Doff your black cap and salute one of our great pubs that has bucked a current worldwide trend for accelerated closures of LGBT venues.  London’s famous The Black Cap has returned after a shock closure in 2015 when the pub, which spawned over 1,000 nights of “Palladium-style drag acts,” closed overnight.

During these eleven years, the building stood in gloomy silence on a busy street in Camden Town. As it began to crumble, memories of sequined splendour made the venue feel like a sad home for ghosts of former drag queens. Behind the scenes, it was another matter, involving one battle after another between property developers, a community protest group (We Are the Black Cap), and Camden Council, which granted an Asset of Community Value. The venue reopened on 21 March 2026.

The pub has invested £ 2.5 million into a quality refurbishment and restored architectural design features. These include the entrance door with original small glass windows that historically allowed gays on the run to slip into a safe place. A tile mural in the entrance captures details of how the venue was used for the final days of criminals before execution further down the road.

The Black Cap began life in the same location as Mother Black Cap in 1751 with its current Victorian-era rebuild taking place during 1889 when it was managed by a local workhouse. The venue’s history mentions serial killer Dennis Nilsen as a customer, while another record notes Bram Stoker, the writer of Dracula, describing a painting of Mother Black Cap as including “a lady’s face with all the sins of the decalogue”.

Drag performers have embellished dark tales such as these with wit, humour and songs, providing a wealth of home-grown talent. The roll call of iconic performers since the late 1960s includes the legendary Mrs Shufflewick with disgustingly filthy deadpan monologues spoken over a glass of port. Hinge and Bracket tinkled the ivories and Paul Spunkflake recreated a trailer trash version of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? 

Dave Lynn, The Trollettes, Lily Savage, Disappointer Sisters, Earl Grey and Julian Clary pulled in punters day and night, making The Black Cap a vibrant venue for North London’s LGBT community. Adrella foamed at the mouth with a coke-riddled version of Liza Minnelli, and HRH Regina Fong may well be viewed as the end of an era. Billing herself as The Last of the Romanoffs, HRH told stories torn from the week’s newspaper headlines before inviting audiences to join in on singalongs celebrating her love of typewriters and Skippy the Bush Kangaroo.

DJ Reardon often spun the tracks. One-off cabaret acts include Lynne Perrie from TV soap Coronation Street and a heavily botoxed Pete Burns from Dead or Alive who performed You Spin me Round (Like a record) shortly before his untimely death.  Some of us recall a total eclipse of the heart from Welsh-born Bonnie Tyler during a mid-week slot in the 90’s, or was it a doppelganger?

The Black Cap is now expertly managed by Rafael Motycki with well-trained, engaging staff both backstage and in-house. Apart from the downstairs stage area, The Black Cap retains its open-plan upstairs bar and has reopened the rooftop garden. The top floors contain six luxurious drag-themed hotel rooms. Evenings provide a mix of cabaret from seasoned pros including Doctor Woof, Sophia Stardust and the return of Sandra on 10/10/26. Evenings offer rotating drag bingo, open mic and karaoke nights, and the Drag Academy currently hosts a look out for new talent on the block competition.

The Black Cap has always found ways to anchor the power of laughter and music through stage performance and welcomes undercurrents of resilience to laws of the establishment that have often criminalised our community. Although we have won many of our freedoms, the endurance of venues such as The Black Cap with its sign above the door “welcome to all” may well have contributed to our collective success. Whether this results in a one-night stand or a partner for life, The Black Cap has it all plus a back history to be proud of.