As regular customers at this venue this weekend, my friends and I were there to celebrate a booked birthday but were extremely shocked at what we experienced and will not be returning. We were pulled out of the line after being next to be let in front of everyone and denied entry to the venue to eat solely because of their choice of hairstyle – a mullet.

Despite being well-dressed and respectful patrons, the security at the entrance deemed their haircut as grounds for refusal despite coming regularly, citing it as a “dress code.” However, when asked where it is stated or written down or why we did not get told this when we booked for a group of over 10+ people for dinner, we got told that we had no right to question, it was put into placement the day before and it was due to one instance with someone with this haircut in previous weeks. Now the venue has banned everyone with a mullet from eating at their venue due to this . This arbitrary and discriminatory judgement left us feeling ostracised and unwelcome as if our appearance somehow determined our worth as individuals, especially in front of others to eat dinner. When we asked to speak to management politely because we thought this was a joke, we got ridiculed and spoken to extremely rudely, and they all pointed to different security guards who were “management.” Each one pointed to another one saying they were management, telling us different things when we said we just wanted to speak about our booking. They told us they were not talking to us about our booking of 10+ people for a birthday even when we stated it was booked a month in advance. “Management” told us they do not care and to leave and they do not make the rules, “management” does, emphasising that they were not management and would not allow us to follow this through due to only purely an individual with a haircut. As we spoke to “management,” we saw another individual in the line from a different ethnicity get let into the venue with a mullet. When asked about this in pure disbelief, we were told that “management” can allow individuals if they believe they are deemed suitable. After this, we decided that this venue was disgusting.

Understandably, if a venue needs to refuse entry based on reasonable grounds, okay, but these grounds need to be justifiable and not based on discriminatory reasons. It is evident that this venue does not want a certain ethnicity, race, or class inside but knows that it goes against the Anti-Discrimination Legislation, Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986, and Racial Discrimination Act 1975, but is trying to mask it by a haircut style. This incident is not just about a denied entry; it is about the broader issue of discrimination based on personal attributes. It is a stark reminder that prejudices still linger and that appearances continue to be unfairly judged and used as a basis for exclusion, especially in a venue like this. I would love to follow up on whether such actions comply with these anti-discrimination laws. Disappointed is an understatement and this venue turned such an important day booked way in advance into a complete mess.

looking at the reviews as I upload this , it seems like this is a common issue now.