A Brisbane pub has sparked a stir on social media courtesy of its banned items dress code, clearly aiming at filtering out affiliates of the youth subculture known as ‘eshays’.
Falvey’s Hotel is a family-owned suburban pub in Yamanto, near Ipswich, offering a beer garden, gaming area and bistro, as well as a nightclub.
The pub reserves the right to deny entry to people dressed in examples of the restricted clothing, which mostly amounts to a ban on the standard uniform of the group in question without actually naming them.
The list is predominantly about the preferred hooded tops, bum bags, Nike TNs and typically solid red shoes, which are all associated with the ‘Aussie eshay’ – a slang expression for the urban subculture, who are known for anti-social behaviour.
Not be left out, tradies can also expect to not be let in after 8pm if wearing steel cap boots or hi-vis workwear.
Owner Michael Falvey suggests the specific dress code is addressing a certain type of person, who they do not want.
“The only person who wears a satchel and looks cool is Indiana Jones,” he told Ch9’s Today program.
The move is in line with an initiative taken in 2023 by nightclub Bar 1, in Perth, which explicitly banned red shoes in its attempts to stop the eshays, deemed to have a “bad attitude”.
Social media saw the easily anticipated opposition by those sympathetic to the red shoe bandits, but plenty were in favour of the imposition of the dress code, even suggesting it might lead to “a decent crowd” at the pub.
Being a local that is in tune with its community, Falvey furthered that at least one element of the eshay uniform was off limits.
“We couldn’t ban the mullet because here in Ipswich people have had the mullet since it was cool the first time.”
