Anyone who is an LGBT tourist and has traveled to London in recent months has noticed the lack of bars and clubs aimed at the LGBT public. Since last year, the most famous LGBT spaces have closed their doors.
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Among those that no longer exist – either because they closed or because they sold the space to developers – are First Out Café, Candy Bar, Joiner's Arms, George and Dragon, Black Cap and the Royal Vauxhall Tavern.
Many people lamented the closures and even demonstrated to try to stop them. "I started going to the Royal when I was 18 or 19, and it will always be a very special place for me. We have nights ranging from pop culture competitions to Spice Girls tour recreations. Where else could this happen?"
Faced with the commotion and losses that could put an end to the "LGBT night", which has always attracted tourists from all over the world, BBC News tried to explain what has been happening there and understand what has been happening. Check out the theories below.
THE THEORIES
One of the explanations is that many LGBT people already feel more welcomed in bars that do not necessarily need to be defined as LGBT, resulting in a significant loss in demand. "Most places seem safe to me, so I don't feel the need to classify a place as gay or straight," he says. Paul McKeating, of 33 years.
But the theory that this demand has been falling cannot be applied to all bars, since Black and Joiner's were always full before closing.
The report also says that the popularity of cell phone applications may have influenced the closures. "Before, you went to a bar hoping to meet someone. Today, you can do it from home, on your couch," he declared Anna Leach, who runs the lesbian-focused website The Most Cake.
But one of the justifications given as the most certain is that the closure would be linked to the pressure exerted on all London pubs by property appreciation, whose property prices and rents would be "out of control".
The British Pub and Beer Association estimates that the number of pubs in the United Kingdom fell from 60,1 in 2002 to 48 in 2013. The Association of Licensed Retailers reported that there were 3.144 clubs in 2005 and that there are currently 1.733.
Peter Cragg, who led the campaign in favor of Joiner's, stated that he believes there is no prejudiced initiative to close LGBT places. But the most vulnerable groups in society, whether for economic or social reasons, end up being "the main victims of this securities speculation".
THE FIGHT GOES ON
At the end of the report, he says that the positive side is that the LGBT community is used to fighting battles and that the situation must be reversed. "We will not give up without a furious, glitter-filled fight," he declared.
