Friends of Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club launch crowd funder for a planning bid

27 February 2025 Agatha Scaggiante

The community has launched a £12k crowdfunding campaign to secure ownership or a lease after stalled attempts to sell the Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club.

The Friends of Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club (FoBGWMC) launched a crowdfunder yesterday in the next stage of their campaign to save the Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club (BGWMC), the popular cabaret, drag and queer performance venue.

The FoBGWMC aim to raise £12k, which will be used to carry out a full chartered survey and valuation of the building and submit a potential planning application to the Council.

The BGWMC is currently an Asset of Community Value and is Grade II listed. In July of 2024, the building’s current owners, a collective of the working men’s club’s original members, announced the intention to sell the club for redevelopment.

Events at the club were halted during the initial legal dispute between the sellers and the club’s resident promoters but resumed in December.

During this time, the campaign Save Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club was launched by the FoBGWMC, a community group comprised of locals, performers, punters, programmers, and trade union members.

The campaign led to the building being named an Asset of Community Value in August 2024. The campaign also produced a petition to Mayor Lutfur Rahman, urging him to buy the club. It has nearly 5000 signatures and has led to further communication with the Mayor’s office, including the decision that the club must remain a queer venue if it is sold.

Using the funds from the current crowdfunder, the FoBGWMC hope that Tower Hamlets Council will either purchase the club and lease it back to them or allow the FoBGWMC to purchase the club outright. The fund aims to raise £12,000 within six weeks, with a deadline in April.

Equity’s Variety Organiser, Nick Keegan, said:

‘A community purchase on this scale will be no small task. We are trying to be absolutely realistic about this. We believe a partnership between the community of BGWMC and Tower Hamlets Council does have the ability to achieve this.’

‘BGWMC is a crucial and irreplaceable fixture of London’s cultural heritage. It has been a catalyst for the development of new artists and cultural workers in the city, a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community, and it is a building with more than 100 years of history as a community owned space. It is vital that we protect BGWMC for future generations and allow its legacy to live on.’

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