HONKY TONK will be boot-scooting upstairs after plans for the High Street dancery’s upper level to be used for events were unanimously approved by Freo council.
Following a lengthy debate at the council meeting on Wednesday, the Honky Tonk Blues bar will be permitted to expand its operations upstairs to host its regular line-dancing classes and other events.
The item was deferred from a council meeting last month following complaints from some residents in the West End about noise and waste management behind the bar, but it was returned to council with amendments which were passed unanimously.
Honky Tonk co-owner Josh Paparo says its operating staff are “happy to get unanimous approval” for the upgrades following significant investment in compliance with council noise and waste management standards.
• Scootin’ up a storm at Honky Tonk. Photo by Tashi Hall
“It’s robust debate about these things that is part of what you need to go through, because there’s lots of different parties, and everyone wants to ensure they have their voice heard and their concerns addressed, but I feel like our team has put forward a good case for what will be a good community room in Fremantle,” Mr Paparo said.
“We don’t shy away from spending the money and putting the effort in to get compliant, get the sound reports done, and spend the money on materials required.
“We want the venue to be there in 20 years, so these are relatively small expenses to make in the scheme of things, even if it is a couple of hundreds of thousands of dollars… if you’re going to be there for 20 years you want to make sure your neighbours are impacted as little as possible.”
Mr Paparo says the upper level will “hopefully” be available for use by summer to cater for the popularity of Honky Tonk’s line dancing classes and “hundreds” of requests for a bigger function space.
“We were adamant to have line dancing, because we thought it’d be good for participation, it’ll generate some interest, and it was obviously the correct call, because it spread like wildfire,” Mr Paparo said.
“We sort of gave up a while ago, thinking, when are we going to have this lull where people get bored of it? But there’s just a ferocious demand for it.
“There is a community spirit about it, it’s not just a nightclub, not a booze hall, there’s live music and dancing and it’s that combination that brings people back.”
At the meeting, Mayor Hannah Fitzhardinge described the debate as a “quintessential Fremantle dilemma” that the Council will continue to face when incorporating inner-city living in Freo’s entertainment precinct.
“We do have a desire to have more people living in the city centre; everyone who operates a main street shop or just wants to be part of a busy community or wants their favourite cafe to stay open tends to agree that density is really important for us,” Ms Fitzhardinge said.
“It shouldn’t come at the expense of the live music industry, because that’s part of our heart and soul, and those two things shouldn’t be mutually exclusive.
“It is part of our cultural heritage to have a live music industry, but it thrives when we have a dense and diverse community around it, so it has to be on both sides of the fence that we respect this.”
by KATHERINE KRAAYVANGER