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

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

The Palace, a hip lounge and nightclub in Soho that attracts a trendy crowd in their 20s and 30s, will ban guests from using their phones starting Thursday.

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

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

The club announced the new policy in an Instagram post last week.

“After three amazing years, we’ve 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 eventually decided to turn off comments to encourage guests to check it out for themselves.

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

He has invested about $10,000 in hundreds of Yondr phone-free bags, which are often used in comedy shows to ensure that joke sets aren’t recorded via smartphone before appearing on Netflix or Max.

To enter the Palace, guests will need to place their phones inside a pouch. A bouncer will then lock the bag and return it to the guests to keep. It will be unlocked when they come out.

Anyone wanting to make a call or text will have to unlock their phone and exit the facility, then lock the bag once more after entering.

“It will be interesting to see how it goes,” Robertshaw said. “If people need a pen and paper [to get a phone number]we have it in 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 okay with it.

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

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

“Everybody’s on their phones … they’re not really present,” Bishop, who will perform a set Saturday at The Palace, told The Post. “The phone-free thing is a wonderful opportunity for people to 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 increases the energy – people have to pay attention in order to experience it. Phones get in the way.”

He complained 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.

Famous French producer and DJ Bob Sinclar was criticized on social media last month, saying he had the “worst concert of [his] entire career” playing to a screen-addicted crowd in Mykonos.

“It’s a nightmare. People don’t move. They are constantly filming on their phones. Don’t know what to expect? They stay frozen [sic]. Completely dead. I am very depressed. I don’t know what happened,” he said in a video posted on Instagram with superimposed text pleading: “Don’t use your phone in the club.”

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

Members-only spots like Zero Bond and Casa Cipriani have implemented strict restrictions on mobile phone use, and rowdy restaurants are also getting saturated.

When Frog Club opened earlier this year in the old Chumley’s space, owner and executive chef Liz Johnson decided to ask customers to put stickers on their phone cameras before entering.

She said it has been a game changer.

“The dining room is fully charged with conversation and energy. It seems that using the phone during dinner has become a barrier to human connection; the atmosphere 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 customers will thank him later.

“When I was going out at a younger age — not having to worry about someone documenting what I’m doing was probably a good thing,” he said. “That thing lives forever.”