Queer Junction: Sheffield bar at centre of Gay Quarter closes down with damning open letter to South Yorkshire Police

It has been seven weeks since Queer Junction [QJ], on The Moor, agreed to restrict its opening hours from 6am to 4am after it – and neighbouring Gay Quarter bar Dempseys – were branded as being “associated with the highest volume of crime reports in Sheffield” by South Yorkshire Police. Now, it has closed down for good.

But in a parting shot, the club bosses have published a seething open letter to the police, accusing the force of failing to support them, assigning unrelated incidents in the area to Dempseys and QJ to inflate crime stats, and actively working to “shut us down”.

They also claim they were told by night shift officers that there were “orders” to get the bar closed and that “cheers” went up in SYP’s offices when their hours were restricted. The club’s directors say they are taking their complaints to the police watchdog, the IOPC.

The letter says the closure comes after seven weeks of having “a shotgun held to our heads by South Yorkshire Police”.

“Firstly, congratulations to SYP you have succeeded in shutting us down, which we believe was your ultimate endgame,” the letter reads.

“Does SYP need to kill off a few LGBT businesses in order to be able to move resources around so it has one less area to police?”

The letter alleges the bar’s directors had a meeting on November 18 with SYP, who “asked them to comment” on a report by the police that 203 crimes had been allocated to QJ in the space of 12 months. They claim this was revised in a later meeting down to 56 that were deemed “important”, dropping nearly 150 so-called “irrelevant” crimes.

“Over the course of the weekend of November 18, we worked under constant threat of being closed down, and were even told by the night time police patrols that the intention over the weekend to was to find reason to shut us down,” the letter alleges.

Three days later, on November 21, an incident occurred where a woman allegedly brandished a knife at the door of QJ before she was restrained by doorstaff.

The letter says when police arrived, “within two minutes a Closure Notice was produced (prior to any investigation or questioning), and QJ closed it’s doors. It appears the Closure Notice was prepared and typed up in advance of the incident.”

QJ’s directors claim when they arrived at Sheffield Magistrates’ Court the same morning to contest the closure, the notice was withdrawn with an hour to go before the hearing.

"We were told at a later meeting by SYP that this Closure Notice was withdrawn because the Closure Notice had been incorrectly issued,” the letter reads. “We believe that the Closure Notice would not have stood the scrutiny of the Magistrates’ Court.”

Later that day, QJ’s licence was revoked in an emergency hearing of the City Council’s licensing sub-committee. Typically, councils do not provide or contest evidence at such hearings, and are called for by police forces and must be convened within 48 hours.

This later led to QJ – and, in tandem, Dempseys – agreeing to have their hours reduced from 6am to 4am provisionally between November 24 and January. But the bar maintains that the businesses in the Gay Quarter are being associated with crimes that happen in the area but are unrelated to the two bars, and that homophobic attacks on their guests outside are being ascribed as violence linked to the businesses themselves.

The letter reads: “We already know that any incident within the vicinity is either applied to ourselves or Dempseys, regardless of whether it has anything to do with us or not.

“QJ has never professed to having no incidents, like any venue...But also we repeat what our neighbours Dempseys said in an open letter in February 2022, that we also get a high proportion of hugger muggers, drug dealers and undesirables which hang about the area, something Dempseys say has been happening for several years before QJ even opened. We deal with a high proportion of homophobia, especially from these undesirable people, but SYP doesn’t seem to acknowledge homophobia even exists.

“There is little interest from SYP to deal with these undesirable people, after all it is easier for them to close down venues, end jobs, remove investment and not have to deal with another area of the city, which we are told constantly they do not like to police. The Gay Quarter is a headache for them.

“SYP are boasting that there have been no incidents after 4am in the Gay Quarter area for the past seven weeks since they have shut all the businesses down in that area... If you shut a supermarket down you would have no shoplifting. If you shut all banks you would have no bank fraud.

“Shockingly we heard that SYP cheered in their offices when they succeeded in reducing hours of the Gay Quarter six weeks ago. It is outrageous that a public funded authority is celebrating the closure of private enterprise.

“SYP, and particularly these higher up bosses who we are told about who are working behind the scenes and remain nameless, are responsible for the demise of QJ. We believe SYP has acted incorrectly, unlawfully, and have abused the power you have been given.”

The letter is only signed by “the directors”.

It comes after neighbouring bar Dempseys wrote its own open letter in February 2022, accusing the police of “failing to support” the Quarter.

Superintendent Benn Kemp, from South Yorkshire Police, said: “The Chief Constable has received and reviewed the letter from Queer Junction and will be responding privately to the directors of the venue. The history of our previous involvement with Queer Junction has been set out in our former statements regarding the expedited licensing review.

“This trial period was due to end in January. However, in the meantime, we understand the venue has made the decision to permanently close its doors. We have taken no further action in relation to the venue. Together with partners, we remain committed to working with all our licensed premises in Sheffield to provide a safe and welcoming night time economy for everyone.”

The force added that the crime data relating to QJ and Demspeys had been shared with the businesses and ‘discussed at length’ with QJ.

Responding to the claim that the force was ‘waiting’ for an incident to issue a closure order, South Yorkshire Police said: “The closure order was withdrawn after consideration of other options, and it was decided the expedited review process should be proceeded instead.”