Good morning. In case you haven’t noticed from all the rainbow flags that businesses have been draping their shops and logos with, it is Pride month. But as we celebrate lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and other queer people on the 55th anniversary of the Stonewall riots at the LGBTQ+ bar in New York, just how healthy are today’s queer venues?
On Sunday, the arches near Embankment tube station will be shaking to the beat of Lana Del Rave for the closing party of Pride in London weekend at Heaven nightclub. The club – equally loved and hated by different parts of the queer community – has been an almost inescapable part of LGBTQ+ life since it opened in December 1979, but its owner has warned that this could be its last Pride party as it is facing a £320,000 increase in its annual rent.
