Owner of the G-A-Y and Heaven venues in London, Jeremy Joseph, has announced that Soho’s G-A-Y Late nightclub will close next month. He cited post-COVID pressures, nearby building works, and safety concerns for both staff and customers as reasons why he has reached the conclusion that it is “too disheartening to continue”.
“Coming back after COVID, I knew G-A-Y Late would be the biggest challenge and it has been continuously so difficult to carry on operating”, writes Joseph in a statement.
“We have been surrounded by building works; Crossrail finished and then the build works of the offices above started. We always knew it would be a challenge but, with the works due to last for another year, I just found it too disheartening to continue. It has become an impossibility to run a venue under a full restructure, honestly we tried, but it is a losing battle”.
He added that there have been a number of attacks on customers and staff coming to and from the venue late at night and “despite so many attempts to get police to visit and support G-A-Y Late, there are no regular checks on the venue”.
Despite the closure, all the venue’s staff will be redeployed to Heaven and the nearby G-A-Y Bar. The capacity of Heaven is also set to be increased and the venue is to be made wheelchair accessible for the first time, following planning approval from Westminster Council.
In a statement about the closure of G-A-Y Late, the Night Time Industries Association says: “As we mourn the loss of G-A-Y Late, it is a call to action for policymakers, communities and industry stakeholders to collaborate on initiatives that safeguard the future of nightlife establishments. [NTIA CEO] Michael Kill urges a united front to address the challenges faced by businesses in the sector, emphasising the integral role they play in the cultural fabric of the UK”.
G-A-Y Late will close for the final time on 10 Dec.
Read Jeremy Joseph’s full statement here:
It is with great sadness that I've made the decision to close G-A-Y Late on Sunday 10 Dec. I know this will come as a shock to a lot of people and many loyal customers will feel saddened by this news. But the last few years have been extremely difficult, and when you read this, you will hopefully understand that even profit-making venues are at risk of closure caused by external pressures.
I made a decision during COVID to see how I felt about carrying on with G-A-Y when the lockdowns were over and I decided to continue. I created G-A-Y Foundation to give me a purpose and on a day-to-day basis I worked at rediscovering the happiness in what I do in running venues.
Coming back after COVID, I knew G-A-Y Late would be the biggest challenge and it has been continuously so difficult to carry on operating. We have been surrounded by building works; Crossrail finished and then the build works of the offices above started.
We always knew it would be a challenge but, with the works due to last for another year, I just found it too disheartening to continue. It has become an impossibility to run a venue under a full restructure, honestly we tried, but it is a losing battle.
In addition to the building works, with the development of the St Giles and Denmark Street area, there is now the extra challenge of Goslett Yard being more frequently used by the public for parking which has meant that our entrance, fire exit and queue are often blocked.
There are also increased street safety issues. G-A-Y Late is a destination venue and that comes with its own street safety issues. As a result of sometimes being the only venue open late at night in the surrounding area it has led to customers and staff being attacked on their way to and from the venue. Despite so many attempts to get police to visit and support G-A-Y Late, there are no regular checks on the venue.
Police are seriously understaffed, the fact is there are not enough police protecting Westminster and when you are a standalone venue it's impossible to guarantee customer and staff safety once they leave the premises. Crime continues to be one of the biggest issues for LGBT venues, but even harder when you are a venue with no other venues around you.
I have done everything I can to try to fight on and keep G-A-Y Late going, at a great cost to my own mental health, but it is simply not possible to run G-A-Y Late in its current location and it's starting to take too much of a toll on me personally.
It's not all negative though, G-A-Y Late is not going to be forgotten. Firstly, no staff will be affected by the closure and they will all be deployed to G-A-Y Bar and Heaven, so all jobs are safe. For those who loved G-A-Y Late, my goal is to re-create an updated version of G-A-Y Late in Heaven's DP and Stage Bar and to have more nights at Heaven, starting with a new LGBT RnB night on Wednesdays.
The biggest positives are that we put in an application to increase Heaven's capacity and found a way to make Heaven wheelchair accessible.
Some of you might have noticed I've knocked down a wall at Heaven to prepare for this increase in capacity and to create wheelchair access, I can confirm the WCC have approved our application, so whilst we are losing a venue, Heaven now has increased capacity and works will begin to make it wheelchair accessible. I would like to thank WCC for working with us to help make this happen.
G-A-Y Bar remains open seven days a week, but will now be open till 1am.
I want to thank all the customers who have supported G-A-Y Late and to all the staff who have made it one of the most successful LGBT venues in the UK. This is something I'm very proud of and something that can never be taken away from G-A-Y.