London bar G-A-Y goes on sale
The owner of London bar G-A-Y has put the venue up for sale, claiming Soho has “lost its vibrancy” and “queer identity”.
In an Instagram post, Jeremy Joseph announced he had made the “tough decision” to sell the LGBTQ+ venue in Soho’s Old Compton Street.
The announcement comes just over a year after sister venue, G-A-Y Late, in London’s West End closed in December 2023 over fears for staff safety. Manchester’s Canal Street is also home to a G-A-Y bar, which Joseph sold in 2021.
Joseph, who also owns London nightclub Heaven in Chairing Cross, said in the post: “This isn’t an easy decision, to me this is more than just a bar. It’s also my home, I’ve lived above it for over 15 years, but it’s now time to make some changes.”
Heaven was forced to shut in November after it was alleged a woman had been raped by a bouncer near the club. It was allowed to reopen last month under stricter conditions.
Joseph said the temporary closure of Heaven while its licence was under review had put G-A-Y Bar “at risk financially”.
“Even now after Heaven’s reopening, the damage financially and mentally has been irreparable,” he continued.
Joseph believes Soho has “lost its vibrancy” and he ultimately decided against extending the bar’s licence until 3am as he believes it would be challenged by the police and The Soho Society, a community association.
He continued: “It’s a constant uphill battle and another fight in the face of a cost-of-living crisis which has negatively impacted nearly all of the hospitality sector. It doesn’t feel like anyone with power cares about hospitality and it definitely doesn’t feel like they care about LGBT venues.”
Soho no longer ‘LGBT capital’
Joseph also noted the demise of Soho as an “LGBT capital” and the loss of Old Compton Street’s “queer identity”.
“When I started G-A-Y it was always about having a venue on Old Compton Street and Canal Street, being on the gayest streets in the gayest capitals. But it’s not like that anymore,” he wrote.
Joseph said he was hopeful G-A-Y Bar would remain an LGBTQ+ venue and he had also considered a franchising option to maintain the site, but he believed it would not happen “in the current climate”.
“Old Compton Street is not the same anymore, it has a new identity,” he noted, highlighting the area’s many restaurants, cafés and takeaways.
G-A-Y is not the only bar to shut in Soho in recent years. In 2020, members’ bar Milk & Honey closed after 18 years of service.
Last month, Westminster City Council reinstated the licence of The Groucho Club private members’ club in Soho after it was forced to shut following a “serious crime”.
The UK capital’s nightlife is in disarray with clubs and bars shutting down, and consumers going home early. In the September 2024 issue of The Spirits Business, we looked at what can be done to reinvigorate the city when night falls.
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