COVID-19 has affected so many of us in our day to day lives whether that’s losing a loved one, a job, or not being able to go on that well-deserved holiday.
Before lockdown began, we were lucky enough to have accumulated surplus funds to ensure the future of West Five Bar.
During Lockdown, unfortunately the funds where drawn upon to ensure the rent, rates, insurances, etc where kept up to date and have now been drained. With weekly non-trading costs in excess of £2500 (Excluding Staff wages).
July 4th, deemed “Super Saturday” saw the reopening of several business and gave everyone a glimmer of hope! As we draw towards the end of month, the glimmer has gone, and we are faced with the harsh reality that the ‘’new normal’’ is no comparison to the ‘’old normal’’.
West Five Bar is usually a vibrant safe venue with people from all walks of life, supporting the LGBTQ+ community locally and from afar. Supplying you with wonderful entertainment from UK and abroad including USA! DJ’s playing a mixture of music till the early hours of the morning along side the Open Mic Piano Lounge with live musicians and giving you the chance to be the star!
West Five Bar over the years has supported a number of charities such as Outwest, Spectra, National Aids Trust, Cancer Research, Food Chain, The Royal Marsden Hospital (Dusty Day) and Help for Heroes to name but a few
But with the ‘’New Normal’’ the magic has gone and we don’t know how long this will be for!
The atmosphere is not as enjoyable and some of you are shielding, or afraid to go out; and like you we can’t wait for the ‘’New Normal’’ to disappear and welcome back the ‘’Old Normal’’.
We hate to do this but its very simple
USE IT, FUND IT or LOSE IT.
The funds have gone, and the debts are starting to mount, the footfall is around 10% of what it was.
We would love for you to USE IT, we are operating Friday to Sunday from 7pm, we have taken several measures to help to keep you safe!
FUND IT, Simply by using it you are funding us! But for those that would like to help out in a different way and would like to give towards the costs of keeping the venue alive, we have set up a GoFund Me Page. We would much rather you used it, but again we understand why you would not wish to venture out right now.
LOSE IT, We simply do not wish this to happen and the owners are funding from their alternative business at the moment, as you can imagine there is only a certain amount of time this will last!
Help us keep one of the last LGBTQ+ venues in West London, USE IT, to FUND IT!
We hate to do this, but in these uncertain times we have no choice.
West Five has been here for us over the last 22 years, so lets be here for West Five for the next 22 years!
Donations can be made via Outsavvy or GoFundMe.com/f/west5bar