Black Cap: Advert

Facebook. *

And don't forget other kinds of free advertising in the gay media are available...

There's advertorial pushing anti-listing petition this w/e (yeah, cheers gay listings mags 💅), so pls remind ppl of both sides 😘 #LoveTheRVT

— RVT Future (@RVTfuture) June 12, 2015

* Here's an interview with the Black Cap squatters from a well-known anarcho-queer zine.

PS Now going to step back in time and fill in some of this week's thrilling gay news, which will be filed below on the day the story appeared. Roughly.

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

The Sun: We Never Forget

'Ex-CPS head Sir Keir Starmer (right) in London on Saturday'.

Great to see The Sun (On Sunday) covering yesterday's Save The Black Cap protest.

Strange they only mentioned it in a piece about their current whipping boy, the former Director Of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, now standing as a Labour Party PCC.

A FORMER chief prosecutor piled pressure on his successors last night as he blasted their £20 million witchhunt against journalists.

Sir Keir Starmer and CPS chief Alison Saunders were accused of making an “error” by hauling reporters into court.

Their predecessor Lord Macdonald spoke out after three more Sun newsmen were cleared of paying public officials.

It means 48 charges against Sun journalists probed by Operation Elveden as part of would-be Labour MP Sir Keir and Ms Saunders’ crusade have resulted in ZERO convictions...

The comments risk overshadowing Sir Keir’s bid to become Labour MP for the London seat of Holborn and St Pancras.

Yesterday he joined locals protesting at the closure of the Black Cap gay pub in Camden.

Poor show by The Sun for not managing to shoehorn in another mention of Greville Janner this time, though.

Only connect...

Or am I reading too much into this?

Battle Of Soho: Going Going...

Battle Of Soho | OFFICIAL TRAILER from Aro Korol on Vimeo.

Campaigns are also now underway to save the Black Cap and the Vauxhall Tavern.

Fagburn wishes them every success, but I'm not sure what you can do to turn back the inexorable tide that's turning all of central London into luxury flats.

London Gay Scene: Closing Time?

“As a young gay boy, I still feel the need to connect with other people who understand where I’m coming from.

“It’s important to have a designated area – it’s about being validated and told you’re OK, and it’s about a community feel. You can end up talking to a gay man in his 60s and learn so much about gay history and culture. It’s like your nan passing on wisdom. We take advantage of the fact we can walk around and be gay, but too often we don’t know our history. Knowing your history, knowing your movement, gives you power.”

Travon Steadman, a 20 year-old student and Black Cap regular.

Quoted in yet another article in the straight press about how the gay scene - usually with specific reference to Soho - is dying.

And straight bars are thriving?