At last! Concrete plans for Black Cap pub reopening lodged at Town Hall
Scheme includes performance space and bed and breakfast
Friday, 12th January — By Dan Carrier
Campaigners Alex Green, Jamie Johnston and Jonny Morrison
VICTORY is in sight for campaigners who have fought a decade-long bat- tle to get the world- famous The Black Cap pub and cabaret venue back open.
Plans for a revamped LGBTQ+ bar, performance space and bed and breakfast have been lodged at the Town Hall.
The gay pub in Camden High Street closed in 2015 and has been at the centre of a nine-year campaign, with weekly pavement vigils, to get the venue re-opened.
The Cap was a trailblazer, offering a stage for cabaret acts for more than six decades.
Performer Paul O’Grady used the Cap to perfect his Lily Savage act. He had long supported the fight to get the Cap back open.
Performer and activist Alex Green said: “Finally, we can say we are optimistic and the owners are really excited.
“It has been a massive win to have people sitting down round the table with the same aims – to get The Black Cap back in the way it should be.”
He praised the support the campaign has had from across Camden.
He said: “It has been a partnership. We have worked closely with Camden Council, who have worked tirelessly behind the scenes and done everything they possibly could for years.
“The GLA have supported us. The New Journal and the Camden community have worked so hard and the representatives of the new owners have been excellent.”
Mr Green recalled visiting the Cap when he moved to London aged 18 and how the venue provided a safe and welcoming space for so many.
He said: “The Cap felt like a social club.
“It was a place where you would meet with your close friends – a place for birthdays, weddings, funerals, New Year’s Eve, those social landmarks.
“It was the least pretentious gay pub in the world, and was somewhere you could invite non-LGBTQ friends to come on our terms.”
Documents lodged at the Town Hall show a revamped venue that regulars would recognise but with improvements.
Upper floors will be used for staff quarters, so a licensee can live on-site, and includes B&B-style rooms.
The plans state it will attract world-class cabaret talent as the rooms can be used for performers to stay overnight.
The ground floor would remain a performance space with new staging, décor, toilets and dressing rooms.
On the first floor, the bar named after famous early cabaret star Mrs Shufflewick will remain and includes access to the sun terrace. A kitchen for pub grub is also included.
Jamie Johnston has helped keep a weekly vigil going for the nine years. He said: “It is a positive development and I hope the plans get a good response from public.”
The previous owners, Kicking Horse, closed the pub down after failing to win permission to build flats above the venue.
