The bar was put up for sale by owner Jeremy Joseph in January this year
One of London’s most iconic LGBTQ+ bars, G-A-Y Bar, is shutting for good this weekend, after Jeremy Joseph put the bar up for sale at the beginning of the year, following issues at Joseph’s other venue Heaven. The Charing Cross club was temporarily closed at the end of last year following allegations that a member of staff raped a woman. The venue re-opened with stricter operating conditions and the staff member was found not guilty, but the temporary closure while under review put G-A-Y Bar “at risk financially”, and he made the decision to put the bar up for sale.
Writing in a statement on Instagram, Joseph said that “When I opened G-A-Y Bar, it was to be one of the safest and most proudly LGBT streets – a place where you could be who you are and feel safe. For me, Old Compton Street has lost that LGBT identity.” Though he’s spoken previously about the increasingly difficult operating conditions that venue owners are facing, he also thanked landlord Soho Estates, who allowed the bar to be rent free while it was closed during the pandemic.
The G-A-Y Bar closure follows the shuttering of sister bar G-A-Y Late in in 2023, which happened for a number of reasons, including the impact of Crossrail building works and the development of St Giles and Denmark Street, which blocked the bar’s entrance, fire exit and queue area; safety concerns with customers and staff being attacked on their way to and from the club; and lack of support from the police due to understaffing.
Now Joseph has said his focus will be on Heaven, after having a rent review arbitration result going in its favour. In February 2024, landlord Arch Company had wanted to increase the rent by £240,000, in addition to an automatic £80,000 increase, but now there’ll be a rental increase that’s “nowhere near what ArchCo wanted” and is “doable”. Joseph said, “I hope to continue making Heaven a second home for so many LGBTQ+ people”.
The loss of G-A-Y Bar is another blow to London’s LGBTQ+ scene, which has lost 61% of its venues in the last decade.
