Hundreds protest ‘tragic’ closure of LGBTQ+ venue

Over a hundred performers and community members attended a protest in East London on Monday (July 29) to save Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club (BGWMC) in East London.

The LGBTQ+ performance space is at risk of closure after its owners revealed plans to sell the club "as soon as possible" and asked the venue's programming team to vacate the premises.

The performers' union Equity, which organised the rally, said that after consulting with lawyers, the programming team has decided to "resist". Equity is in "constructive dialogue" with the building's owners and is seeking assurances that any sale will guarantee its continuation as an LGBTQ+ performance space.

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The union is also asking for a guarantee that local performers and audience members will be given the opportunity to fundraise and buy the venue in shared ownership. 

"We hope that the programming team can resist this eviction and give everyone more time to negotiate a good outcome. For Equity, any outcome must ensure that LGBTQ+ performance can resume at the club at the earliest opportunity," said Equity

"BGWMC is a vital source of work for Equity members, and many people rely on this space to earn a living."

'Slashed and burned'

Speaking at the rally, Paul Fleming, Equity General Secretary, said: “Our members in every area of art – whether it be the English National Opera going in and out of schools in East London, having that programme slashed and burned, whether it be theatre spaces, places that are closed because of a government austerity programme that’s gone on for over 20 years in the arts, or whether it be independent queer spaces that allow our members to work and earn their living doing a performance art that progresses a narrative, that is our members under attack."

Calling the potential closure "an absolute tragedy", London Assembly member Elly Baker said: “For the LGBT+ community, as has been said, too many venues have been lost, and we’re watching London becoming homogenised and sanitised and made expensive and exclusive for performers and just for Londoners, and that’s not what London should be.

"So if we continue to lose small venues, then we’re going to hollow out the ecosystem of our nightlife and arts system, and it will crumble. And we won’t have the places to support what people say London is good for and trade on, and make money from. And frankly, it will be a lot more boring for it as well.”