CAMPAIGNERS fighting to see the iconic Black Cap pub reopened have warned that Camden Town’s nightlife risks becoming “beige” with the venue now shut up for three years.

Members of the Black Cap Foundation, who hold a “vigil” outside the High Street building every weekend, went to the Town Hall on Monday with a warning that Camden no longer feels as “welcoming” to the LGBQT community. They urged councillors to stand behind their ongoing bid to see it restored as a cabaret bar.

Alex Green from the Foundation told the cross-party culture and environment scrutiny committee: “We get hundreds of people signing the petition to save the Black Cap for a whole host of reasons. One of the main reasons that we hear time and time again is that people are scared that Camden is becoming beige – it’s not the place they moved to or come to visit. I think the closure of something so central to Camden, so iconic, so relevant to its history, it actually worries people. They don’t actually know where it’s going.”

Mr Green said there was no similar venue north of the river in London, despite a “pretty vibrant queer arts thing going on around Camden”. “What we hear is that Camden doesn’t feel as welcoming,” he added. “I think Camden, when I came here 30 years ago, was probably the most welcoming place for the LGBQT community.”

The pub’s owners, Faucett Inn, have the venue on the market and have said they received two offers at the rental rate they were asking – £300,000 a year – but director Steve Cox said the demand for it to be a cabaret venue was potentially “restrictive” to those considering a deal.

Jamie Johnston, also from the Foundation, told councillors: “He specifically said that he thought the cabaret element was a problem. Anyone who doesn’t want to run the Black Cap as an LGQBT cabaret venue, doesn’t really want to run the Black Cap. They don’t understand its community value.”

Labour councillor Jonathan Simpson, the Town Hall’s culture chief, told the meeting: “The council is absolutely committed to working with its very vibrant LGBT community. Camden and Islington were really where the lesbian and gay rights had its bases.” He said he was still “optimistic” that the Black Cap would reopen some time in the future.

Regeneration chief Councillor Danny Beales said the Town Hall had no power to force the owners or any new operator to call the venue the Black Cap but said its listing as an “asset of community value” was based on being a LGBT cabaret club. “We expect the owner to respect this status and have made this crystal clear by turning down previous planning applications which did not.”