STUDY: London Has Lost Half Of Its LGBT Venues

NBC News reports:

More than half of London’s LGBTQ pubs, clubs and music venues have closed in the last decade, new research commissioned by the city’s mayor shows.

The number of venues for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer Londoners has fallen to 53 from 125, a loss of nearly 60 percent since 2006, according to an audit by the Urban Laboratory at University College London.

London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan said urgent action needed to be taken in light of the “shocking” statistics, as the British capital prepares to celebrate Pride weekend.

“I want London’s LGBT+ community to feel truly valued, happy and safe in our great city and know how important these spaces are to its well being,” said Khan in a statement.

More from Business Insider:

A breakdown by the academics behind the figures in an accompanying report showed that a huge number of the closures were linked to London’s property market. They found:

-21% of closures were down to property development
-9% were down to lease negotiations, often linked to huge rent hikes
-6% included other financial issues including business rates, which are linked to property prices

All of the above are tied more or less directly to London’s white-hot property market, which has seen the average house price leap from £239,000 in 2006 to £458,000 in 2016, according to the ONS, an increase of 91%.