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The UCL report notes that LGBT venues accommodate “a range of important welfare, wellbeing and community functions”. Between 20, the capital lost half its nightclubs and more than 40% of its music venues, as luxury hotels and housing won out against cultural spaces in multiple cases.īut for the LGBT community, nightlife venues hold even greater significance due to the lack of dedicated daytime spaces – one of London’s few spaces, First Out Cafe, closed in 2011. LGBT nightlife spaces are by no means alone in facing the mounting pressure of London’s speculative property development. This, along with many other events around the country this year, marks the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality through the 1967 Sexual Offences Act. The once-clandestine Caravan Club – a groundbreaking 1930s LGBT venue in Soho – was recreated last month for the National Trust and National Archives Queer City project exploring the history of queer life in London. Losing queer spaces in London is nothing new – although these days it no longer comes down to social oppression. For 400 years its been the gloriously seedy underbelly of London, where some of the most interesting subculture has thrived, and yet in the last 10 years Westminster council seems hellbent to destroy that, to gut its character completely and turn everything into high end retail.”įirst Out Cafe Bar near Tottenham Court Road closed in 2011. “ closure plays to the weird gentrification that’s happened in Soho over the past 10 years. “Jojo’s brought together gay culture and burlesque culture with mainstream music and club nights,” he said. Speaking to the Guardian at the time, Alexander Parsonage, the artistic director of a cabaret group that regularly performed at Madame Jojo’s, lamented its loss. A vigil-style march (forming part of the wider Save Soho campaign) asked for the venue to be saved, and a petition to stop the closure attracted thousands of signatures. The LGBT community is still fighting for the reopening of the Black Cap, with regular protests and dedicated campaigning work by the Black Cap Foundation.Ī similar response met the news in 2014 that renowned Soho cabaret venue Madame Jojo’s would close. In 2015, the Black Cap pub in Camden closed just a week after being awarded asset of community value status, with Camden council having stated that the venue “plays the role of a community centre for the local LGBT people in the absence of such a dedicated facility”. When popular venues The Joiner’s Arms, Nelson’s Head and George & Dragon all shut their doors within two years of each other between 20, a whole swathe of LGBT spaces were lost along the Hackney Road, with Shoreditch’s gentrification reaching a saddening new high. Photograph: Frantzesco Kangaris for The Guardian Protesters outside the former Joiner’s Arms in 2015 campaign against the closure of LGBT bars in London. These kind of spaces are now few and far between. This old-school boozer was one of the first venues to offer an alternative to the clubbing scene as a place for the community to meet and socialise. Last month, much-loved Soho venue Molly Moggs closed without warning – and the reasons are still unclear. This includes key venues such as Madame Jojo’s, the Black Cap, The Joiner’s Arms, Barcode Soho, Kazbar, the Queen’s Head, Candy Bar, the Oak Bar and Green Carnation – many suffering the impact of rent hikes and rampant development.
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Between 20, London lost half its nightclubs According to one LGBT website, 151 gay bars and clubs in London shut between 20, and Attitude magazine editor Cliff Joannou told the Guardian he believes that a third of the capital’s LBGT venues have closed since the recession. Last November, University College London published a report looking at LGBTI nightlife in London since 1986, which highlighted an intensity of closures of long-standing venues in the capital. “There’s no conspiracy theory, but I’d say most of these closures have been down to rent increases and development.” Still, some call it part of a broader programme of the “ sweeping sterilisation of London nightlife”. “There’s been a lot of press about the closing of LGBT venues all over London,” explains Wayne Shires, the man behind Bloc South.