The bar is hosting a farewell party on Sept. But heritage and historical groups protested the proposal, and a local council blocked the redevelopment completely. Developers wanted to build apartments in The Yard's courtyard. The two pubs faced almost identical situations. Just across town from The Queen’s Head in Soho, a well-known gay bar called The Yard just won a two-year battle to stay open. “Public houses in total are closing at an alarming rate because they’re standing on prime real estate that can be made into extremely luxury apartments,” Sipson says. The number of UK pubs of any kind is down from 67,800 in 1982 to 51,900 in 2014, according to the latest data from The British Beer and Pub Association.
“They just have to get on their phones, find a picture and off they go.”īut gay bars aren’t the only ones closing. “Today they don’t have to” visit the bar to meet partners, Sipson says. Gay bars once provided rare opportunities for LGBT people to meet. Another factor could be the rise of online dating apps like Grindr or Tinder.
