Queer London music collectives share message on 'exploitation of culture'
Eight London collectives unite to share message on “corporate exploitation of grassroots queer culture”.
Date published: 17th Nov 2025
Eight queer London music collectives have united to share a message addressing the “crisis facing queer nightlife in the capital.”
Founded by Lewis G Burton (also a founding member of London Trans+ Pride), queer techno collective INFERNO is celebrating its ten-year anniversary with events, compilation releases, and now, a photoshoot and a statement with other queer collectives based in London.
INFERNO has linked up with Queer House Party, Riposte, RIOT, BUMPAH, Coven, UHAUL Dyke Rescue, and PLASTYK to send a message about the issues within the queer nightlife scene.
The statement reads: “London's leading queer nightlife collectives are coming together to address the crisis threatening the scene's survival: the grassroots spaces that built queer nightlife are being destroyed by corporate exploitation and economic abandonment.”
Among the issues they highlight are the closure of 58% of London's LGBTQ+ venues from 2006-2017, “exploding” venue hire costs, promoters operating at a loss or unable to pay themselves a living wage, and sex-positive kink events being cancelled for being "near schools”.
The statement continues: “Corporate entertainment companies take what marginalised communities built - from Black ballroom culture to underground raves - and repackage it into £60 mega-parties while grassroots collectives fight for survival.
“When capitalism feeds into dance floors - spaces of mutual energy exchange - it destroys the very core of what makes them sites of liberation.”
The collectives highlight the importance of queer nightlife spaces for people, saying, “The human cost can be devastating. Queer nightlife is a lifeline for many - it's where we build chosen family, find community care, access harm reduction, and experience safety, joy and visibility.”
Continuing, they say, “We refuse the lie of scarcity… The government pours money into policing and borders while venues close and working-class people become too broke to access the culture they built. Post-Brexit, UK arts and culture is one of the few things Britain has left - and we're watching it starve.”
From the government, the collectives ask for funding for queer nightlife as cultural infrastructure (the same protection given to theatres and galleries), as well as support for trans rights and sex worker rights.
From venues and the industry, the collectives say they need protection for venues that hold their culture and “fair venue hire models that don't price out grassroots organisers.”
To their community, they ask people to buy tickets in advance and support pay-it-forward schemes for those who can’t afford tickets. They also ask their community to “show up for each other - however you're able - because that's what keeps us all alive.”
“This is not a eulogy. This is a declaration…
“The choice is ours. The time is now.”
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