Sir: Father-Son Duo Opening New LGBTQ Bar in Downtown Denver

Trey Stewart, co-owner of Denver’s newest LGBTQ bar, Sir, is situated front-and-center as his Zoom camera pops on, part of Denver’s skyline peeking through the window behind him.

“I’ve been here the last four days, and I’m going back to Dallas tomorrow, and then back here again next week,” he says. “It’s an easy flight though, so I don’t mind it.”

It’s a busy, back-and-forth time in late September, as Trey and his father, Tyler—current business partners at their Dallas bar, Mr. Misster—are gearing up to open their brand-new, LGBTQ bar, Sir, in Downtown Denver at 1822 Blake St., where Vesta operated for more than 20 years before shutting down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Back in 2019, before Mr. Misster opened, Trey went out with his friends in Dallas and consistently struggled with finding an LGBTQ spot where they could go and feel comfortable, a place that accurately represented their proud, exuberant, queer community. He approached his father, who owned restaurants through Trey’s childhood and knew the ins and outs of running a business, with a new idea.

“I just knew what kind of environment and space I wanted to make, so I really went to him and I was like, ‘Listen, I have this idea—I’ll go with or without you—but do you wanna do this with me?’ and he was like, ‘Yeah, sure.’”

Soon after, Mr. Misster was born as a father-son business venture, aimed to provide a new space to better represent the Dallas LGBTQ community.

Trey recounts the experience of running an LGBTQ business with his father graciously, cementing his gratitude to share this part of himself with a supportive parent.

“It’s very cool because I know I’m in a fortunate position, to where I have such a supportive father, and I’m very grateful for the way our relationship has grown doing this,” Trey says. “I feel like I can tell him anything, and he truly is my best friend, to where he does know every facet of my life.”

Though running an LGBTQ bar with his father sometimes comes with its own surprises, and Trey says he is occasionally taken back by how comfortable his father has become as an ally to the queer community.

“My dad has, like, this gaggle of gay friends now that goes out with him. I’m like, ‘What?’ And he knows what poppers are, and someone told him what a top and bottom is … So it’s an adjustment to say the least, because I think, especially being, you know—when you’re in the closet and then you’re trying to hide, and then they just like, know the gay dictionary, it’s like, ‘Who taught you that?’” Trey laughs.

As they continued operating Mr. Misster in Dallas, Trey visited Denver for the first time and immediately felt at home. Not only that, but he also saw that the LGBTQ community in Denver felt similar to the one back home in Dallas, which boasts one of the largest LGBTQ populations in the country and an environment Trey says is comfortable enough to “walk down the street and hold a boyfriend’s hand” as a man, which isn’t necessarily the case in other Texas communities. 

“I’m more the ideas man, and [my dad is] more of, like, on-paper kind of guy, so I said, ‘I found this. I love the city; I found the space; it looks like it could work out cost-wise; we can afford to do it, like, what do you think?’ He’s like, ‘Yes.’ So, it’s a good, mutual collaboration, but we kind of both have our lane so it works well from that aspect as well,” Trey says.

Trey says that the nature of the business being family-owned-and-operated seeps into the culture of Mr. Misster, and he hopes to offer the same experience at Sir, creating a space for customers to feel at home, a place to go that encourages a safe and communal feel.

He recounts the first year operating Mr. Misster, with customers coming in around the holidays and asking if they would be open.

“There are people that don’t have somewhere to go home for the holidays, and that space becomes their home, and they build that relationship with bartenders, and so having that safe space has become very important for me.”

The main thing Trey was looking for in a potential venue was visibility and the potential to build something that didn’t yet exist in Denver. The building is just blocks from Coors Field, where Trey saw a slew of other young people living, just not an accessible LGBTQ space for them to thrive.

At 4,500 square feet, the new space is twice the size of Mr. Misster in Dallas, and the Stewarts plan to put it to good use, hoping to appeal to the many different folks in Denver and what they might want from the bar through the afternoon, evening, and late at night. They built the space strategically to offer a dinner service and happy hour for the earlier hours to highlight their full kitchen and food menu, but they also wanted the ability to transition Sir into a more bar-club feel as the evenings progress.

Sir will begin operation at 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. Tuesday through Friday, with an earlier opening time, 11 a.m., on Saturday and Sunday, closing on Mondays. The bar will feature a DJ booth, and they plan to have drag brunches over the weekend.

Trey also recognizes that, as a business owner, it is up to him to set the culture of the space he is creating, with many LGBTQ spaces ultimately catering to a narrow segment of the community, leaving other queer and trans folks feeling a lack of representation, validation, or safety among these spaces touted as friendly for all LGBTQ people.

“It is a lot on the business, about how you—your employees—treat your customers,” Trey says. “It’s about the way your security is greeting people that are walking in the door; it’s the way your bartenders are throwing drinks at you … That’s very, very important to me, and I’ve fired many great bartenders for being assholes, and I’ll continue to do it because that’s not the business I’m looking to run. I mean, it’s very simple; it’s, be kind to people.”

As a community that has fought tirelessly for acceptance, he says it’s important to foster a space for everyone–across-the-board equality–where all folks can convene and enjoy the venue together, as a place that can bring together a collection of different people and communities.

Trey affirms, “I want to create an inclusive space not an exclusive space.”

Sir is opening its doors soon, with the soft opening planned for November 12 and a grand opening set for December 11. Keep up with Sir on their official website sir-denver.com and on Instagram, @sirbardenver.

Featured Image by Hunter Munnerlyn