Ask for Clive Takes Over Soho for a Defiant Celebration of Pride, Nightlife and Identity
Soho was loud, proud and unmistakably alive earlier this week, as hundreds packed into Thirst Bar on Greek Street for Ask for Clive’s Out For Pride UK Tour – a night that brought together drag star Bimini, LGBTQ+ campaigners and nightlife leaders in a powerful show of support for the venues and communities that make Soho what it is.
The event, which united operators, campaigners and community voices, sent a clear message to the trade: Pride doesn’t end when the bunting comes down, and neither should the industry’s commitment to protecting the spaces where LGBTQ+ communities have always found a home.
Against the backdrop of an increasingly heated debate about the future of London’s West End, the night was both celebration and call to action.
Recent weeks have seen national attention turn to Westminster City Council’s draft licensing policy, including proposals to discourage “high volume vertical drinking” and encourage greater use of seating and table service. The proposals have prompted criticism from hospitality operators and the Mayor of London, while Westminster has strongly rejected suggestions that it intends to ban standing in pubs, saying its objective is to manage overcrowding and excessive drinking rather than diminish nightlife.
Speakers reflected on Soho’s extraordinary history as a home for LGBTQ+ people, independent venues, hospitality, music, creativity, outsiders and subcultures — and warned against allowing one of the world’s most famous nightlife districts to slowly lose the very qualities that made it special.
The message from the room wasn’t that Soho should stand still. It was that its future must be built with the communities, workers and businesses that give the area its life.
The debate is particularly timely. Earlier this summer, controversy also followed a decision by the Soho Society to adopt a more restrictive position on new and extended hospitality licences, while operators have increasingly warned that London’s licensing environment risks squeezing the life out of its night-time economy.
But if the recent headlines have painted a picture of a Soho at risk of becoming quieter and more sanitised, Tuesday night’s event offered a powerful alternative vision.
Ask for Clive’s Out For Pride campaign takes that principle beyond Pride month itself. Its message to venues is deliberately straightforward: visible allyship matters all year round, and LGBTQ+ customers should know that when they walk through the door, they belong.
Silvana Kill Chair Ask For Clive / COO NTIA said: “Tonight showed exactly why places like Soho matter. These aren’t simply streets full of bars, clubs and restaurants. They’re places where people find community, where culture is created and where generations of LGBTQ+ people have found the freedom to be themselves.
“Of course Soho has to work for everybody who lives, works and spends time here. But managing a successful night-time district cannot mean slowly removing everything that makes it a night-time district in the first place.
“The answer isn’t to sanitise Soho. It’s to work together to make it safer, stronger, more inclusive and sustainable while fiercely protecting the character that makes people from all over the world want to come here.”
The discussion also reflected a point increasingly heard across London’s hospitality sector: nightlife is not an inconvenience attached to Soho, it is part of Soho’s cultural and economic infrastructure. That argument has also featured in London’s wider policy debate, with CEO NTIA Michael Kill telling the London Assembly earlier this year that Soho should be regarded as an area of strategic importance for nightlife.