One of only two sex-on-premise male saunas in Perth, Beaufort 565 has been an important point of contact for men who have sex with men for over 30 years. However, on June 30th, the sauna closed its doors and ceased trading.
Beaufort 565 Owner Vic Francis said the decision to close came about after he received a letter in early June from the Town of Vincent requiring him to update the premises to meet building requirements.
‘They are not closing me, but they have given me various things that I have to update. A younger man would be able to do it fairly easily, but it’s just catapulted me into retirement,’ said Mr Francis, who will turn 70 this year.
With the closure of Beaufort 565, Perth has lost one of its longest standing venues for same-sex attracted men.
‘A lot of my customers, this is their only social outlet,’ said Mr Francis. ‘Before we were here, there was nothing.’
In its 30 year history, Beaufort 565 has been an important social venue for community groups catering to men who have sex with men. One such group, Bears Perth used the ‘Bunker’ area of Beaufort 565 as their meeting ‘Den’, and they are now in the process of seeking out a new meeting space.
Bears Perth President Paul Hayter told OUTinPerth, ‘It’s going to be a major transition finding a new venue… The Den is a unique venue and will be very hard to replace. We have been very, very lucky for a long time. Vic has been great, and it’s the end of an era. It truly is.’
Currently, the Bears are in discussions with various gay-friendly venues around Perth and will be trying different places over the coming months.
The Bears, however, are not the only community group affected by the closure of Beaufort 565. The WA AIDS Council (WAAC) runs a sauna clinic twice a month at both Beaufort 565 and Steamworks, Perth’s other male sauna. At this clinic, men who use the sauna can consult with a GP and a peer educator from WAAC about HIV and STI information as well as receive anonymous and free HIV and STI testing and basic treatment for diseases such as Chlamydia and Gonorrhea.
‘Vic has been a great supporter of the AIDS Council. He was one of the founding members and he has a very long history with us. We have been running within the sauna since the epidemic started,’ said WAAC Executive Director Trish Langdon.
‘We shouldn’t underestimate his contribution to the gay community for providing options for men both before HIV and after HIV came. He saw it all and he was a great advocate in the early days of the epidemic, which we will never forget as an organisation. He used to distribute needles in the early days of the epidemic. That was one of the few places that people could go after hours to get sterile needles and syringes. He really has assisted a lot in getting some of the essential services out.’
Now, Ms Langdon says, WAAC will have to focus additional resources on Perth’s remaining sauna and other gay venues to provide safe sex information to men who have sex with men.
‘We work in partnership with all the commercial venues, whether they are sex-on-premise venues or bars and pubs and clubs. We will continue to work with our gay venue partners – it’s one less venue for us to get to, but I think what we’ll need to do is find out where the guys end up going, whether they end up seeking sexual partners on the internet or whether they drift over to Steamworks.’
According to Vic Francis, though, this may not be the end for Beaufort 565. Mr Francis believes there is a good chance the sauna will open in the future under new ownership and he is doing his best to keep the premises intact in the event a suitable owner can be found.
‘What I would like very much is if someone would take it upon themselves to take the business over lock, stock and barrel. There’s 900 square meters of floor space here that we own. If someone was keen, they could find themselves in a very favourable position.’
Mr Francis further confided to OUTinPerth that Beaufort 565 has never been in the red and that he is ‘confident that someone will come out of the woodwork.’
