Trade — Restaurant in Denver

I am visiting Denver from overseas, and have been to Trade twice during my week here. Both nights were very fun! They have a large outdoor area that is fairly well protected from rain until the weather gets really beefy. Hot people of all shapes, sizes, colours, and flavours 😉 seem to attend here quite happily. The bartenders (at least during my two visits) pour GENEROUS drinks - I'm terrified to know what they think a "double" is, lol! There's also an amazing Latinx owned taco truck that does GREAT food for an awesome price! Just what you need to line your stomach for those heavy drinks, eh?

Unfortunately I had a rough night on my second visit; it ended up being one of those night's out where I lost my phone, wallet, bag, everything EXCEPT the clothes off my back (and they probably weren't far behind). The following day the bartenders and owners/managers were INCREDIBLY sympathetic and as helpful as possible - we actually got my phone back!

(Still looking for the bag... and a cowboy hat... so if anyone finds either, I'd be so grateful for their safe return. Probably grateful in a financially viable way, if you know what I mean! 😉 )

Just can't say enough good about the staff at Trade, they are really wonderful people, and this venue is a major resource to the LGBTQ community.

It's worth mentioning that I'm a queer transgender man, and have had great experiences with how I was treated and being wonderfully flirted with in this venue. I don't know if this is the norm, but it was pretty nice for me, as not all gay bars in the world are trans friendly. So kudos there as well!

Thanks Trade-folk! I will not forget my time with you - for so...

We were at Trade for their Thursday underwear night. I've been to Trade a number of times, and I wanted to bring my boyfriend, who is trans. It did not feel like an LGBT queer bar: it felt like a gay bar. Cis men exclusively behind the bar, cis men exclusively in the audience (as far as we could see and assume). I'm comparing it to our home R Bar in Fort Collins which had a MUCH more diverse clientele. I certainly had some cis-blindness and had never noticed before how homogenous the demographic of this bar was.

Nobody did anything wrong, but when you're the only person there who's different... Yes, it did ruin the night and we left earlier than we had planned to.

I don't have all the answers, but there is clearly something R Bar is doing that Trade is not, that encourages diverse crowds. When he expressed his concerns to the bartender, he was told "I have trans friends" and "We have a trans night". Trans night?? Why isn't every night trans/queer/lesbian/gay night? If you feel the need to have a specific night to make certain members of the community feel welcome, there is something wrong with the culture of the bar as a whole.

Despite claiming to be an LGBT+ bar, it didn't feel that a lot of outreach is being done to intentionally make welcome anyone other than...

Trade is a staple in community. I would venture to say they cater more toward the masculine side of the G, B, and Q portion of the LGBTQ 🏳️‍🌈 population, but they certainly welcome any who wish to participate - they do not discriminate. The owner is a great person, no nonsense. Take the time to meet him, he's awesome.

They are know for fun underwear nights, trivia, karaoke, theme events, outdoor games, and large Sunday beer 'busts'. (A beer bust is a period of time, usually 4 hours, in which you pay a single price for an unlimited amount of beer pours, much like a buffet, or a fountain drink at a self-serve restaurant). The staff is very diverse; all of them are friendly and pretty willing to strike up a conversation if you're new or looking to chat. They get pretty busy Thursday-Saturday evenings, and Sunday afternoons; if you want a good casual happy hour, come by any day after 3-4p for a the chance to get your drink at a heavy discount- they do a coin flip; if you win, you get your drink for like $2 bucks or something. It's a good deal.

They do not serve 'real' food. You can bring food in, they have a food truck outside randomly open on busy nights. They have a vending machine for snacks, cash only. Pizza place across the street...