A Toronto sports bar that was suddenly locked out by its landlord is now facing criticism from the community for starting a GoFundMe in an effort to save the business and support their staff.

A near-instant hit in Parkdale after opening its doors in 2022, Peaches Sports Bar extended far beyond the bounds of the city's inneumerable other sports bars, providing a dedicated space for the city's queer community to feel safe while watching sports, and highlighting women's leagues like the WNBA and PWHL.

Despite rapidly ascending to the status of neighbourhood hub, members of the community were shocked late last week to find that the bar had been shut down, the business' 0wners and staff locked out after defaulting on rent.

In response, Peaches co-founder, Veronica, took matters into her own hands, launching a GoFundMe campaign in an attempt to, in her own words "help to support our incredible hardworking staff that were all suddenly at loss for work and denied access to their hard earned wages," on top of raising funds to access legal support that would, hopefully, grant them access back into the building to collect tips and items.

Once Peaches' appeal to save the business went live, though, some members of the community were quick to take issue with it.

One such community member and lifelong Parkdale resident, who requested that their name be withheld, tells blogTO that something about the GoFundMe just didn't sit right with her.

"So I wanna start off by saying, I'm in full support of queer owned [and] run businesses, and safe spaces for the queer community that stretches beyond Church Street," she says.

"I think it's amazing that Parkdale has become a safe neighbourhood [...] for queer businesses to thrive, and I hope it continues to move in that direction," she adds, noting that she, herself, was a supported of Peaches, recommending it to plenty of friends, family and visitors.

As the news of Peaches' fundraiser went live, however, the community member tells blogTO that the notion of asking for donations to save the business rubbed her the wrong way when former staff were alleging that they had gone unpaid by the bar.

One comment on a now-deleted Instagram post where Peaches announced the fundraiser includes a quote from someone claiming to be a former employee of Peaches Sports Bar, saying that they had experienced paycheques bouncing and tips being withheld during their time at the bar.

Comments on a now-deleted Instagram post by Peaches. Screenshot provided by anonymous source.

And that sentiment was echoed by the community member who tells blogTO that "Peaches has failed to provide well earned wages to their staff, rent for their place of business, and pay their vendors - that's an issue for Peaches, not anyone else."

"In my opinion, Peaches decided to go down the route of blaming the landlord for locking out a queer business and target the Parkdale community to donate to a GoFundMe that would 'save the business' when it seems pretty clear to me that the financial issues they're facing would still be present."

The community member also says that while issues like the cost of living and discrimination against the queer community are undoubtedly legitimate and are likely being felt by Peaches' staff and owners, in her opinion, the GoFundMe wasn't the way to go about it.

"I hope all of the funds from that GoFundMe have been returned to the donors and instead we all donate to queer organizations, and businesses that are properly distributing their money and aren't going to take advantage of the neighbourhood they're in and community they claim to support aka the beautiful Queers of Toronto just looking for a place to watch the game."

A Reddit post that arose in the wake of the closure includes screenshots of further Instagram comments criticising Peaches' financial management, as well as a statement from co-founder, Anthony, posted on his personal Instagram account, that admits the bar had been struggling financially for a while.

"To be frank, Peaches has been in dire straits for a long time," the statement reads. "We tried everything to keep it afloat but the debts kept piling and we tried everything to keep it alive."

He goes on to explain that, once the business started to get behind on paying the staff, he was adamant that it was time to shut down, while his business partner remained "hopeful that it would rebound."

"It's unfortunate but I knew this day would come."

While Peaches co-founder, Veronica, tells blogTO that the business intends to put out a public statement on the full scope of the situation, including responses to the allegations about pay being withheld from staff, once they've been able to obtain legal advice, she does make it abundantly clear that the intention of the GoFundMe was never to line her own — or the business' pockets.

Instead, she says, the aim was first and foremost to financially support Peaches' staff in the wake of the closure.

The funds raised in the GoFundMe campaign were intended to be disperses among Peaches' staff to make up for the cash tips and personal items that remain locked inside of the building, Veronica tells blogTO, as well as to gather funds to access legal support in an attempt to gain re-entry, a sentiment that was notably expressed in the description of the campaign.

In the meantime, Veronica adds that the donations made to the GoFundMe are in the process of being refunded, and encourages anyone who's interested to look into supporting other queer-based organizations that Peaches' former staff — a largely queer-identifying group — could access.

At the time of publication, the GoFundMe campaign has been locked, with over $3000 in donations set to be refunded to donors.

In keeping with its mission to support and highlight local businesses, blogTO attempted to provide free promotion to Peaches in October 2022, offering to come and take photos and videos of the bar and its food and drink offerings and publish a video and editorial article about its concept, menu and sports programming but was denied by the owner(s). At the time we were told that Peaches took issue with the publication of this article. Further they asked for Peaches to be "removed permanently from any list, photo opportunity and any kind of press."