It all began with the publication of the Greater London Council’s Changing the World: A London charter for gay and lesbian rights. That, in itself had taken most of us by surprise as it was one of the rare instances of political promises being turned into real action.

But when the GLC subsequently allocated three quarters of a million pounds to the establishment of a gay and lesbian centre, then our heads were reeling! I’d just moved to London at that time and I remember a friend describing the rush to set up an organising committee to make this unexpected windfall a reality.

Premises were found on Cowcross Street in Farringdon and these were purchased by the GLC. From memory, the Centre began with limited facilities; the organisers keen to just get it open in the first place then develop it as time went on. This probably explains why Wikipedia says the Centre “opened unofficially in December 1984.”.

It wasn’t the first Lesbian and Gay Centre to open in the UK, that title went to to the Birmingham Lesbian and Gay Community Centre, apparently. And Manchester Gay Centre also preceded London by some years too (although I’m not sure if that was joint gay/lesbian space).

However, the relative novelty of the project (and the short-time space available for its development) meant that a lot of it was playing it by ear. And, of course, there were the inevitable community politics.

Shortly after opening it was ‘agreed’ that BDSM and bisexual groups would be barred from the Centre for five years. A fairly unequivocal stand for such a nascent organisation.

But, of course, things didn’t quite pan out as expected. By April 1985, the Centre was the venue for the Second National Bisexual Conference – after it was discovered that their booking had been accepted (‘in error’, apparently).

Then, on 9th June 1985, the ban on both the bisexuals and the BDSM groups was over-turned.

The following year the GLC was abolished, removing an important source of support for the Centre. Nonetheless, it managed to stay afloat until 1991 when mounting debts, the theft of several thousand pounds and the almost inevitable political in-fighting finally took their toll. The Centre closed and the building was sold.

Of course it’s always easy to look back and analyse why it went wrong. Things always look simpler and clearer with the benefit of hindsight.

Certainly, it’s my view that the limited time frame prevented a proper needs assessment being undertaken. But, again, if someone had waved three quarters of a million under my nose I wouldn’t have told them to come back once I’d had a chance to think about it.

Needless to say, we’ll never see another Lesbian and Gay Centre in London again, unless their is a massive political change.

But, there again, it’s arguable that we no longer need such a space – or at least not on such a large scale. There probably is still a need for premises for LGBT support services such as telephone helplines.

However, when it comes to social spaces, there are far more mainstream options available to us these days. And, of course, there’s always the transformational effect that the internet has had in terms of reaching out to people.

Nonetheless, for all it’s perceived faults and imperfections, it’s worth remembering the positives that came out of London’s Lesbian and Gay Centre.

It was a much needed safe space for all kinds of lesbians and gays – young, old, people of colour, differently-abled and so on. It was a beacon of hope and positivity during the bleak homophobia of the Reagan-Thatcher years. And it undoubtedly made a positive impact on so many lives just by bringing people together.

I know I once met a nice American boy there in 1985. But that’s another story…