Save the Green Park Hotel, a sanctuary for locals and the LGBTQI community
Save the Green Park Hotel, a sanctuary for locals and the LGBTQI community
The Green Park Hotel is far more than just a bar. It is a refuge for locals, LGBTQI people, single people, hospital workers and everyone under the sun. It is where we gather to celebrate, commiserate and connect with friends old and new.
But the Green Park - Darlinghurst's historic, extremely popular and last remaining Public House of its kind - is in danger of closing. We cannot let this happen!
It was sold to St Vincent's Hospital in a quick and quiet deal, leaving the Darlinghurst community hardly any time to organise and campaign to save their rare and precious sanctuary.
It's urgent but it's not too late to ask St Vincent's to delay its plans while it hears from the community and gives a fair opportunity for another hospitality group to potentially buy it and preserve it as a unique cultural institution.
Or for politicians to deny planning changes to this institution, which adds vital flair and character to a dying strip in the city.
As LGBTQI people know, mental health services are extremely important. Places to connect and feel supported and have life-saving conversations with people who understand us and prevent loneliness and isolation. That's precisely what the Green Park is to us. A Public Space for an embattled community who have worryingly higher suicide rates, mainly due to a lack of connection with other LGBTQI people. This can't be taken away from our community.
Locals and visitors who have frequented this Public House - which has a 130 year history at this site - know its importance as a hub for the village. Without the Green Park feeding into the surrounding businesses, many restaurants and cafes will shut their doors. This part of our city will continue its demise and complete its gradual conversion to a Hospital Campus.
We urge St Vincent's to listen to their surrounding community and to find one of the many nearby empty venues to host their own, equally important, mental health drop-in centre.
Sydney's essential, welcoming and diverse village is at risk of dying. With your help, we can keep it alive, and prevent further isolation, loneliness and depression within the community in general and the LGBTQI community in particular.
Let's raise our voices to preserve the neighbourhood we love so much and SAVE THE GREEN PARK HOTEL!