UK’s only gay bookstore hit by rent rise
February 12th, 2010 by Chloe.Setter
Gay’s The Word, the UK’s only LGBT bookshop, has been hit with a 25% hike in its rent.
The London bookshop, in Marchmont Street, Bloomsbury, has been told by Camden Council that its rent will go up by 25%, leaving manager Jim MacSweeney “appalled” and the staff and himself “pulling our hair out”.
He told the Camden New Journal: “I’m just appalled, given the current economic situation. Camden [Council] has no sense of reality… We’ve always been more than a bookshop – it’s the whole community coming in.”
Gay’s The Word, which is also the location for the long-running weekly Lesbian Discussion Group, held on a Tuesday evening, was first opened in 1979.
It was dramatically saved from closure in 2007, following a similar rise in rent, however £20,000 was raised by supporters and celebrities to rescue it.
At the time, lesbian author Sarah Waters spoke fondly of the store. She said: “For me, it’s more than a bookshop. It was one of those places you went to when you first arrived in London; it had its noticeboard and it was a meeting place.”
Andrew Marshall, deputy leader for Camden Council, said: “It’s great that Gay’s The Word is there, but the problem is we deal with everyone evenly. I don’t think it can be right that just because Camden is your landlord you don’t have to pay commercial rents.”
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