The first ever women’s sports bar to open in has shut its doors just five months after its much anticipated launch amid cost of living pressures.
The Ladies League, located on Sydney’s Oxford Street, opened in August 2024 to showcase live women’s sport matches and replays of women’s games.
However in a shock announcement on Wednesday, the venue explained it was calling last drinks and closing down for good.
‘It’s with a heavy heart that we will not be re-opening the doors at The Ladies League,’ The Ladies League wrote on Instagram.
‘As a women’s sports bar, we excelled. Anyone who attended a Matildas, Sydney FC, Grand Final etc game day at our venue, know what a show we can put on.
‘Unfortunately it is outside of live games that we felt the struggle as much as many other hospitality venues in this economic climate.
‘While we knew going in, cost of living pressures have impacted how patrons spend, this is something we wanted to do for women’s sport visibility.
‘We knew we had a fantastic product on offer but unfortunately as a small business, we couldn’t hold on any longer to try any new approaches.’
The Ladies League apologised to its patrons and shared its gratitude to those who helped the bar open.
It added the closing of The Ladies League should not deter others from wanting to open a women’s sports bar.
‘We hope that this doesn’t discourage anyone from opening a similar concept in the future, the support we felt from the community was amazing,’ it wrote.
‘It’s unfortunately a hard reality of how people are choosing to spend their money at this stage.
‘Thank you each and everyone who has visited us or showed support online’.
Rose Valente, 34, founded The Ladies League sports bar in August 2024 after successfully launching a digital only sports publication with the same name.
Ms Valente previously explained the venture was ‘took risky’ but used all her savings and even sold her investment property to fund the bar.
The bar, located in the heart of Darlinghurst was a two-storey venue decorated in a black and pink colour scheme that could accommodate 80-seated patroons.
Loyal readers and other supporters of the venue’s concept helped Ms Valente fundraise enough money to help open the bar.
Many spent money on foundation memberships which earned their names written on the bar’s upstairs walls.
Others donated money by sponsoring areas of the bar including tables, benches and toilet cubicles.
Matildas and Melbourne Victory midfielder Alex Chidiac reached out to Ms Valente and sponsored one of the bar’s benches.
The bar also received donations from Aussies, with one Instagram follower giving the venue a signed n women’s cricket shirt.
Ms Valente explained The Ladies League aimed to show live women’s sport matches and replays of women’s games as coverage of women’s sports in accounted for only 12-15 per cent of screen time.
The venue boasted six TVs and one big screen with a viewing lounge upstairs and a bar section downstairs.
Ms Valente said the bar was also open to men, and would be willing to show men’s sport matches if that was of interest to the venue’s patrons.
It comes as small businesses across the country are forced to shut down amid an industry-wide crisis with labour shortages, staff costs, soaring inflation and lack of customer spending.
Credit reporting bureau CreditorWatch found that smaller hospitality businesses were facing the crunch.
In its March report it claimed one in 13 small hospitality businesses would fail amid ‘s current economic crisis.