G-A-Y owner Jeremy Joseph offers to turn iconic London LGBTQ venue into vaccination centre

Words: Will Stroude

G-A-Y owner Jeremy Joseph has publicly offered to turn the brand’s iconic Heaven Nightclub venue as a vaccination centre as Covid-19 vaccines continue to be administered across the UK.

The LGBTQ nightlife mogul took to Twitter on Wednesday morning (6 January) claiming he had written to Westminister Council to offer up the large indoor venue in the arches beneath Charing Cross railway station for a future mass vaccination programme.

“Like other Hospitality venues, On Sunday, We wrote to Westminister Council Offering Heaven Nightclub As a vaccination centre, its an empty venue already split into booths, it would be an honour if it was used while closed to help vaccinate people”, Joseph wrote.

The NHS is currently offering the Covid-19 vaccine to people and groups most at risk from coronavirus in NHS settings such as hospitals and GP-run local vaccination centres.

Vaccination Is The Answer
Like other Hospitality venues, On Sunday, We wrote to Westminister Council Offering Heaven Nightclub As a vaccination centre, its an empty venue already split into booths, it would be an honour if it was used while closed to help vaccinate people. 🤞

— Jeremy Joseph G-A-Y (@JeremyJoseph) January 6, 2021

Joseph, who owns G-A-Y venues in London and Manchester, launched an unsuccessful legal action against the government last October over its 10pm coronavirus-induced curfew on bars and clubs.

In order to keep G-A-Y Heaven nightclub open amid ongoing restrictions on hospitality the venue had previously been turned into ‘Britain’s largest gay bar’, with seated tables and perspex partitions installed across the dancefloor in order to keep it ‘Covid-secure’.

When further government restrictions limited the opening of hospitality venues to those serving a ‘substantial meal’, G-A-Y venues across the country introduced a food menu for the first time, while G-A-Y Heaven partnered with a local McDonald’s, serving Big Macs and McNuggets alongside its usual drinks offering in order to stay open.

Club promoter and former DJ Joseph acquired the G-A-Y brand in the early ’90s, hosting its flagship club night at the now-demolished London Astoria music venue on Fridays and Saturdays until 2008, when it was moved to its current home at Heaven.