Nottingham Gay Quarter (NGQ) Celebrates Notts Pride
In early 2024 Ben, proprietor of the Peacock on Mansfield Road & his partner Phill spurred on the allegiance of pubs in the north of the city centre. The goal was to create a cultural quarter for the gay & queer community in Nottingham. Although the city in general is socially liberal and freethinking the idea was to give the community a focal point, a canal street of Nottingham maybe?
It also gives the less confident or vulnerable people in the community a safe space, a group of venues where they know they can go and will be supported by the staff.
The great thing about these venues is they’re all distinctively different pubs, giving a range of reasons to travel up to the northern part of town. Peacock is a Classy and laid back traditional Victorian pub, Hole in the Wall is a fun & budget friendly student bar, Foresters is the cities oldest gay friendly pub and famous late night watering hole, Golden Fleece serves vegan food and is infamous for its live music, Six barrels known for its open mic and perfectly located roof terrace – and the collectives newest addition The Playwright another vibrant student pub with a varied food offering.
Things are moving fast for the collective, with an appearance on Notts TV and the groups biggest plan, Nottingham’s annual pride celebration at the end of July. The idea is for each pub to market an event across the weekend to not only expand pride out of its traditional heart of Hockley but drag it out across the weekend. From rooftop DJ takeovers, drag shows & camp karaoke, it’ll be worth a stroll past Victoria centre that weekend.
The collective will also be rolling out it’s ‘safe space’ initative across all its venues shortly, similar to the ‘ask angela’ scheme, it’ll give all its staff training on spotting homophobic, transphobic and sexual abuse & how to deal with the situation.
