Lyon, France is getting a new bear bar called Bearstation!

Three French bears and an idea to create something new for the community of Lyon, France comes Bearstation, a bar for everyone! Check out the details below.

A brand new bar for the bears and broader LGBTQ+ community is coming to Lyon, France!

French bears Olivier, Rayane, and Christophe have spent the last year and a half planning, developing, and executing their plan for a brand new space in their community for the bears and beyond.

At Bearstation, there will truly be something for everyone. Between different themed nights, artist exhibitions, a market, association nights, and member exclusive events, Bearstation is bringing something special to their local scene.

Located in the 1st arrondissement of Lyon, Bearstation welcomes everyone whether you’re a cub, a bear, a club member or not a club member. They also have plans to partner with many different organizations, including Mr Bear France!

I had the privilege of interviewing Rayane, one of the co-owners of the bar, to get more information on what to expect from Bearstation. Check it out below!

Bryce Quartz: I really love the name of the bar, “Bearstation.” Where did the idea for the name come from?

Rayane of Bearstation: Thank you! The idea came from Olivier, who wanted to pay homage to the previous bear bar that used to exist in Lyon, which was called Station B. It closed a few years though sadly.

Bryce: Will there be a wide array of communal events that will bring in different crowds such as karaoke nights, game nights, drag shows, and different kink/fetish nights?

Rayane: Yes! We’re partnering left and right with many artists, communities, drag artists, etc to bring varied events. One thing we absolutely don’t want is for the bar to become stale. We’re doing everything in our power to shake things up as often as we can.

Bryce: Whether someone comes to Bearstation for a drink or a specific event, how do you want guests to feel when they leave?

Rayane: Overall we want people to feel like they had a great evening. Whether they came just to hang out with friends, for an event, to have fun, we mainly want the bar to be a comfort place for people to just be themselves.

Bryce: Even though the bar is bear-themed, a community that’s typically assumed to be hyper-masculine, will everyone under the LGBTQ+ umbrella such as trans and non-binary people or femme presenting queer people be welcome and feel comfortable enough to come back?

Rayane: Like I just said in my previous answer, we want people to be themselves. Although the bar is obviously bear centered, we won’t deny entry to anyone. The very reason the bear community was created was because us beefy men were excluded from many communities because of who we were. That’s the reason this community is based on inclusivity, and we want to perpetuate that.

Bryce: You initially planned on running as nonprofit and no longer can, but will you still do fundraising events and try to give back to the local community?

Rayane: We aren’t a non-profit. We tried to be one, but man was it hard to find funding, and to navigate the legal ramifications of that. So we’re a for-profit bar now. Though we stay true to our roots, and we do try to give back to the community.

For example, we’ll share the events list on our website with any community, non-profit, bar or artist, for free, in exchange for some visibility. We’ll also list every one of these partners on our website.

Also, when we were trying to be a non-profit, one of the pain points was to find some place that fit our very limited budget when planning events. That was basically impossible. For that reason, we’ll allow non-profits to privatize the bar’s room for free on the calmest weekdays, in order for them to not have to worry about finding somewhere else.

Bryce: Will there be a play area or darkroom for the more risqué parties or nights?

Rayane: Having a dark room was something we considered, but here in France if you allow sex in your establishment, you have to either declare yourself as a sex-club, which is its own can of worms we didn’t want to open, or face a whole ton of regulations which pretty much made it impossible for us to do so.

We also didn’t want to alienate anyone who wouldn’t be comfortable knowing there was a darkroom in the bar. We’ve had a few people telling us they were relieved we didn’t have one.

Bryce: Thanks for chatting with me! Is there anything else you’d like to leave our readers with today?

Rayane: Thanks a lot for your questions and I hope my answers were what you expected! We look forward to opening Bearstation soon and welcoming everyone into the bar. We’ll see you all very soon!

Check out their website, sign up for their email list, and follow them on social media for updates on when Bearstation opens!

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