Plans to give Leicester a gay village
April 13th, 2010 by Chloe.Setter
A nightclub owner in Leicester is planning to create an unofficial gay quarter in the city centre.
Businessman Paul Giles, who already owns two bars – Quebec and The Village in Belgrave Gate – hopes to encourage gay people to buy shares in the scheme and take “ownership” of a district in the city.
Giles is already in talks about four other venues in the area, which is the stretch of Belgrave Gate from the junctions with Abbey Street and Burleys flyover.
He told the Leicester Mercury: “The plan is still very much in the pipeline, but it would be fantastic to have a gay district in Leicester. Most other cities have one and it’s about time we did too.
“It brings in people from out of town and is great for the city’s economy.”
Giles, who organises Leicester’s Gay Pride event, hopes investors will buy a 49% stake in his company Quebec Leisure, leaving him the controlling 51% stake.
He said the area would be “by no means exclusively for gay people”, but that he hoped “every gay person in Leicester to own at least one [share]“.
The city’s LGBT centre welcomed the plans. Director Ian Robson told the paper: “If we look at cities like Manchester, Brighton, Birmingham and London, we see that the city as a whole has greatly benefited by these gay villages with a huge increase in tourism, which benefits all businesses in that area.”
He continued: “The key to any area being successful is a good mix of gay and straight people using the area and adding to the diversity of the city.”
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