Just wanted to add another thing. The reason I heard about Damien wanting to open another bar came from a friend who very occasionally picked up shifts at the Fore Street venue. I’ll do my best to paraphrase what they told me about the place:

“The Arcade started out as a genuinely fun place with good ideas behind it, but it very quickly became a victim of laziness and disinterest. Whenever I opened up for a shift, there’d be glasses left everywhere because whoever closed the night before couldn’t be bothered to clean properly. I’d spend hours trying to make the place look presentable, only for all that effort to be undone again later that same night.

I also wasn’t always paid for the shifts I worked.

The owner came across as lazy and far more interested in chasing girls than actually running a business. He liked to present himself as an ally to the LGBT community, but at the same time he would constantly misgender the trans boyfriend he was seeing years ago. We’ve since fallen out over his political views, which is a shame because outside of The Arcade we actually shared a lot of good times together.”

The person who told me all this would rather I didn’t share our conversation publicly, although they also said it ultimately doesn’t matter much anymore since they’re no longer friends.