London’s LGBTQIA+ community was in shock after the sudden announcement of the closure of Above The Stage last Sunday. The venue (theatre, cabaret lounge and bar) has been an essential and much loved creative queer space for our community.
“Our beloved LGBTQI+ venues are at the heart of life in the capital, entertaining and welcoming the community, and also employing thousands of Londoners. We’ve been working hard to protect venues, which suffered the impact of the pandemic restrictions, as well as ongoing issues of insecure leases, staff shortages and the spiralling cost of doing business. I was hugely concerned that Above The Stag theatre and bar suddenly closed over the weekend and have been in touch to offer our full support.”
QX reached out to City Hall, to ask what advice they could give to venues that were struggling to survive in this harsh climate. Their press office responded promptly, and they told QX,
“We have not had any contact from Above The Stag about this previously. We continue to encourage venues concerned about their futures to contact our Culture and Community Spaces at Risk team, which has helped more than 800 cultural spaces at risk of closure since March 2021. This help ranges from support in negotiations with landlords, to finding alternative venues or accessing funding. For example we’ve supported the Joiners Arms to secure a space in a new development alongside a temporary home while it’s being built, and QUEERCIRCLE was supported by negotiations to secure an affordable five-year lease at the Design District in North Greenwich. Since becoming Mayor, Sadiq has also introduced the most pro-nightlife London Plan the capital has ever seen and created the LGBTQI+ Venues Charter and London’s first LGBTQI+ Venues and Promoters Forum which offers support and guidance to venue operators. During the height of the pandemic restrictions, the Mayor created a Culture at Risk Business Support Fund, of which £225,000 was allocated to specifically support LGBTQI+ venues.”
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