Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club: Inside the fight to save historic queer-friendly venue from closure

Update November 20, 2024: In August, erstwhile El Hunt wrote the portion connected this page, Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club looked similar it was facing astir definite closure. But, arsenic Hunt reported, locals and nine devotees were doing their champion to prevention it. Such efforts are ongoing, and according to the @savebgwmc Instagram relationship — which is helping thrust the run — BGWMC remains nether threat. “The sellers are inactive attempting to halt events and their volition is to merchantability the club. Therefore we inactive person a combat connected our hands and we precise overmuch request your ongoing support,” a station reads.

But, aft months of performers being retired of work, nine events person yet begun again. On Saturday November 16, the archetypal lawsuit since the August closure took spot (”Party Like It’s Y2K!”). Now, connected Saturday November 23, a time of enactment is being held astatine the nine — a enactment of sorts, but 1 with the volition of upping support, and expanding the fig of signatures connected the unfastened missive to Tower Hamlets’ council, successful a bid to unit councillors to statement the club’s future. More accusation tin beryllium recovered @savebgwmc.

El Hunt’s archetypal study is below.

It’s a Monday day and much than 100 protesters person gathered successful beforehand of Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club to combat the seemingly imminent closure of the iconic queer-friendly venue.

ShayShay, co-founder of the pan-Asian cabaret corporate The Bitten Peach, was passionate astir the request to support the site. “Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club saves lives, and it’s up to america to prevention Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club,” they told the crowd. The rally was organised by the performing arts union Equity.

Though it isn’t an exclusively queer venue and has hosted names from Jarvis Cocker to Liam Gallagher, Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club is best-known for hosting immoderate of the city’s astir originative and breathtaking drag shows and has agelong been a important portion of London’s LGBTQ+ nightlife scene. Throwing shapes successful beforehand of the light-up bosom that occupies its reddish velvet-draped stage, and jostling for abstraction successful the venue’s infamously cosy smoking country are rites of transition for immoderate attendee. Is the superior truly going to suffer this venue for good? 

“There was this benignant of bombshell quality 2 weeks ago, wherever we recovered retired that the committee of Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club wanted to adjacent it arsenic a show abstraction successful the abbreviated word and that the semipermanent aboriginal of the building, and the space, and the site, is insecure,” Equity wide caput Paul W Fleming told maine astatine the rally. “We fundamentally mobilised truly quickly.”

Equity claims that the club’s events programming squad has besides been threatened with eviction. Warren Dent and Charlotte West-Williams person led overmuch of the programming for the past 21 years, striking up a “harmonious and mutually beneficial arrangement” to assistance marque the venue profitable again erstwhile moving costs soared.

They were incapable to remark connected the existent concern astatine the gathering but said that caller developments person been “heartbreaking”. Dent and West-Williams added that they stay committed to the community. “If the lights are dimmed and we are forced to determination onto ventures oregon venues new, retrieve — our iconic bosom comes with us, and location is wherever the bosom is,” the brace said.

When the Standard approached the venue for comment, a spokesperson declined to contented a nationalist connection arsenic its members are successful ineligible proceedings.

“Venues similar this are perfectly captious for the full of London,” said London Assembly Member Elly Baker. “I don’t cognize whether radical recognize however important immoderate of the smaller venues are; you don’t get everything other if you don’t person the smaller venues that radical tin travel to, and consciousness harmless in, and messiness up in, erstwhile they’re performers [early successful their careers]”.

After learning that the aboriginal of the venue was uncertain, Equity acceptable up a petition to prevention the nine and much than 12,000 radical person signed it truthful far.

Since the rally, Equity and different campaigners person made immense progress, successfully warring to person Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club designated arsenic an Asset of Community Value by Tower Hamlets Council.

This caller extortion means the section assemblage volition beryllium fixed the accidental to bargain the venue, and the recently formed cooperative Friends of Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club has six months to fundraise for a bid. According to Equity, the venue’s owners are unfastened to the thought of assemblage ownership. Over the coming weeks, the radical volition reportedly motorboat a run to bargain the nine arsenic a assemblage plus successful shared ownership, and is “working towards mounting up a assemblage shares strategy that volition let everyone to put and person an adjacent accidental implicit the aboriginal of the club”.

BGWMC is simply a pillar of London’s nightlife ecosystem and an important portion of the queer and section community

Nick Keegan

“The determination to support Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club arsenic an Asset of Community Value is fantastic quality and a important measurement towards redeeming the club,” Equity assortment organiser Nick Keegan said. “The London Borough of Tower Hamlets has rightly recognised BGWMC for what it is — a pillar of London’s nightlife ecosystem, a captious workplace for Equity members, and an important portion of the queer and section community.”

However, raising the indispensable funds volition beryllium a “mammoth task”, Keegan cautioned. “The roots of [Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club] are truly beautiful, due to the fact that evidently its origins are arsenic a moving men’s club,” says Vanilla Parker Balls, resistance queen, performer and big of Top of the Slops. The UK’s archetypal paid resistance contention regularly takes spot astatine the venue and acts arsenic a level for emerging performers. “It’s ever been astir equity, and being a abstraction which transcends people barriers and radical being capable to entree performance.”

“It has fundamentally been a touchstone for me, my full resistance career,” says the Canadian-British resistance queen Crystal. The performer archetypal visited Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club successful 2010, attending an aboriginal iteration of the hugely influential queer nine nighttime Sink the Pink. “I conscionable retrieve however chaotic and breathtaking a spot it seemed.”

Long earlier rising to fame connected Ru Paul’s Drag Race UK, Crystal chopped her teeth astatine the nine hosting Mariah and Friendz. Now renamed Mimi’s, the “anarchic nine night” took spot determination regularly for six years. “I did Break Free by Ariana Grande portion dressed arsenic The Little Mermaid — it was a gag astir Mariah Carey being Ursula, and stealing her voice,” Crystal says, of her archetypal show there. “My process came off, and I had legs. Very early-days drag.”

“Spaces similar Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club truly person the imaginable to prevention lives,” says ShayShay. “Especially young queer and trans people, oregon gender-questioning people. The imaginable to enrich and prevention queer lives should person nary price. It should beryllium worthy millions and millions and billions of pounds, particularly arsenic the Government continues to portion distant rights for the marginalised trans and queer youth.”

The nonaccomplishment of a abstraction specified arsenic Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club, ShayShay adds, would beryllium catastrophic for London’s resistance community. “The short-term nonaccomplishment of income for performers who enactment determination regularly is massive. Beyond that, determination are truthful galore up-and-coming artists whose archetypal performances are apt to beryllium astatine Working Men’s. The programming determination is truthful divers successful allowing still-emerging and caller performers spaces to effort retired those aboriginal performances successful a supportive atmosphere.”

Crystal adds: “As idiosyncratic who’s lived successful London for 15 years, I’ve gotten utilized to the thought that each of our spaces are perpetually nether threat. I truly anticipation that there’s a mode through. I deliberation [Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club] is specified a captious hub, and these spaces truly request to beryllium successful London.

“I can’t deliberation of thing that’s going to outpouring up to instrumentality its spot if it closes, and that’s what truly worries me. I’m good for beingness to happen, and things to evolve; immoderate things to die, and caller things to grow. But with the mode that London exists close now, thing caller tin turn successful the middle, due to the fact that it’s truthful expensive. It gets pushed further to the fringes, and that conscionable makes maine truly sad.”

The Friends of Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club volition stock further updates successful the coming weeks astir however Londoners tin get progressive with the efforts to bring the venue into assemblage ownership.

All volition beryllium hoping the assemblage rallies astir 1 of eastbound London’s astir important taste spaces to unafraid its imperishable future. And these latest developments mean there’s a glimmer of anticipation that the venue tin unrecorded on.