London council planners insist a new block of flats must have a gay bar as a condition of the development - and they will send workers there to check it is 'LGBT-friendly' enough

[Right_in_Virginia]

London council planners insist a new block of flats must have a gay bar as a condition of the development - and they will send workers there to check it is 'LGBT-friendly' enough
Daily Mail/UK, Aug 5, 2017

London council planners have told developers that a new block of flats must include a gay bar - and they will send inspectors to check it's gay enough.

Tower Hamlets bosses will only let the site of closed gay bar the Joiners Arms be built on if the developers promise to include a pub that will 'remain a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender-focused venue for a minimum of 12 years'.

London's culture at risk officer Ed Bayes will make sure the person running the bar is 'sufficiently LGBT'.

Council chiefs issued the diktat because Tower Hamlets has lost seven of its 10 LGBT venues since 2006, as meet-up apps such as Grindr and Tinder replace nights out.

Some 58 per cent of London's gay bars have closed in the last ten years.

Mayor of Tower Hamlets John Biggs said: 'Tower Hamlets council is committed to celebrating our great diversity, which includes serving the needs of our LGBTQ+ community. I am delighted that as a council we are leading the way in using innovative ways to protect spaces such as the Joiners Arms site.'

Developer Regal Homes, which wants to build offices and nine luxury flats on the site which it bought in 2014, is on board with the idea. 


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4763298/London-planners-insist-new-flats-gay-bar.html#ixzz4ouKreSnv

[dfwgator]

[Wingnut]

London you say.   Lets see em put one up near their Muzzie Mayors hood. 

[Oceander]

@EC
Comments?

[EC]

@EC
Comments?

It's pretty normal to attach like-for-like conditions to new developments on existing properties - example would be when they developed the old timber yard near me into flats, they were required to include two retail spaces to replace the two that were being demolished.

However, I've not heard of a like-for-like condition being attached to the site of a non listed pub (clientele regardless) before. It's usually pubs that get pulled down to build flats in the first place. I only keep an eye on my own borough though - Tower Hamlets is an odd enough place (virtually communist in terms of party control) and has it's own rules.

[Oceander]

It's pretty normal to attach like-for-like conditions to new developments on existing properties - example would be when they developed the old timber yard near me into flats, they were required to include two retail spaces to replace the two that were being demolished.

However, I've not heard of a like-for-like condition being attached to the site of a non listed pub (clientele regardless) before. It's usually pubs that get pulled down to build flats in the first place. I only keep an eye on my own borough though - Tower Hamlets is an odd enough place (virtually communist in terms of party control) and has it's own rules.

And queer pubs are now going to be mandatory like-for-like?

[EC]

And queer pubs are now going to be mandatory like-for-like?

Doubt it. Apart from two (The Blue Oyster in Soho and the Rose and Crown in Greenwich), there aren't really historically queer pubs. Like-for-like comes into play in most boroughs when a longstanding service is being demolished or an attempt is made to relicense the premises for a different business type. Tower Hamlets though (and to a lesser extent both Lewisham and Hackney) tend to make shit up as they go along as far as the building regs are concerned.