally and internationally known as well, especially through RuPaul," Tose says.
"Newcastle has always been a centre of arts and entertainment, and drag itself is just a category of artistic performance. And then within that community there's breadth and depth as well.
"We'll choose five people to perform and we've got a panel including Glenda Jackson, who is historically a bit of a cultural icon here in Newcastle, and Orlando Gloom, so we're not just focusing on the queens, but also the kings.
"We hope people will be able to see that it's a legitimate pathway and type of performance, and that it's valued, and that our community supports it."
Read more: Newcastle's only LGBTQI bar opens
And then, last but not least, there's the food and drink offering at Bernie's Bar. The all-day menu happily caters for vegan, gluten-free and vegetarian diets and is, Tose says, "an eclectic mix". Patrick has a background in hospitality and is in charge of the kitchen, with sous chef Rosie by his side.
"We've found our share plates are popular because a lot of people come in as a group," Grace says.
"Our shots bar is also popular and we're having a good time with that, I must say.
"We all love a good photo and a good dress-up, and we've just re-branded it all with a medical theme so occasionally someone in a nurse outfit will serve you a vial to drink. It's so much fun."
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