Queer campaigners have launched a £100,000 fundraising drive to open the UK’s first community-run LGBTQI+ bar after a property developer stalled on its promise to fund a venue in the wake of the closure of the famous Joiners Arms.
The Friends of the Joiners Arms campaign group launched a crowdfunding initiative on Friday, selling shares in the proposed new bar and community venue for as little as £25 in a “fightback” against the number of queer venues lost to property development.
The drive comes more than seven years after developer Regal London bought and closed the Joiners Arms, a LGBTQI+ institution in Tower Hamlets, east London. The bar counted a host of famous names among its regulars, including Alexander McQueen, Rufus Wainwright and Sir Ian McKellen.
The developer had promised to pay £100,000 to fund a “pop-up LGBT+ bar” to give Londoners an inclusive place to meet during the demolition and redevelopment of the Joiners. However, it has failed to provide the money because work on a planned hotel at the site has been delayed by the pandemic.
Amy Roberts, chair of Friends of the Joiners Arms, said: “London has lost so many of its LGBTQI+ spaces to property developers and rising rents, and we’ve been fighting back against this. It’s taken eight long years, but the strength of our community won through. We are so proud to be opening a new queer space, in memory of the Joiners Arms, and are so grateful to the community for all the support we’ve had so far on our long journey.”
By Friday evening, the campaign had already raised almost £14,000. But Roberts said the bar would not be able to open if the fundraising drive fell short of the £100,000 target.
“So we’re asking people to invest just £25 – although we’ll take more if you have it,” she said. “For those that can’t afford it, we’re offering a ‘pay it forward’ scheme too, to make sure that as many people as possible have a say in how this new queer space will be run.”
Roberts said the campaign had received funding and support from the Foundation for Future London, Co-ops UK and social investment business the Reach Fund.
Campaigners are working with the Greater London Authority’s culture and community spaces at risk team to secure a site for the new venue for at least five years. It is hoped that the space, which will host regular drop-in events for housing advice, HIV/Aids testing and health outreach, will open by the end of the year.
Steve Harrington, planning director at Regal London, said: “We are really disappointed not to have been able to progress with restoring this iconic LGBTQI+ venue at pace.
“The challenges of the last two years have had a catastrophic impact across the breadth of the hospitality sector and, as a consequence, the hotel operator that we had anticipated taking the lease fell away. We are working hard to find another partner so that we can progress the development.
“We would like to continue to work closely with the Friends of the Joiners Arms on their plans for the future. Our relationships with our neighbours and community groups are key, and we’ll do what we can to support this important space to be created.”
