FOI - LGBTQ+ venues [Oct 2023]

You request 

1. data regarding the number of LGBTQ+ venues in London over time

• annual or monthly totals for the number of venues, from the earliest point available
• If possible, the names of the venues at each time point

For reference, such data is referred to in this 2019 press release, which says “the number of LGBTQ+ venues in London has remained stable for a second year running, following a decade of decline”: https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/mayoral/londons-lgbtq-venue-nu…

Our response

LGBTQ+ venues are important community spaces for Londoners, providing safe and welcoming places to meet. In 2017, the GLA reported the number of LGBTQ+ venues in operation in London for the first time. This was based on LGBTQ+ venues data published in University College London’s Urban Laboratory report ‘LGBTQ+ Cultural Infrastructure in London: Night Venues, 2006-present’ written by Dr Ben Campkin and Dr Laura Marshall. The report is available on here LGBTQ+ nightlife spaces in London | UCL Urban Laboratory - UCL – University College London

Following on from this, the GLA undertook desktop audits to update the data. Data updates were published in 2018 (data collected July 2017 to June 2018), 2019 (data collected in 2018 to 2019), and 2023 (data collected in 2022). There were no data updates published in 2020, 2021, and 2022 due to the pandemic.

Audits of facilities or infrastructure are a snapshot in time and based on best available information. We welcome contributions or updates to the dataset from Londoners and others.

The table below provides a summary of the totals for each of the published datasets.