Black Cap: Camden Queer Punx 4Eva

Protest in April.

A group of around a dozen squatters have moved into a legendary gay bar in Camden Town after it was closed without warning in April.

The group yesterday made their way into the Black Cap in Camden High Street, which has been lying empty since it was shuttered by Faucet Inn, who had been managing it for the previous five years.

The closure of the venue - which has been a central part of the London gay community for more than 50 years - sparked protests that saw hundreds take to the streets outside the venue and a petition to re-open the cabaret bar has gained more than 6,700 signatures.

One of the group, called only George F, told the New Journal this afternoon that it was not a direct protest over the closure, but part of a wider response to the “massive gentrification” of Camden and the chronic shortage of genuinely affordable housing in London.

He is one of a group that had previously lived in the derelict Marine Ices building in Chalk Farm Road, until they were evicted by bailiffs.

He said: “It's the same as Marine Ices. They had been serving ice cream to people for 80 years and this place had been a queer cabaret for 50 years.”

He added: “The people living her are poor people, creatives, artists, struggling people and that's what Camden is all about. There is too many people on the streets, sleeping rough and there are too many empty properties. We say 'build houses or we will take the buildings ourselves'. Everybody needs a roof over their head.”

The group have posted a notice on the door, which states “Camden Queer Punx 4Eva”...

Camden New Journal. Thanx to MH. x