The bar where men are forbidden from approaching women - would you visit?

A new bar opened up last week in the Australian capital of Canberra, with a rather unusual set of house rules.

The Maple Bar demands its clientele dress in semi-formal clothes - jacket, ties and smart shoes for men, elegant cocktail dresses and 'dressy separates' for women - but the rules on behaviour are even more proscriptive than the dress code.

Any men visiting the bar are officially banned from approaching women.

A set of house rules, printed on the flyer for the bar's opening night, reads: "Gentlemen, don't approach ladies; and if you are so lucky to have one approach you, treat you as you would your mother.

"No hooting, no hollering. Be polite and approachable, but let the lady advance to you if she chooses."

Bar owner Mike Kadinski told the Daily Mail he got the idea for the bar after visiting another venue in Sydney with similar rules in place.

"It's not a way to discourage men to approach ladies," he said.

"If there was an honest gentleman who approached a woman and asked to buy her a drink and she looked comfortable, none of the bar staff would have a problem with that."

The rules have met with a warm response on social media. One woman commented on the bar's Facebook page to say: "I would love this so we can have a classy girls night out without being hassled by sleazy dudes."

Another said: "Thank God. Now we don't have to bring tree branches to bat away all the boys that come near us."

However, male commenters have been less enthusiastic. "Good luck making any money," said one unimpressed Jeremiah. "I'm sure all the woman there will buy their own drinks after they get free entry on ladies night."

Another remarked: "Get off your pedestal. Guys and girls get along just fine without feminism ruining the world like Hitler!"