Neon signs on Kings Cross strip clubs to be kept after building is converted to shops and offices

But in a major concession to the clubs’ colourful reign over Darlinghurst Road’s ‘golden mile’, the council has agreed to a demand for the preservation of the existing four neon signs for Porky’s, with the owner of the building also agreeing to look into keeping the three signs on the façade brickwork.

“We are very pleased that the council will be keeping those signs,” says Andrew Woodhouse, president of the Potts Point and Kings Cross Heritage and Residents Society, who campaigned for them to be saved.

The building in 2007. The neon signs on the facade are to be retained after the renovation. Photo: Nic Walker

“While the changes are part of the renaissance of the area, those signs are part of our heritage, our DNA and our history, and there needs to be reminders of the past for the current and future residents of the area. In a few years, they might not even
be aware that Kings Cross was known for its naughty but nice character.”

The owners of Porky’s didn’t return calls, while Jason Camuglia, director of Camco NSW which owns Porky’s building, fronting both Darlinghurst Road and Earl Place, also did not return calls.

The end of the clubs, with stripping, pole-dancing and a brothel, and a clientele that’s included footballers, music stars, celebrities and gangsters over the years, comes largely as a result of the lock-out laws introduced in 2015. Since the laws, 42 bars, clubs and small businesses have closed their doors in Kings Cross.

Many of the strip clubs have struggled ever since and now there are For Lease signs also over the Showgirls club further up the road, and two other former strip clubs on the other side of Darlinghurst Road.  In addition, Dreamgirls was temporarily closed last year and lost its liquor licence after a police raid that discovered a number of licence breaches, including staff allegedly selling cocaine on the premises.

The owner of another club, the Sapphire Lounge, Charlie Saleh, said the redevelopment of Porky’s signalled pretty much the end of sex on the Golden Mile.

“It’s done now,” said Saleh, who’s gathered together many of the other nightclub owners to try to sell their properties to developers for apartments. “The industry has almost gone. Sex has gone online now through the internet so people don’t need the clubs any more.

“And since the lockout laws, there’s hardly anyone in those clubs. They’re pretty empty. This area was established over 100 years ago, and it’s rundown now and it needs a new life. It’s good that Porky’s is going to become an office building, we
need commercial development here as well as residential.”

Alterations to the Porky’s building, within a heritage conservation area, will include car parking in the basement, landscaped balconies, a green wall and a green roof.

The premises of another former strip club on the main street of Kings Cross. Photo: Jimmy Thomson

Originally the new design also included an artwork on one exposed wall of Juanita Nielsen, who fronted anti-development campaigns in the area before disappearing in 1975, believed to have been murdered.

City of Sydney planners, however, asked for that feature to be withdrawn as it could restrict future development on the site next door which it overlooks. They declined to comment on the development application.

But locals would be delighted with the change, said Louise Shepherd, a board member of the local chamber of commerce, the Potts Point Partnership. “Most of those clubs have been in trouble since the lockout laws, so we would definitely see
this as a positive for the area,” she said.

“As an office building, it will mean more day traffic from office workers in the building which will be great for local businesses. We’re seeing positive change creeping down from the Macleay Street end. It’s nice to keep the neon signs too as that’s part of the heritage and the character of the area.”

Ms Sheppard said she’d love there to be some kind of masterplan for Kings Cross, so the changes could be planned over time, instead of the change happening in an haphazard way, according to what local property owners and developers want to do.

“We’d prefer the state government and the City of Sydney to put up a plan so all the stakeholders can reach agreement about the best way forward, and then to manage that plan,” she said.

Local agent Vicki Laing, of Laing Real Estate, said she could see a future where Darlinghurst Road became much more a retail strip, with residential above, with the current four-or-so storeys becoming six to eight.

There are still some objections to the new design for Porky’s, however. Mr Woodhouse has criticised the metallic screen that is proposed to be erected over the façade of the ‘top hat’ building above the existing one, saying it will look ugly and
out of character with the area.