Celebrations at Pride after it was confirmed The Black Cap will re-open

THE deal has been signed and the champagne is ready to be popped.

The world famous Black Cap cabaret bar in Camden High Street will re-open before Christmas, ending a near 10-year battle to save the LGBQT+ venue.

The final hurdle in getting it back open and thriving was cleared last week when its owners, Kicking Horse Three, signed a planning agreement with the  Town Hall over the use of the building. Builders have already been into the famous Camden Town venue and stripped it out and soon fit-out work is set to get underway in earnest.

The Save The Black Cap campaign, which has held weekly vigils outside the much loved pub since it closed in 2015, was organised by cabaret star Alex Green.

He told the New Journal: “We are now excited and proud to announce that all the planning and legal issues are sorted and it is 100 per cent happening.  Everything is done.  It is really moving and what is so positive is it is coming directly from the owner.”

The pub as it looks this week

The pub was previously owned by a firm called Faucet Inns, who bought up a number of north London pubs in the late 2000s. It attempted to convert part of the pub into flats – as it had done with the Sir Richard Steele in Belsize Park and the Dartmouth Arms, Dartmouth Park.

But when they failed to get their housing plans through at the Black Cap, they shut the pub and tried to sell it off.

At this stage, they were seeking any form of pub or restaurant operator to take on the landmark high street space ­– raising the likelihood of London losing another LGBT+ venue.

Faucet Inns went into administration in 2020 and the liquidators have been working to maximise the firm’s assets for creditors.

Campaigners had the pub protected as an Asset of Community Value by the council and then set off on a long hard road to found a reputable pub operator who would re-open the venue as it was.

Now at that stage, getting the doors back open will mean the continuation of a history that stretches back to the 1700s. A pub has been on site when Camden Town was a small cluster of houses on the road out of London.

It became an important place for the gay community in the 1950s, when same sex relationships were illegal and taboo.

Alex Green

Mr Green said: “We have had false starts before so we had been sceptical, but the minute we met them, we felt comfortable. Everything Mark Lewis [the owner] said showed how much background work they were doing and how they understood the Cap’s history and the opportunity it presents.”

But even with a new owner possessed with the ambition to open the Cap as a gay pub again, unforeseen delays crept in. The site was squatted for a number of months with some damage done.

Mr Green said: “It was really stressful and we were worried it might cause too much work to be done, making it not viable, and cause further delay. “Thankfully they eventually left and the builders could get in and make a start.”

Two lorry loads of rubbish have been removed and planning permission granted for some changes inside, including creating a bed and breakfast on the top floor and a studio for a live-in manager to use.

Kicking Horse Three spoke to a chain of three LGBTQ+ bars in Newcastle called Bobby’s  – and it helped convince them it was a good idea.

Mr Green said: “The model works really well. Mark Lewis’s firm manages the buildings in the North-east and has a good relationship with the bars. It shows they understand what they need to do.”

Mr Green can finally see light at the end of a nine-year tunnel to save a place that once offered stars such as Lily Savage, Regina Fong and Hinge and Bracket a space to entertain.

One of the vigils outside the pub after it closed

Mr Green added: “If everything goes to plan, we hope it might be open  before Christmas. We have always said we would be there until the Cap is saved. It is now about engaging and making sure people come and making sure it offers what people want to see.”

The news has been welcomed by the Camden Forum + group, who are a boroughwide campaign to support the LGBTQ+ community. It said: “The Black Cap was always a warm, welcoming and safe space for our charity’s social support and community groups. The venue has been hugely missed since its closure over nine years ago and the LGBT community in Camden will be thrilled at the news of its reopening.”

Kicking Horse Three’s Kirk Spencer told the New Journal: “There is a lot of work to be done and at the moment we are assessing how to get it open. We are currently finalising what it will look like, and working out the major repairs we need to do. The Cap is a much loved venue and we are excited to be part of its ongoing story.”

Campaigners are set to celebrate and discuss what happens next at the Black Cap Community Picnic.

Taking place at the  Castlehaven Community Centre Park, Castle Road, Camden Town, on Sunday July 14 from 1pm till 6pm. It includes music, singing, talks and an opportunity to ask questions and pass on what you’d like to see at a reopened Black Cap, LGBTQ+ Pub and Performance Venue.

An online questionnaire can be found at:  https://m1slzg08wqf.typeform.com/to/s2wzugdl