COVEN Headquarters Casts its Spell on G-A-Y Bar

Since opening in 2002, G-A-Y Bar has been a key part of Soho’s story and welcomed thousands through its doors. From spontaneous street parties to moments of solidarity and remembrance, it has been a space for music, energy, and community.

G-A-Y club owner, Jeremy Joseph is known for being a “brilliant and creative tenant and his vision helped make Old Compton Street the heartbeat of LGBTQ+ nightlife, providing safe, inclusive, and celebratory spaces that have left a lasting impact”, says landlord Soho Estates.  After sadly saying goodbye,  Jeremy’s focus is now on Heaven nightclub in Charing Cross which will celebrate its 50th birthday in 2029.

So now London’s queer nightlife and cultural collective COVEN will open at 30 Old Compton Street — formerly G-A-Y Bar — on 19th June 2026, marking the first anniversary of the project’s inception. This is the first new LGBTQ+ club on Old Compton Street in over a decade, and it arrives just in time for Pride.

After sitting empty since October 2025, the historic site enters a new chapter under Coven founder Matthew Jacobs Morgan, as the East London-born club night expands into a 449 capacity, five-storey permanent home in the heart of Soho. Matthew says “When I was a baby queer, this building was the first gay bar I ever went to. I saw people who looked like me and moved like me, and it made me feel less alone.”

What began as a one-off Christmas party in Hackney Wick, Coven has rapidly evolved into one of London’s most distinctive queer cultural spaces — a hybrid of nightclub, performance venue, community hub and artistic sanctuary. King Princess, Bestley, Strapped, UK Black Pride, A24, Felt Soundsystem, Lexii, Drybabe and Zach Witness have all passed through its doors alongside QPOC-led club nights, sober dance spaces, live music, alternative drag, cabaret, D/deaf-centred rave experiments and multi-disciplinary performance work.

The new Coven HQ will by day, operate as a café, artists’ salon and community space. By night, it will transform into a live music venue, performance space and nightclub, hosting an ongoing programme of club nights, cabaret, live performance, screenings, workshops and community gatherings.

The project has been supported by Soho Estates, particularly Fawn James and Philip Thompson, as part of a long-term vision to sustain and invest in queer cultural space within Soho.

COVEN’s opening weekend coincides with the Summer Solstice and unfolds across three opening events:

• FANG — Friday 19th June from 8pm (Dress code: black)

• HORNS — Saturday 20th June, from 8pm (Dress code: red)

• SOLSTICE — Sunday 21st June,  day rave from 12pm (Dress code: white)

As queer venues continue to disappear across the UK, COVEN arrives as both celebration and act of resistance: a new permanent space dedicated to queer nightlife, culture, experimentation and connection. This is a venue designed for multiple generations of queer people to exist side by side — where community is not an aesthetic, but the entire point.

Strap in for a COVEN summer.

ADDRESS
30 Old Compton Street
London W1D 4UR

OPENING NIGHT
Friday 19th June 2026

INSTAGRAM
@worldwidecoven
@covenhq
@jacobsmorgan_