ALP.ha AFTER DARK · from ALP.ha JOURNAL
Where London's LGBTQ+ venues went
Twenty years of the Greater London Authority's venue tracker on one map. Press play to watch it unfold, drag the timeline to any year, or tap a venue to see when it opened and closed. The heat shows where venues were open that year; pink rings mark places that have closed. How this map was made.
About this map
What it shows
Every LGBTQ+ pub, bar, club and cabaret venue in the Greater London Authority's venue tracker, mapped for each audit year from 2006 to 2024. The final 2026 step is our own update: the 2024 audit plus the openings and closures we have verified since, from press and venue sources.
Where the data comes from
The GLA LGBTQ+ venues master tracker (2006–2024), released under Freedom of Information in April 2025. It grew out of UCL Urban Laboratory's 2017 study and the Mayor's commitment to an annual audit. We have found no published update since 2024.
How we count
The GLA defines LGBTQ+ night-time venues as spaces that operate primarily for LGBTQ+ customers or with primarily LGBTQ+ programming at night. That is why the tracker includes a bookshop with an events programme as well as bars and clubs, and why we have added a cinema bar and a comedy club. A venue counts as open in a year if the tracker records it in that year's audit. Audits ran every year to 2019, then in 2022 and 2024 only; the timeline steps across the gaps rather than estimating them.
Our totals come straight from the tracker, which includes a few host venues, a bookshop and a theatre. They run higher than the GLA's published headlines: 59 against 51 in 2019.
The openings and closures lists compare each audit with the one before, so the 2017 list shows changes between the 2016 and 2017 audits. After a gap in audits, a list covers several years. A venue listed as closed may have shut at any point in that interval. The large fall in 2007 is partly a baseline effect: the 2006 list includes venues recorded in that year only.
"West End and Vauxhall" is our own boundary: roughly Vauxhall north to King's Cross, and Hyde Park east to Blackfriars. Locations are placed by postcode and are approximate; venues sharing a postcode are nudged apart so each can be seen.
Corrections we have made
| Venue | Change | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| London Astoria | Open 2006–2008 (tracker showed open to 2016) | Closed 15 January 2009 and demolished for Crossrail |
| Busby's | Renamed "Busby's (later LA2 / Astoria 2)"; dates unchanged | Basement club in the Astoria building, home of Bang! from 1976; closed with the Astoria |
| The Arches, The Black Cap, The Box, Charlie's, The Edge, Kazbar, The King's Head, Reflex, Star and Garter | Each missing from one audit only; treated as open that year | Recorded open in the audits either side |
| Phoenix Arts Club | Postcode WB2H corrected to WC2H | Typing error in the tracker |
Our 2025–26 update
Six openings and four closures since the 2024 audit, taking the count from 63 to 65.
| Venue | Change | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Betty & Joan's and The Queer Comedy Club, Elephant Park | Opened December 2024 | Southwark News |
| The Arzner, Bermondsey Square | Opened February 2025 | Londonist |
| The Black Cap, Camden | Reopened March 2026 | Time Out |
| Coven: Headquarters, Old Compton Street | Opened June 2026 on the former G-A-Y Bar site | Time Out |
| The Nellie, Elephant Park | Opened July 2026 | Attitude |
| The Joiner's Heart, Hackney | Opened August 2026 | London on the Inside |
| Village 512, Dalston | Closed November 2024; site now Om, a music-led club with no LGBTQ+ identity we could find | Time Out, CAMRA |
| G-A-Y Bar, Soho | Closed October 2025 | Time Out |
| The Karaoke Hole, Dalston | Closed January 2026 | Time Out |
| CIRCA Soho | Closure announced July 2026; final date not given | Attitude |
Two further venues are shown as "coming soon" and not counted: Dorothy's in Camberwell and the LGBTQ+ space at Bankside Yards on the former XXL site.
Tap any venue on the map to see its note where one applies.
Protected sites
Gold rings mark sites with formal protection, shown from the year it was granted. Protection keeps the use or the building; it does not supply an operator.
| Site | Protection | Outcome so far |
|---|---|---|
| Royal Vauxhall Tavern | Asset of Community Value 2014; Grade II listed 2015, the first UK listing for LGBTQ+ heritage | Open |
| The Black Cap, Camden | Asset of Community Value 2015 | Closed 2015; reopened March 2026 after an 11-year campaign |
| Joiners Arms site, Hackney Road | Asset of Community Value 2015; 2017 planning condition for a late-licence LGBTQ+ venue on a 25-year lease | Still vacant. No pub operator came forward when marketed in 2024; January 2026 application for a temporary LGBTQ+ community space |
| Bankside Yards (former XXL) | Agreement with the developer after 2019 closure; £1.5m council funding for fit-out | First promised for 2022; now due 2026, no opening date found |
This list covers protections we have verified. Other LGBTQ+ venues may hold Asset of Community Value status; each borough keeps its own register.
Known issues not yet resolved
- Our 2025–26 update relies on press coverage. Openings are widely reported; small closures often are not, so the update may overstate the recovery.
- The Old Ship is absent from the 2017–2019 audits and returns in 2022. Left as recorded.
Data and reuse
Source data: Greater London Authority, LGBTQ+ venues master tracker 2006–2024, FOI reference MGLA310325-3026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Our corrections and 2025–26 update are our own; please credit ALP Collective if you reuse them.
Know a venue we've missed, or spotted an error? Tell us.
What is not included
Gyms, sports groups and recurring nights without a venue of their own are outside the tracker's scope. A few are shown as an optional layer for illustration and are never added to the counts.
ALP.ha AFTER DARK is part of ALP Collective. Last updated September 2026.