London gay bars fading

Gay-friendly British capital finds demand for 'queer spaces' diminishing in era of tolerance, Mohammed Abbas reports

Fresh out of jail and sporting tattoos on his neck and knuckles, 53-year-old Shaun Perkins sits in one of London's oldest gay pubs looking bewildered. "When you're in prison, they put you in a cell and it's like time stands still," he said, dressed in a leather jacket and jeans. Staring at a gaggle of straight young women in smart casual wear and polka-dot dresses, he said: "Everything's changed. You wouldn't have seen girls in a place like this." In the 13 years that Perkins was jailed, London's gay scene has transformed.

Several venues have either closed down or become more open to straights, and many gay people are frequenting mainstream venues amid an atmosphere of greater tolerance.