First gay club in england

The s were a boom time for Welsh gay culture. While many people still faced homophobia, particularly in smaller communities, this new freedom gave rise to a thriving gay social scene in larger towns and cities — with the first openly gay bar opening in Cardiff in The venue closed inin spite of a campaign to save it, before reopening as the Corner House Bar and Restaurant.

In this was the meeting place for the Cardiff Gay Liberation Front, which organised the first march for Gay rights in Wales. In the bar hosted the first meetings of the Cardiff and Newport branch of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality, which campaigned for legal protections from homophobic discrimination and the lowering of the legal age of consent for homosexuals, to bring it into line with that for heterosexuals.

The handsome red-brick building was listed by Cadw in and is now home to cocktail bar Be At One and Le Monde restaurant. Dedicated gay venues have been in decline for decades across Western Europe for a number of reasons. Happily, more tolerant societies mean there is less need for specifically gay spaces, while the internet has made the process of connecting marginalised communities easier and safer.

Raising the Bar in 1970s Gay Cardiff

Its Listed Building status is also long-held, coming in before Cadw even existed. Among its most striking historical features are its exterior tiles, dating back towhich depict Cardiff Castle and Town Hall. The Ladies of Llangollen. The Gay Aristocracy of Victorian Wales.