Save BGWMC!

Hi there— we are a group performers, punters, programmers, and trade union members trying to protect Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club from being sold to developers. This is the campaign to preserve the club as an LGBTQ+ performance venue, and protect the building as a vital asset in shared community ownership.

Read more about our plans and how you can help!

Stay in touch by joining our mailing list

Hello!

Campaign Timeline

Since July 2024, we have been working to protect Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club from proposed plans to close events at the club, evict the programming team, and put the club up for sale.

The sale of the club would be an unthinkable loss of yet another London LGBTQ+ venue. For 20 years, BGWMC has been a pillar of London’s eco-system for professional cabaret and drag artists, as well as a transformative queer space.

So, what has happened and what comes next?

In May 2024, a group of 39 locals put together Friends of Bethnal Green Working Men's Club as an unincorporated cooperative association. They did this with the intention of submitting an application to London Borough of Tower Hamlets to protect BGWMC as an Asset of Community Value.
Equity learns of the potential loss of the venue, and launches a petition to Save BGWMC. The petition reaches 10k signatures in 3 days, eventually reaching 12.5k. They organise an emergency rally outside the club to prevent the eviction of the programming team. This attracts wide press attention and successfully resists the eviction attempt.
In response to pressure from the campaign to Save BGWMC, London Borough of Tower Hamlets fast tracks the application from Friends of Bethnal Green Working Men's Club, and grants BGWMC as an Asset of Community Value.
The Community Call-out launches to gather memories, testimonials, and evidence from the past 20 years of events at BGWMC. This consultation will allow for the group to apply for further protections on the building, and conserve the venue as an LGBTQ+ performance venue for future generations.
Friends of BGWMC are seeking support, advice, and funding from various source to help the campaign.
A small list of just some of the organisations who have kindly provided support include, Equity, GLA Culture at Risk Office, Theatres Trust, London Borough of Tower Hamlets, Principle Six, Calverts Print and Design, Cooperatives UK, The Friends of the Joiners Arms, Sister Midnight, as well many other people who have reached out to us on social media.
We are still in negotiation with the sellers and, as such, we are limited about how much we can say. It is not yet clear what will happen next, but we plan to be prepared for any eventuality.
This could mean a fighting fund (crowdfunder) to support legal costs if the sellers decide to push ahead.
In the longer term, this could mean a community share strategy to purchase the building in shared ownership.
The club is sadly closed for events at the current time. But BGWMC has not yet been evicted from the building. The building has not yet been put up for sale. This is thanks to you. With queer spaces closing across the capital, 13,000 of you came together to say no more, and stop Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club from being sold off.
The petition is still live here.