{"id":392222,"date":"2026-07-30T17:12:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T17:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/392222\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T17:12:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T17:12:08","slug":"bonham-exchange-club-727-must-close-this-weekend-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/392222\/","title":{"rendered":"Bonham Exchange, Club 727 must close this weekend. Here’s why"},"content":{"rendered":"

After 45 years, the oldest LGBTQ+ bar in San Antonio<\/a> will be forced to close its doors this weekend if it can’t comply with fire sprinkler requirements, the City says.<\/p>\n

The Bonham Exchange \u2014 opened in 1981 by Arthur Patrick “Hap”\u00a0Veltman Jr., a member of the\u00a0LGBTQ+ community and a local entrepreneur \u2014 has until Saturday to install sprinklers needed under the city’s fire safety requirements. Otherwise, the bar’s Temporary Certificate of Occupancy will expire\u00a0on August 1, according to a memo from the San Antonio City Manager. Club 727, on N. Main Avenue in the Pride Cultural Heritage district, faces the same deadline.<\/p>\n

The Bonham is inside a historic, 25,000-square-foot space built in 1891 at the corner of\u00a0Bonham and 3rd Streets downtown. The closure countdown comes just a few months after its co-owner, Joan Duckworth, reportedly inked a deal with San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones,\u00a0giving them a year to fully install the sprinklers. Jones also pledged to help raise money for the $550,000 price tag, but the San Antonio Express-News reported in April<\/a> that the Bonham “hasn\u2019t received a dime.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

The trouble stems from a 2018 city ordinance requiring bars, clubs and restaurants to have fire sprinklers if they serve or allow alcohol and have an occupancy limit higher than 300 people. The rule impacted 15 establishments, which were given five years to comply. By December 2025, seven were still outstanding, the memo says \u2014 additionally, some across the city had permanently closed, while others had reduced their occupancy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the City of San Antonio told MySA via email that “of the seven nightclubs operating under compliance agreements, two have achieved full compliance\u2014The Heat and Industry\u2014while four are progressing through permitting and inspections: Paper Tiger, Soundcheck\/Nuevo Volc\u00e1n, I-10 Icehouse and Club 727. The Bonham Exchange has not yet applied for the required permits.” The City denied extension requests from Club 727 and the Bonham, saying “closing\u00a0during construction will allow the required fire-protection work to be completed more quickly so both establishments can reopen at full occupancy.”<\/p>\n

“The City\u2019s priority is protecting patrons, employees, residents and first responders,” the spokesperson wrote. “We will expedite all necessary reviews, permits and inspections. Once each sprinkler system is installed and passes inspection, the City will promptly issue permanent Certificates of Occupancy so the Bonham Exchange and Club 727 can resume operations.”<\/p>\n

In February, Duckworth reportedly signed an agreement with\u00a0Jones giving\u00a0them a year to install the sprinklers and cutting occupancy from 650 to 300 in the meantime. Under that deal, the Bonham would have six months to install sprinklers on the first floor. However, the Express-News reported that Duckworth was concerned that such a steep drop in occupancy would put the club out of business. The Bonham did host a fundraiser “to help save The\u00a0Bonham Exchange, a space that\u2019s been home, history, and heartbeat all in one,” in May. Meanwhile, a GoFundMe <\/a>has only raised about $5,000 of a $120,000 goal.<\/p>\n

Find it: 411 Bonham, San Antonio, TX 78205\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After 45 years, the oldest LGBTQ+ bar in San Antonio will be forced to close its doors this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":392223,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[821,847,820,82,84,83],"class_list":["post-392222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-mysabusiness","tag-mysanews","tag-mysastaff","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}