Published: 17 February 2012
by ANDREW JOHNSON

A PIONEERING gay bar – and the last gay venue left in the borough – is fighting for its survival after being slapped with a £14,000 licensing bill.

Central Station in Wharfdale Road will appeal against the ruling that it needs a sex establishment licence at a Town Hall hearing on Monday.

Owner Duncan Irvine says it has been caught up in the government’s crackdown on pole dancing and lap dancing clubs and that while there is “sexual contact” at some of its club nights, this is not the same as striptease entertainment, which it no longer provides.

The club was founded 20 years ago to provide a safe meeting place for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community (LGBT) at a time when King’s Cross was a centre for drugs and prostitution, and gay men used to cruise on the Regent’s Canal towpath.

Founder Mr Irvine says that although it was initially attacked – once by a gang using CS canisters – it soon became renowned for its cabaret nights, as well as a local pub.

More than 50 groups have used it as a meeting place, including AIDS charities who have raised more than £40,000 to fight the disease.

In his submission to the Town Hall’s licensing committee he writes: “Throughout its 20 years the bar has become known a friendly meeting place and many people who are unsure of their sexuality have found it a nice place to chat in an unpressurised space.

Central Station has won many awards, including Freehouse of the Year and runner-up in the Daily Telegraph pub of the year.”

He adds that the bar is now used by the whole community and has recently formed links with St Martin’s College of Art.

Mr Irvine told the Tribune that the club has now been told, however, that it needs a £14,000 licence for some of the club nights it hosts.

These include fetish clubs such as bondage nights, a club for naked men and a club for foot fetishists.

“I don’t deny that there is sexual contact at some of these clubs, but it is not in the same order as paid-for entertainment,” he said.

He added that the club nights are run by outside organisations who are independent of the bar.

“We’ve been told that we need a licence, but there is no way we can afford to pay more than £1,000 a month,” he said. “That would have to come out of profit – and who’s making a profit nowadays.”

He added that the Home Office rules make it clear that the need for a licence is at the discretion of the Town Hall and that the use of the term “sexual encounters” was designed to stop the spread of lap dancing clubs.

• The history of gay literature will be examined by Time Out’s LGBT editor Paul Burston at Islington Town Hall on Monday.

The event, part of Islington’s LGBT month, will see Burston talk about his Polari ­Literary Salon and gay literature.