Nottingham’s only dedicated LGBT+ nightclub, Propaganda is to close after the lockdown and COVID-19 restrictions meant it has been unable to renew its lease.
Propaganda, which has served Nottingham’s LGBT+ community for over 11 years will close with immediate effect, according to a Facebook post the club’s management published yesterday afternoon.
In the post, the management wrote, that due to the “current economic conditions” the club was unable to come to new terms with its landlord and that they had “no other option but to close”.
The outpouring of support from the community has been “truly humbling” according to the management after the post announcing the club’s closure, received over 2,300 comments from customers.
The management of Propaganda sad that they were “humbled to have been part of something special” and wished their “incredible staff, past and present” their thanks.
Propaganda isn’t the only LGBT+ space that has been forced to close during the COVID 19 lockdown. Last month the iconic Legends Bar in Brighton was also forced to shut its doors permanently.
Bars to be closed until July
Since the last week of March 2020, the UK’s LGBT+ bars and clubs were ordered to shut, along with many other “non-essential” businesses.
The order also included the UK’s community of gay saunas.
As it currently stands bars and clubs will not be allowed to open again for the foreseeable future, putting immense pressure onto the “gay scene”, which has already suffered a slew of closures in recent years due to ever-increasing rents in cities and generally falling footfall.
On May the 10th the UK’s Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, laid out tentative plans to reopen parts of the UK’s economy. The hospitality industry, arguably the hardest hit by the Coronavirus pandemic, will be one of the last to be reopened.
Some of the industry would be permitted to commence trading again on 4th July, but that was contingent on a number of factors, including keeping the number of new infections of COVID-19 down and the ability to maintain social distancing measures within the premises.
