Earlier this week, to take a temperature gauge of where London LGBTQ+ people stand on the matter of Pride in 2023, I spent a sunny afternoon sitting in the brilliant intersectional queer bookshop, The Common Press. Located at the Shoreditch end of Bethnal Green Road, The Common Press is more than an expertly curated outlet to buy LGBTQ+ literature. It houses podcast studios, performance space, an adjacent bar with the legend ‘Sounds Gay? I’m In!’ stencilled on to the glass windows, a vivid new entry point for Brick Lane. There are nightly community group meetings, book clubs. In 2023, there is also an alternative Pride event.
In two short years since opening, The Common Press has become a vital east London queer community resource. It looks and feels like 2020s queer culture, a space that has moved from the night-time and into the day. When I mention to one of the managers, Aisha, that I’m writing a story about the search for the soul of London Pride, she beams: ‘You’ve come to the right place.’
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