10. The Joiner's Arms, 116-118 Hackney Road, Shoreditch

The Joiners Arms opened in 1997 and became central to the East London queer scene until its closure in 2015 when the site was bought by developers. A mix of high and low cultures, it became a throbbing beacon for late-night partying and never lost its seedy, East-End boozer feel. Raw, underground and stinking of amyl nitrate (‘poppers’), this grotty gay boozer was known as a beacon of ‘joyful sin’.

The threat and closure of many LGBTQ+ venues in the capital over the last few decades has often been due to economic reasons, rather than being a queer-specific issue. With ever-rising rents and gentrification, the counterculture that establishes areas as desirable to the rich in the first place are inevitably pushed aside. Historically queer urban spaces, such as Soho, have become homogenised ghosts of their former glory. However, in a watershed moment in 2017, Tower Hamlets council imposed a planning condition on the property developers who bought the site of the Joiners: a requirement to include an LGBTQ+ venue as part of their redevelopment.

Print is 20 x 25cm, unframed, signed, numbered and comes with the above accompanying text.