Burlington Hotel call quits on skimpy night in bid to focus on ‘family-friendly, inclusive’ environment

Skimpy night has been canned at one of Bunbury’s most iconic hotel, with the new owners attempting to refresh the venue’s image to create a more inclusive and family friendly environment for customers.

The Burlington Hotel has a long history of hosting skimpies, dating back to the flourishing of the industry during the 1970s and 80s due to an influx of fly-in fly-out workers across regional WA.

But, those nights will be no more with skimpies officially off the calendar as new owners Fiona Hutchinson and Brendan Craig pledge to make the venue “the crown jewel of Bunbury’s social scene”.

Ms Hutchinson said the professionalism of the girls from Skimpy Heaven was “second to none” and there “was no issues at all”, but ultimately the industry did bring a reputation which they wanted to shed.

“As far as we’re concerned, we were actually alienating more than 50 per cent of the population because so many males didn’t feel comfortable as well,” she said.

“So many people talk to us about how they met at the Burly, they had their anniversary at the Burly, they grew up coming to the Burly and we want to be able to recreate that.

“We’ve heard a lot of stories and we felt that having the skimpies just didn’t fit in with our vision of having an inclusive venue — an entertainment venue for everybody that feels comfortable and safe.”

Ms Hutchinson said she didn’t believe skimpies were necessarily disrespectful to women, but they did bring a “perception” which largely drove women away.

Kyle Tapper is a Bunbury resident who used to frequent the Burlington Hotel and disagreed with the owners about their mission to take the Burly “back to it’s glory days”.

“The glory days were workers clocking off and having a few quiet beers with some skimpies serving them,” he said.

Mr Tapper said he wasn’t a regular anymore, but he believed the decision to end skimpy night may upset some older customers.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if the old fellas that drink there find a new watering hole,” he said.

“It was always more of a workers pub — a little bit of an older crew, male and female.

“It’s disappointing that there isn’t a pub you can roll up to at 5pm, have a quiet middy in your work clothes and then go home.”

But, Ms Hutchinson said the Burly still had “so much to offer, not just those four hours a week”.

“We knew that it was going to upset some of the locals or some of the regulars, however, they’ve been fabulous about it,” she said.

“They love the venue for lots of different reasons and they come on days the skimpies aren’t there anyway.

“So for the people that perhaps won’t come, we figure 10 more will.”

Skimpy Heaven were contacted for comment.