Developers told: Your sitemust have a gay bar (andwe will check whether it is gay enough)

A PROPERTY developer has been told it must include a gay bar that stays open for more than a decade if it wants planning permission for a project.

In an unprecedented move, Tower Hamlets council ordered that the multi-million pound redevelopment in east London includes an LGBT venue for “a minimum of 12 years”. A City Hall inspector will even check that the bar is “sufficiently LGBT”.

It is believed to be the first time that the sexual orientation of a venue’s customers has been included as a condition of planning approval. It comes as more than half of London’s gay bars have closed in the past decade.

The Joiners Arms, in east London, was bought by developers Regal Homes in 2014 and shut a year later. Regulars from the pub, whose clientele included the late fashion designer Alexander McQueen, songwriters Rufus Wainwright and Patrick Wolf, designer, Christopher Kane, actor Rupert Everett and ex-Westlife singer Mark Feehily, created the Friends of the Joiners Arms (FOTJA) and achieved protective status for it ahead of the planning conditions being imposed.

Councillors are due to vote on plans submitted by Regal Homes on Wednesday which propose to transform the site into nine luxury flats and a pub. Ahead of the vote the company has said it is committed to ensuring a LGBT venue remains at the site for 12 years.

“The development will re-provide a public house at ground-floor level with the same floor space as the previous pub,” a spokesman said.

“We are committed to keeping this space within our development in Tower Hamlets as a LGBT venue and have offered a right of first refusal on the lease to LGBT interested parties, including the Friends of the Joiners Arms and the New Joiners Arms.

“If the lease is taken up then the venue will be secured for at least 12 years for LGBT use. We have also agreed a rent-free period for the first year.” Part of the conditions will in- volve officials assessing licensee applications to ensure that the operator of the new bar will be sufficiently LGBT. Tower Hamlets Mayor, John Biggs added: “I am delighted that as a council we are leading the way in using innovative ways to protect spaces such as the Joiners Arms site.”

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has said he is committed to preserving LGBT venues in London.