A group of Soho residents have hit back at claims from the owner of iconic G-A-Y Bar that their opposition to extending their opening hours has forced him to sell up.

They have exclusively shared with City London News their formal response to G-A-Y owner Jeremy Joseph’s allegations.

Last week, Joseph posted a statement on Instagram, announcing that he would be selling his famous Soho venue on Old Compton Street. This is the latest in a worrying trend for London’s queer nightlife.

It read:

“This isn’t an easy decision, to me this is more than just a bar, its also my home, I’ve lived above it for over 15 years, but it is now time to make some changes.”

He mentions how his troubles with his other London venue, Heaven, which is on Embankment, has had irreparable financial and mental effects on him.

Joseph also added that he “firmly believes Soho has lost his vibrancy.”

“It doesn’t feel like anyone with power cares about hospitality & it definitely doesn’t feel like they care about LGBT venues. Old Compton Street has lost its queer identity”.

Heaven nightclub in Central London

He pointed to licensing limits placed on venues such as his by Westminster Council, backed by local residents, as a key reason for this change.

“What’s the point of trying to extend G-A-Y’s license to 3am, when I know Soho Society will object.”

The Soho Society is a charity that has represented Soho residents in planning and licensing matters for roughly 50 years.

They have told City News that they feel that Mr Joseph’s statement suggests that they are in some way to blame for G-A-Y’s financial problems.

‘G-A-Y are so scared of their landlords that they never talk about the rent’

In a letter given to City London News they state:

“Respectfully, we do not agree.

The immediate cause of his financial problems was the temporary closure of his venue Heaven nightclub as a result of police and council action following the alleged rape of a woman by a security guard and numerous breaches of the club’s alcohol licence.

Heaven is not in Soho and the Soho Society were not involved in the proceedings, nor did it comment on them.”

The Soho Society’s letter also cites a UCL study that reports that only 3% of queer venue closures in London were due to licensing issues. 38% were due to the property being redeveloped and 21% due to them being converted to non-LGBT venues.

Source: “LGBTQ+ Cultural Infrastructure in London: Night Venues, 2006–present” (UCL, 2017)

The Chair of the Soho Society’s executive committee, Tim Lord, highlights the fact that any discussion of rents is conspicuously absent from Joseph’s statement.

“What’s frustrating is that [the G-A-Y team] are so scared of their landlords that they never talk about the rent, because the landlords can put the rent up every five years”, he alleges.

The rebuttal also points to this issue:

“On 22 December 2022 The Times reported:

Profits at Soho Estates, the property group founded by the late pornography baron Paul Raymond, rose six fold in its latest financial year following another increase in the value of its estate, which has topped £1.1 billion.

The group, which is controlled by Raymond’s two granddaughters, owns dozens of offices, shops and restaurants in central London. Soho spans 87 acres — Soho Estates is thought to own about 60 of them.

The recently completed Shaftesbury/Capco merger means that company now controls 40% to 50% of retail rental property in Soho according to the CMA.

“The asking rent for 30 Old Compton Street is £410,000 per annum for less than 5,000 square feet of nightclub. Heaven has also suffered from a very large rent increase.”

Mr Lord claims that when the rent goes up, venues often move away from an LGBTQ+ focus to make ends meet.

‘The next step in the gentrification of Soho’

Academic and author of The Gentrification of Queer Activism, Olimpia Burchiellaro, told City News that she agrees with The Soho Society’s belief that rent hikes are the elephant in the room.

“The reality is London has one of the most violent, unfriendly, speculative property markets in the world. Anyone who is a renter will know that it’s a nightmare.”

She adds that this is just the next step in increasingly harsh markets and rapid gentrification:

“I would go as far as saying G-A-Y contributed to Soho losing its ‘vibrancy’ compared to what it was before; a place of underground, subcultural queerness.

“A lot of people would find G-A-Y a very commercialised place, but this sale shows us that even that doesn’t work in our current economic environment.”

G-A-Y owner rejects residents’ rebuttal

When shown the letter by City News, Mr Joseph declined to respond, but his team objected to the allegation that The Soho Society had been unfairly singled out in his statement.

They say that “Jeremy mentions Soho Society objecting to licenses” but didn’t say anything else about them.

Half of London’s queer venues closed between 2006-2022

A recent City London News article revealed the worrying decline of London’s queer nightlife, which has suffered from the soaring cost of living for customers and financial pressures for venues .

Data from the Greater London Authority showed that over half of London’s queer venues closed between 2006 and 2022.

All sides who have spoken to City News for this article have expressed hope that queer spaces won’t disappear from the capital, but what form these spaces will take remains to be seen.