East London LGBTQ space under threat needs £12k in a month for 'fighting fund' to buy site
A donation page has been launched to create a 'fighting fund' to support the next stages of a campaign to save the queer-friendly venue, Bethnal Green Working Men's Club in East London. Friends of Bethnal Green Working Men's Club (FoBGWMC) have set up a fundraiser with an initial target of raising £12,000 by April 8 - at the time of writing over £10,000 has been raised.
The money raised will go towards a full chartered survey and valuation of the Grade II listed building, and will help pay for a planning bid which FoBGWMC hope will persuade Tower Hamlets Council to save the club. A Tower Hamlets Council spokesperson said its Corporate Director for Housing Regeneration has met with campaigners and is working with them to find the 'best way forward' to protect the venue.
Last summer, the owners of the building announced they were looking to sell the venue and handed the club a two-month eviction notice - which left many self-employed drag artists and cabaret acts who performed at the club struggling to make ends meet. A campaign was quickly launched and performing arts and entertainment trade union Equity created an online petition urging the owners to halt plans to close the venue. The petition was signed by over 13,000 people.
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Following a successful rally outside the venue on Pollard Row which helped to stop the eviction, the council designated the building as an Asset of Community Value (ACV). Now the building has been recognised as an ACV, the local community has the chance to submit a 'Right to Bid' if the building goes up on sale.
The building is currently owned by a group called Boro of Bethnal Green Working Men's Club. FoGWMC said despite the continued success of the club, the proceeds of the sale will be shared between 50 different individuals, which they fear could end 130 years of working-class community ownership.
FoBGWMC are also concerned that the venue could go on the market at any time, so are crowdfunding to develop their community bid as they will have six months to submit it once it goes up for sale. The group is hoping the council will either buy the club and lease it back to them, or that the council will allow FoBGWMC to buy the club themselves.
The club has since reopened and FoBGWMC member, Dan de la Motte said there are plans to host fundraising events to help support the community bid. Dan de la Motte, who is also an Equity councillor, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): "I would really encourage Bethnal Green punters, both new and old, to come to the club to show their support and show their solidarity and if they can, donate a bit of money to the campaign and to the cause.
"It's been there for decades, it's been there for generations, it's about passing on the baton of queer joy and queer fun at night to the generations that are coming through after us." He added: "This space provides a vital function, a vital service, clubs are closing at a really concerning rate and there are fewer and fewer LGBTQ+ specific night time spaces.
"Bethnal Green Working Men's Club has been there for as long as I can remember and has always been there and has always been this safe haven, this pocket of joy and resilience and strength and mischief and that's why it's so, so vital."
The FoBGWMC's has an initial fundraising target of £12,000 with an extended target of £18,000 which would cover all consultancy and accountancy costs, as well as creating a 'robust' business plan.
A spokesperson for Tower Hamlets Council said the club is an important venue for the borough's LGBTQIA+ community, particularly at a time where there is a decline in these spaces across London. They said: "This is why the council has approved an application for the Bethnal Green Working Men's Club to be an Asset of Community Value.
"We have not received notice of the owner's intention to sell the property and we are not aware of the building being marketed as 'for sale'. We have contacted the freeholder for further details and about their obligation to inform us of any intention to sell. The council's Corporate Director for Housing Regeneration has met with the campaign and we are working with them to find the best way forward to protect this important venue."
They went on to say: "The club was established in the 1950s and in planning terms its use is as a cultural venue. Such venues are protected by the policies outlined in the Tower Hamlets Local Plan and the London Plan. Consequently, any proposed changes to the property's use that require planning permission would be evaluated in accordance with these policies, which aim to preserve such venues from being lost."
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