Campaigners' new plan to save ‘vital’ gay pub
The pub’s shock closure on 12 April 2015 drew heated protests from staff, locals and prominent members for the LGBTQ+ community alike, who gathered outside the pub to voice their anger.
Details of the revised plan have not been revealed yet, but will be given to the local council once finalised at the end of this month (February).
Black Cap Foundation education and opinion director Aoife O'Sullivan described her experiences of the pub and how the closure affected her.
She said: "The closure of the Black Cap robbed my friends and me of our Camden hangout and home.
"Whole days and nights whiled away on the packed terrace or spent squeezed by the stage below."
Vital venue's continued closure
She added: "Cabaret, culture and community thrived inside its walls – it was a place for a pint, a dance, a laugh or a snog.
"No one is being served as a result of this vital venue's continued closure."
Black Cap Foundation communications director Alex Green claimed the pub’s owners, Faucet Inn, is also looking to purchase the Royal Vauxhall Tavern in Lambeth, south London.
He added: "They now own one pub with multiple locks on its use through its asset of community value (ACV) status and its sui generis special status business listing in favour of the LGBTQ+ community.
"This week the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, which they are rumoured to be trying to also acquire, also has an ACV and an additional Grade II Heritage England listing was awarded a similar mixed use (sui generis) status."
Working with the LGBTQ+ community
He urged the pub's owners to work with the LGBTQ+ community due to its "decades of history of frequenting these legendary venues".
The Morning Advertiser contacted Steve Cox from Faucet Inn but he did not respond.
Plans to reopen the pub in July last year stalled after former lease owners Ruth & Robinson claimed the building was likely to remain empty for the foreseeable future.
Ruth & Robinson had been battling campaigners since February over its plans due to concern about it remaining an LGBT venue.
The Royal Vauxhall Tavern was granted a sui generis classification earlier this month (February) to protect it against development.
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