WEYMOUTH is targeting the pink pound with the opening of the town’s first official gay bar.

Jamie Crage and Ryan Entwistle, who are opening The Closet in Maiden Street, say there is a high demand for a gay-friendly venue in Weymouth.

Bar 314 will be transformed into The Closet and will open its doors on Friday, November 29.

It is hoped the bar will eventually team up with gay friendly B&Bs in the town to appeal to the LGBT tourist market.

Mr Crage, 30, former assistant manager at Rendezvous, said: “We’ve had a lot of interest and 400 likes on our Facebook page in a week.

“We think people are looking for something different in Weymouth.

“There have been regular gay nights in Weymouth but never a designated bar.

“A lot of people I know are travelling from Weymouth and going to the Triangle in Bournemouth to the gay-friendly bars there.

“They’re spending money in Bournemouth instead of their local town and we thought that somewhere like Weymouth really needs a bar like this.”

Mr Entwistle, 34, who formerly ran 314, said: “I had three choices of what to do with the bar – rent it to someone, make it into a gay bar or an indie bar.

“There are no gay-friendly bars in Yeovil either and people have to travel to Bournemouth and Southampton for a night out. It seemed like the right choice.”

Bar 314, which has been open for four years, will close for good after tomorrow night.

Cabaret drag shows, drag queen DJs, cheesy music, camp quizzes and karaoke sessions will be regular fixtures in The Closet along with pop tribute acts to Pink, Take That and Westlife.

People of all sexual orientations are welcome in The Closet, its owners say, and it will have a ‘theatrical’ theme and feature stage curtains with a pole for pole dancing.

A charity fundraiser featuring male strippers will be held on World Aids Day, December 1.

Chris Owens, 30, will work at the bar and help coordinate entertainment.

He said: “As soon as I heard about this I wanted to get involved.

“I’ve worked as a Blue Coat and abroad in Ibiza helping to run tribute acts and I think they’ll be very popular. The bar is going to be fabulous.”

Mr Entwistle would like any LGBT friendly B&Bs in Weymouth that wish to team up to contact him at Bar 314.

See closetweymouth.co.uk or gaybarweymouth.co.uk for more information.