If EastEnders were real life, its new gay bar would close down after six months due to gentrification
Will Albert Squares new gay bar represent the full spectrum of Londons incredible LGBTQIA+ community and the grit and rawness of our reality? Will it be wheelchair accessible, stay open past 11pm and play more than Kylie Minogue? Will Tina host a lesbian garage night? We have much hope.
Kate Oates, senior executive producer of EastEnders told me: with our urban London setting, EastEnders is in a unique position to celebrate diversity of all kinds. Like any iconic soap location, the new bar should have potential to see a large number of characters interact, and have many different kinds of stories play out within its walls; but it should feel true and familiar to our LGBTQI+ viewers, and stand out with its own brilliant personality.
Advertisement Advertisement
We at Friends of the Joiners Arms (FOTJA) welcome Kate Oates news. For the last four years we have fought to protect queer spaces and have successfully won planning protections for our infamous Hackney Road venue on historic grounds.
If they are essential for our communities wellbeing, venues shouldnt just be taken up by property developers. We are now working to bring the replacement venue into community ownership, where it belongs.
As we welcome the first gay bar to Albert Square, its essential to reflect on the climate within which the EastEnders residents are finally getting such a venue.
Theres a sick irony at play when LGBTQIA+ venues are finding representation on screen while real life spaces are squeezed out of our reach by greedy developers and poor planning.
According to a study by UCL, between 2006 and 2017 London lost 58 per cent of its LGBTQIA+ venues; from there being 121 to just 51 in operation.
Closures and threats to these venues are generally recognised as external pressures, rather than any failing on the venues themselves.
The most cited reasons for closure are large developments, lack of safeguarding of dedicated venues in existing planning systems, sale or change of use of property by landlords and rising business rates and rents. If EastEnders were real life, the bar would close down after six months due to gentrification.
Theres a sick irony at play when LGBTQIA+ venues are finding representation on screen while real life spaces are squeezed out of our reach by greedy developers and poor planning.
Advertisement Advertisement
EastEnders gay bar announcement at the beginning of 2019 is, however, great timing. Last year saw the 30th anniversary of the beginning of Section 28, which banned the promotion of homosexuality in public institutions and this year is the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, which were led by trans homeless women of colour and started the modern Pride movement.
More: Soap spoilers
Now is the time for EastEnders to shine, make the Albert Squares LGBTQIA+ community as diverse as the wider world is and create the inspiring juicy storylines we are all so hungry for.
When the shows creators, Julia Smith and Tony Holland, began planning they set out to attract a younger, more diverse audience than its competitors such as Coronation Street had at the time.
While they succeeded on many fronts with bold female characterisation, a small variety of LGB storylines and the introduction of its first transgender character in 2015, they have been accused of tokenism and stereotyping of characters of colour.
Wed love to see genuine and realistic representation of diverse LGBTQIA+ characters. Will the bar be a super-cool precinct where gay and straight characters can all just hang out or will it make us question the world around us?
Like so many I was bawling my eyes out on the edge of my seat when Ruby questioned the patriarchy and stood up to her rapists in the Queen Vic in one of this years most memorable episodes. Albert Squares new gay bar could hold the same power.
Advertisement
MORE: EastEnders spoilers: Kate Oates confirms huge return and major storylines for 2019
MORE: 10 things we want to see new EastEnders boss Kate Oates do
MORE: 10 EastEnders spoilers: Shock collapse, a drugs bust and Mitchs secret
Advertisement Advertisement
[contf] [contfnew] 
METRO
[contfnewc] [contfnewc]
