Amongst the quickening pace of building demolition and executive-flat erections in Vauxhall, south London, one building is set to remain as it is. London’s oldest gay pub and The Art Newspaper neighbour, the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, has been given a Grade II listing. The London stalwart has played host to the great and the good of society, from regular acts such as avant-garde cabaret collective Duckie to most infamously a young Princess Diana dressed as a man and accompanied by Freddie Mercury in the late 1980s. The first listing for an LGBT venue follows a campaign to protect the pub after a property developer acquired the building last year. Thankfully, for the time being, another one doesn’t bite the dust in Vauxhall.
