Momentum has been building in the last couple of months to turn the Bretonside corner of the city into Plymouth’s own Gay Village.
Mathew Causon, who is behind the movement, is also the owner of OMG Plymouth which has recently moved locations into the ‘catchment area’.
For those wondering, a Gay Village is a geographical area with generally recognised boundaries that are frequented by many LGBTQ+ people. They often contain a number of gay-oriented establishments like gay bars and pubs.
With OMGs recent move to Vauxhall Street, alongside complementary establishments like The Swallow and Gossip, Mathew believes now is the prime time to create this space for the community.
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“Long story short, Plymouth is like the hub for the main LGBT community in at least a 60-100 mile radius,” explained the bar owner.
“Everyone comes down from Exeter, it’s the main catchment area for our community.
(Image: Erin Black/Plymouth Live)
“We’re trying to build a night out for people in the gay community in Plymouth where they can for example, start out at The Swallow, head over to Gossip, and head over to OMG at the end of the night. That’s sort of our vision.
“When we [OMG] first opened up in Plymouth, the ‘travel to’ trade from outside the city was massive but over the years it seems to have dropped down a little bit.
“So I thought, ‘how can I get that going again?’ and get the community travelling. The best way of doing that is to create the concept of the Village.
“The Village is more like everybody working together so if you want to come down on a train and get a hotel, it’s worth it because there’s more than one venue.”
Mathew has recently transformed the former Hanging Gardens into OMG’s new residence. The bar, which is decked out with bright pink sofa booths, reflective ceiling orbs and a soon-to-be-revealed additional dancefloors, is now only a stone throw from other well- known LGBTQ+ venues.
He continues: “I thought that [the Gay Village] would be a way of reigniting it and getting the interest again because it’s hard to get people to travel. If I want to pull people in off the street that’s easy but if I want to get people to travel 60 miles, 80 miles, or whatever it is you have to think of a concept to get them to travel for.
“The Barbican was fantastic when we first came to Plymouth, but now it’s so busy and oversaturated so we had to move on that basis really. This building came up and it’s right next to everyone else and a good concept.”
(Image: Erin Black/Plymouth Live)
Of course trying to build ‘Plymouth’s Gay Village’ is not an attempt to push anyone away from the area or segregate itself from the wider Plymouth nightlife scene, as it will still be shoulder to shoulder with both new and existing venues like The Gin Sanctuary, The Kings Head and Club 27 that are not targeted towards any particular demographic.
The idea of the Gay Village is to create a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community and draw people from elsewhere to have a good time and enjoy the scene.
As one PlymouthLive reader explained on a previous article: “It’s not to seclude anyone, it’s in fact to make people aware that’s where all the queer bodies will be, in the indication for anyone from our community that’s where it’ll be safe hopefully for all of us to gather around drink, dance and party.”
Mathew also believes building up this reputation for Plymouth will help drive the local economy and bring more money to the city.
“I think it’s important to get the pink pound back into Plymouth because it does drive a lot of money to the area.
“I would have said back in the heyday we would have had 200 people per night travelling down to Plymouth. That’s a lot of hotel rooms, that’s a lot of places for people to stay. For the local economy is a massive thing.
“At the end of the day Plymouth is a big city and we need to start acting like one, we have to think big because we want people to come here.”
The pink pound describes the purchasing power of the LGBTQ+ community, with the British gay market estimated to be worth up to £6 billion a year.
Mathew is hoping to jazz up the area even further by proposing the installation of a rainbow zebra crossing.
The Facebook group he runs called ‘Plymouth’s Gay Village’ has previously said it was ‘in talks’ with the council to get one in the city.
With the recent reshuffle of Plymouth City Council following Election Night last month, it’s not known exactly where these talks stand, but Mathew is hopeful that the council shake up will help ‘Plymouth move forward.’
“Plymouth, personally I find, is a bit stuck in its ways and I think it needs a shake up to help us move forward,” he said.
“So hopefully we’ll see some change and that will be better than nothing.
“It’s nice to give people a venue that they would get in a big city, this is what you get in Liverpool or Bristol so why can’t we have it here? That excites me,” he added.
