This morning the campaign group #WeAreTheBlackCap released an open letter to Kicking Horse, the owners of the iconic cabaret and queer venue, The Black Cap. This follows months of protests over the Cap’s sudden and unceremonious closure.
The letter calls on the owners to engage with the local LGBTQ community to preserve the future of the venue and its place in North London’s LGBT history.
Nigel Harris of the Camden LGBT Forum writes: ‘The damage to our community has been substantial. A nearly 8,000 strong and rising petition is our evidence, along with weekly vigils outside the pub, substantial press coverage, a 2,000+ strong active facebook group – need we go on.’
The letter bears testament to the public anger and mobilisation that was provoked by the closure of The Black Cap earlier this year, spurring a campaign which has successfully defended the venue’s Asset of Community Value (ACV) status against legal challenge, and has continued to maintain a presence each weekend outside the Black Cap’s boarded up doors through weekly vigils to engage the Camden community.
The open letter from the Camden LGBT Forum is clear in that now that the ACV status has been upheld, meaning that the premises must be maintained as a queer space, the onus is now on the owners to take action and engage with the community about the iconic venue’s future.
The #WeAreTheBlackCap campaign, formed from the Camden LGBT Forum, performers, friends and sympathisers with The Black Cap, has made considerable progress against what seemed at first to be insurmountable odds.
Now with the ACV status upheld, prohibiting redevelopment of the premises for alternative commercial gains, the proposed sale to The Breakfast Club now defunct, and no clear buyer at the table, we urge the owners of The Black Cap to engage with the community and preserve the home that many LGBTQ individuals found within the Cap’s walls.
The Black Cap’s back on its last legs, and we urge you to add your voice to the #WeAreTheBlackCap campaign in solidarity with the preservation of queer spaces around London and in the hope that dialogue can lead to the Black Cap’s reopening for the queer community of North London and further afield.
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