Moves & shakes in Auckland’s gay bars

Auckland’s gay bars have been the talk of the town recently, with a number of changes happening at some of the city’s favourite hotspots.
The biggest and most talked about news has been the sale of Kamo Bar. Australian ex-pat Toby Steele has recently taken ovei.

Toby and new entertainment manager Anthony “Tess Tickle” Hotere met with express last week to discuss the iconic venue’s future.
Kamo is closing down in June and re-opening in July, with a new face and a new name,’ says Toby. Tess and I are working on a few things between now and then that will be happening in late April / early May, but the big changes will be happening later in the year.

“We’ve just this week received important council approval to remove structural walls in the place, which has been a very big thing for us. The Kamo building is heritage listed
— we can make changes to the inside but we can’t do anything too detrimental to the exterior.”
Toby says the re-launch of the veiw has been hampered by delays

He has been waiting for resource consent to be approved and engineers to return from surveying earthquake-damaged buildings in Christchurch.
He’s now working with former Kamo owner Loren Boothby and staff to put something new and special together for relaunch of this “K'Road triangle” (Urge Bar, Caluzzi Bar and Caberet and Kamo) venue.

“The first of two main points we want to stress is that we’re not trying to compete with anyone else,” says Toby. “There are no places in Auckland for the post-clubbing scene — people over the age of about 27 — to go and have a few drinks, see a high quality show and meet with friends. The thing about this demographic is that they are the largest section of the community and yet outside of the work Urge Bar is doing for the bear community, there is nowhere comfortable for them to socialise; there’s nowhere for them.”

Kamo is already hosting Gay Auckland Business Association (gaba) meetings and is looking to get the Auckland Lesbian Business Association (alba) to come along too. Toby is also
in talks with Rainbow Youth and the Auckland Police-run Diversity Liaison Officers for a possible youth night.
“We’re looking at using Tuesdays as ‘community nights’,” says Toby. “This will generally mean having the same type of event on every Tuesday of each month.” However, Toby says there is an opportunity to use extra Tuesdays - on months with more than four - as another event night.

“We’re looking to shut the bar itself and have a youth night where under 18s can come and hang out, be served by the Diversity Liaison Officers who will serve non-alcoholic drinks and watch a show featuring people their own age; maybe an up-and-coming drag queen, band or singer,” says Toby.
The second facet of the new-look bar is that Toby doesn’t want slot machines to be available for use in the bar. “I want to make money the right arid honourable way,” he says. “At 17 years of age, Kamo is the longest-running gay bar in New Zealand and we want to preserve the warm community feel that the place has.”
Renovations will include the closing in the front area to make room for’ leaners, a new entranceway, knocking down the central wall, removal of the kitchen and a separate bar and cocktail lounge area.
“We’re getting rid of meals and will be limiting the menu to things we can do in the oven,” says Toby. “No deep fryers.”
Toby’s preference of cooked food comes from a life lived in hospitality, starting out as a flight attendant and flight service manager for Qantas and Virgin, before heading to Peppers Hotels.
“I came here on holiday from Melbourne to visit my mother this summer just gone and I never went back,” he laughs. ‘My business partner Rob and I were here and we went for a gay bar crawl — Family, Kamo, Caluzzi. Urge and Lola. By the end of it I was drunk and had decided to move here.”
After working in hospo for so long, Tcby says he knows how to keep staff happy.
“We treat our staff well — we pay higher than market wages because that attracts quality, committed staff who are willing to engage in further trailing such as voluntary- responsible sale of alcohol courses.
“It’s about providing a level of service that customers want — can hire all the pretty barmen in Auckland but would that really get us good, quality business? If you foster a great place to work for your staff, they will stick around and make your business a great place to hang out in.”
Tess, meanwhile, will be organising everything non-operational and events-based in the venue.
“I’ve been looking for a great venue to do the stuff I want to do and now

I’m the entertainment manager. I organise the talent, the shows, the DJs, a little bit of the marketing and putting the work I’ve dcne for the last 25 years to practice.
“I like doing big shows that are a production, fostering young drag talent in the area and doing something that will impress the crowd and keep them coming back.”
Toby says, “Come and say goodbye to Kamo — have a few drinks and pay your respects to the place. We’ll be closing soon to renovate and reopening with a new look and a new name. We’d love to see you for one last time as Kamo and plenty more when we swing the doors

“One thing we want to stress is that we’re not trying to compete with anyone else”

Express- 03 MAY 2011