The UK’s last remaining strict leather and rubber fetish gay club has been saved after a London council blocked plans to redevelop the East End site into a 12-storey residential tower.
Tower Hamlets ruled against the proposed 46-flat development on Mile End Road because it would “harm the long-term provision of a nightclub that serves the LGBT+ community”.
Cllr Rachel Blake, the borough’s deputy mayor, said the council viewed the 34-year-old Backstreet bar as “an important community asset” and was “going the extra mile… to protect safe spaces for our diverse community”.
“It is the last true gay fetish club, and diversity matters to us,” she said. “This kind of venue really matters to us, it matters to Tower Hamlets and to the whole of London. It is very important to have safe spaces for the whole community.”
More at
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...-redevelopment