A property developer has promised to pay £100,000 to fund a “pop-up LGBT+ bar” to give Londoners an inclusive place to meet during the demolition and redevelopment of a popular gay nightclub. The Joiners Arms in Tower Hamlets was an institution, attracting a host of famous names among its regulars, including Alexander McQueen, Rufus Wainwright and Sir Ian McKellen, before it was bought and closed by the developer Regal London in 2015. Regal said it recognised the pain and frustration the six-year delay in redeveloping the site had caused the LGBTQ+ community, and it was offering the money so that a new bar could open as soon as possible. It is believed to be the first time that a property developer has offered to pay the cost of setting up a temporary gay bar as a condition of securing planning permission. “It is very unusual,” said Steve Harrington, Regal’s planning director. “We have had a lot of workshops over Zoom with the Friends of the Joiners Arms and got to know them, and the importance of protecting the Joiners, and we want to do our part. We are fantastically proud of the outcome.” Tower Hamlets council, which had previously ruled that the development could only go ahead if it included an LGBTQ+ club for at least 25 years, said it welcomed Regal’s offer to pay for the set-up of the temporary venue. John Biggs, mayor of Tower Hamlets, said: “I’m pleased that through our innovative planning policies we were able to protect an LGBT+ space at the site of the Joiners Arms when Tower Hamlets council approved the application in 2018. “I’m now keen to see things progress on the site as soon as possible, and that means finding a viable scheme that develops the building, and delivers this LGBT+ venue so – as we recover from Covid-19 – Tower Hamlets is at the forefront of celebrating its diverse community and being a place people want to visit. In the meantime, we will work with the Greater London Authority to see if we can find a temporary home for the Friends of the Joiners Arms.’’ Tower Hamlets development planning committee will vote on the amended planning proposals on 14 January. The plans for the site also include a hotel, offices and nine flats. The developer had previously won permission for an office-led development. The £100,000 that Regal has committed to the temporary LGBT+ space takes the total the developer has pledged to the recreation of a new Joiners Arms venue to £238,000. It had already promised to contribute £138,000 to the fit-out of the new venue in the Hackney Road development. The new bar – which will have a licence to stay open until 4am at the weekend. just as the Joiners Arms had - will also be charged no rent for 18 months. Amy Roberts, of the Friends of the Joiners Arms, said: “We have always said that the best thing for the local and wider queer community, and existing residents, would be the provision of much-needed social housing and the re-opening of the Joiners Arms as a unique, wonky community-run queer pub. “If the development goes ahead, we need to ensure the queer community has a long-term replacement venue plus, meanwhile, a space to compensate for years of enforced closure.” John Sizzle, co-owner of nearby gay bar The Glory, said: “The protection of our queer spaces is an ongoing necessity. These venues, buildings and monuments combine to become our churches. “These are places where we congregate to love, laugh and cry. Places where we learn and grow into producing loving adults, and places where we impart our knowledge and pass on that important history. “The Friends of the Joiners Arms are devoted to ensuring that our collective history and our places of worship, our churches, are preserved for future generations to gain strength and wisdom from.” While the Joiners Arms had attracted a lot of well-known LGBTQ+ faces, its founder David Pollard said it was intended as a place for all “joyful sinners”, and it was his punters’ attitudes to life that made the place come alive. “We don’t want to know how important you are. Are you interesting to talk to? Are you a good shag? Can you dance? These are the questions we’re interested in as a pub,” Pollard told i-D magazine.