Campaign to save popular London LGBTQ+ venue raises thousands in 24 hours

A fundraiser aimed at preventing the closure of Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club (BGWMC) has successfully gathered over £4,000 within just 24 hours.

This LGBTQ+ venue in East London has faced threats since receiving a two-month eviction notice last June. Although that eviction was successfully contested, the risk of closure persists, prompting organisers to attempt a community purchase of the property to save it.

According to ‘MSN’, on Tuesday, February 25, a fundraiser was initiated to support the campaign’s next phase. It aims to raise £12,000 over the next six weeks. According to organisers, these funds will be used to finance a planning proposal intended to “persuade Tower Hamlets Council to save the club.”

The campaign group Friends of Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club, made up of local residents, performers, programmers, and trade union members, plans to use the funds for tasks such as a chartered valuation of the building, creating a strong business plan, and financial forecasting to strengthen their purchasing bid.

The group is advocating for either Tower Hamlets to buy the club and lease it back to them or to allow Friends of Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club to make the purchase directly.

In July, over 100 campaigners participated in a rally to support the club, and approximately 13,000 individuals signed a petition against the venue’s closure.

Describing the potential closure as an absolute tragedy, London Assembly member Elly Baker stated: “For the LGBT+ community, too many venues have been lost and we’re watching London becoming homogenised and sanitised, and made expensive and exclusive for performers, and just for Londoners, and that’s not what London should be.”

Nick Keegan, a variety organiser for the performing arts trade union Equity, which initiated the petition to keep the club open, characterised the club as a “crucial and irreplaceable fixture of London’s cultural heritage,” stressing the importance of preserving it.

“A community purchase on this scale will be no small task,” Keegan acknowledged. “We are trying to be realistic about this. We believe a partnership between the community of BGWMC and Tower Hamlets Council does have the ability to achieve this.

“We believe it is essential to save this unique cultural facility and give it a chance to continue serving the local community, the LGBTQ+ community and the wider cultural tapestry of London for future generations.”