• Turning Point UK planned a protest at The Great Exhibition bar in East Dulwich.
• To oppose a fictitious drag show.
• But the pub’s website had an outdated event listing.

On Friday early, protesters gathered outside a deserted bar to voice their opposition to a fictitious drag show.

At 11:00 GMT, Turning Point UK planned a protest at The Great Exhibition bar in East Dulwich.

Locals and advocates for LGBT+ rights gathered for a counter protest at 10:00 GMT, which was organized by Stand Up to Racism South London.

The pub’s website had an outdated event listing, which prompted Turning Point UK to organize a protest.

A representative for CLIP, which had a Drag Storytime event there in July 2022, informed Media that because the listings had not been updated, the event was still listed as occurring every month on the venue’s website.

Outside the pub, some 200 individuals were spotted, and Met Police officers were present.

They further stated that due to “safeguarding” issues, CLIP had ceased operating all Drag Storytime events.

Lawrence Fox and Calvin Robertson, who participated in a different protest last month against a drag storytelling event at The Honor Oak bar in Forest Hill, were two of the four speakers turned out by Turning Point UK for its demonstration.

There has never been a Drag Storytime event scheduled for today, according to a spokeswoman for The Great Exhibition bar.

They said that the pub is “committed to offering events that are magical, fun, inclusive and appropriate”.

They added: “[Turning Point UK] appear to be opposing our Drag Storytime event for the under 5s, an event that took place in July 2022.

“Whilst the event was a huge success last year and brought great joy to parents and children alike, there is no event booked at the Great Exhibition next Friday, nor has there ever been.”

The bar’s website still features an out-of-date advertisement for Drag Storytime for Under 5s on April 14 that refers to it as a monthly event.

The booking link sends users to the CLIP website, which has no events.

“Drag as an artform is a time-honored cultural phenomenon in the British theatre lexicon, from early passion plays and Shakespeare to Dame Edna Everage, drag performance has been part of our heritage since the 1500s, and just like all performance, there are different types of content that are created for different age groups within the genre, this is true of every art form,” a spokesperson for CLIP said.

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