COVEN Gives Soho a New Five-Floor Home for LGBTQ+ Culture
COVEN Headquarters has transformed 30 Old Compton Street into five floors of LGBTQ+ nightlife, performance, art and community in Soho.
One of Soho’s best known LGBTQ+ addresses is alive with queer culture again. COVEN Headquarters has transformed the former G-A-Y Bar at 30 Old Compton Street into a five-floor home for nightlife, performance, creativity and community.
COVEN officially opened the venue on 19 June 2026, exactly one year after the project began. It became the first new LGBTQ+ club to open on Old Compton Street in more than a decade, bringing a new generation of queer nightlife to a building already deeply connected with London’s LGBTQ+ history.
Behind the project is COVEN founder and creative director Matthew Jacobs Morgan, a writer, director and actor who originally developed COVEN from an East London club night into a wider cultural project.
The Soho move has particular meaning for Matthew. He has spoken about 30 Old Compton Street being the first gay bar he visited when he was younger, remembering the importance of entering somewhere and seeing people who looked and moved like him.
Years later, he is now helping shape that same building for the next generation.
COVEN describes itself as a space for every part of the LGBTQIA+ community, and the five-storey venue is designed to offer considerably more than traditional nightlife. During the day it can operate as a café, artists’ salon and community space, before transforming into a performance and club venue later in the day.
Its growing programme includes live music, DJs, cabaret, screenings, workshops, community gatherings and creative events. Recent listings have ranged from queer tarot evenings and new DJ nights to collaborations with film and cultural organisations, giving the building a constantly changing identity.
That wider purpose is an important part of COVEN’s appeal. London has lost numerous LGBTQ+ venues over the years, making the arrival of a new permanent queer space in the centre of Soho especially positive.
Instead of simply recreating what existed before, COVEN is using the building differently. There is space to dance, but also space to meet, create, perform, collaborate and build new queer communities across generations.
Matthew has said he wants people entering COVEN to feel “held, loved and part of something bigger than themselves.” At a location that has already played a role in so many LGBTQ+ lives, that feels like an especially fitting ambition.
The story of 30 Old Compton Street is continuing, but COVEN is very much creating its own chapter.
Find COVEN at 30 Old Compton Street, Soho. Follow @covenhq and @worldwidecoven for events and updates, and SoapLandTV for more LGBTQ+ culture. Images: COVEN / official social channels.
Sources: COVEN, COVEN Headquarters official information, Time Out London and QX Magazine.
