Hot NYC club bans cell phones to get more people on the dance floor

They want to get people off their phones and on the dance floor.

The Palace, a sceney lounge and night club in Soho that draws a fashionable crowd in their 20’s and 30’s, will forbid guests from using their phones starting Thursday.

Owner Ben Robertshaw told The Post that the new rule intends to promote privacy and more socializing on the dance floor — the club is known for its DJs and bringing in big names such as Diplo and Kelis.

“We want to make sure people really enjoy living in the moment,” said Robertshaw, 37. “People are worried or anxious [about] documenting the moment rather than experiencing it.”

The club announced the new policy with a post on Instagram last week .

“After three amazing years, we have decided to try something different,” it read. “The Palace will restrict all cell phone use inside … enjoy the experience.”

Robertshaw said the post generated a lot of chatter, but he ultimately decided to turn off the comments to encourage guests to check it out for themselves.

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“You’re either going to like this or you’re not,” he said.

He has invested around $10,000 in hundreds of Yondr phone-free pouches , which are often used at comedy shows to ensure that jokesters’ sets aren’t recorded via smartphone before they appear on Netflix or Max.

To enter into The Palace, guests will have to place their phones inside a pouch. A bouncer will then lock the pouch and return it to guests to carry around. It will be unlocked when they exit.

Anyone who wants to make a call or text will have to unlock their phone and exit the facility, then lock up the pouch once again upon entry.

“It’ll be interesting to see how it goes,” Robertshaw said. “If people need a pen and paper [to get a phone number], we’ve got that at the bar.”

He first came up with the idea for a phone ban when the club hosted a famous professional men’s soccer team in the VIP section during the summer of 2023.The team asked if they could collect cell phones from guests to avoid people taking photos and videos. Everyone was surprisingly OK with it.

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“People really didn’t ask questions – if anything they were intrigued,” he said. “I saw people enjoying themselves with complete freedom and enjoying the music and conversation.”

The Palace’s resident DJ, who goes by the stage name Bishop , is very much in favor of the new policy.

“Everyone is on their phones … they’re not really present,” Bishop, who will perform a set on Saturday at The Palace, told The Post. “The no phones thing is an amazing opportunity to have people be in the moment again and dance. The main thing as a DJ, I’m trying to read the energy of the room and control it in a way that elevates energy — people need to be paying attention in order to experience that. Phones kind of get in the way.”

He lamented about a time when he had to play “cheesy top 40” music just to get people off their phones.

Others in the music industry have similar complaints.

Famed French record producer and DJ Bob Sinclar lashed out on social media last month, saying that he’d had “the worst gig of [his] entire career” playing to a crowd of screen-addicts in Mykonos.

“It’s a nightmare. People don’t move. They’re constantly filming on their phones. I don’t know what they are waiting for? They stay freezed [sic]. Completely dead. I’m so depressed. I don’t know what happened,” he said in a video posted on Instagram with overlaid text pleading: “Stop using your phone in the club.”

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The Palace is the most notable NYC club yet to tackle the phone issue. Basement in Queens has a “no phone use on the dance floor” house rule. Nowadays, an indoor-outdoor spot in Bushwick, asks guests on its website to refrain from using their phones or taking photos around the dance floor.

Members-only spots such as Zero Bond and Casa Cipriani have implemented strict restrictions on cell phone use, and buzzy restaurants are also getting fed up.

When Frog Club opened earlier this year in the old Chumley’s space, owner and executive chef Liz Johnson decided to require diners to place stickers over phone cameras before entering.

She said it’s been a game-changer.

“The dining room is completely charged with conversation and energy.  It feels as if using our phones during dinner has become an obstacle for human connection; the vibe without them is electric!” said Johnson, who recently had Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos dine at the restaurant.

Robertshaw, meanwhile, is confident that his Gen Z and millennial patrons will thank him later.

“When I was going out at a younger age – not worrying about anybody documenting what I’m doing was probably a good thing,” he said. “That stuff lives forever.”

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