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The gay scene

LGBTQI nightlife spaces in London

This fascinating and inciteful research project focuses on nightlife spaces important to London’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex (LGBTQI) communities since 1986.

The project uses surveys and archival study to map the breadth and diversity of the LGBTQI scene, gathering additional data from community members, venue managers, event promoters and performers through surveys, workshops and interviews.

The research highlights the diversity of the capital’s LGBTQI nightlife, as an important contributor to neighborhoods and the wider night-time and cultural economy. Through survey and interview data it also shows the importance of these spaces to community life, welfare and wellbeing.

"In July 2017, we released our full report from the project, which showed that the number of LGBTQI venues in London has fallen by 58% from 125 to 53 since 2006. Reasons given for this fall include the negative impacts of large-scale developments on venue clusters, a lack of implementation of safeguarding measures in the existing planning system and the sale and change of use of property by landlords whereby venue owners, operators and clients have severely limited negotiating power compared with large organisations.

The Mayor of London has supported this work as part of the development of a Cultural Infrastructure Plan. This is a manifesto commitment by the Mayor and will be published in 2018. The Plan will identify what London needs to sustain and develop culture up to 2030. The collection of quantitative data on venues openings and closures will be reflected within this as part of the capital’s cultural infrastructure. In making this commission, the Greater London Authority (GLA) note the ‘significant work’ published in our interim report."

LGBTQI nightlife spaces in London | UCL Urban Laboratory
UCL Urban Laboratory is a crossdisciplinary centre for critical and creative urban thinking, teaching, research and practice, based at University College London.

Raze Collective | Raze Collective
The Raze Collective is a new charity established to support, develop and nurture queer performance in the UK, defining queer performance as "performing arts undertaken by people who identify as Lesbian, Gay Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Intersex (LGBTQI) or that contains LGBTQI themes, content or context."

Helpline, advice and victim support | MEN R US

Fundraiser for east London gay bar hits £100,000 target after surge in donations | The Guardian | 1 Aug 2022
Everything you need to know about the new London LGBTQ+ Community Centre | Time Out | 13 Jan 2022

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