Paul O’Grady had spoken out against the closure of the Black Cap pub

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BLACK Cap campaigners were left heartbr­oken at the sudden death of Paul O’Grady, the performer who cut his teeth as a drag act at the famous bar in Camden Town.

Tributes were pouring in all day yesterday (Wednesday) for the 67-year-old entertainer, whose alter ego Lily Savage had made him a household name.

Mr O’Grady had spoken out in support of the defiant campaign to see the LGBTQ+ Black Cap re-open as it was. Vigils have been held outside the pub ever since it was suddenly closed in 2015.

“It was a highly successful pub and was packed each night. I’d understand it if it wasn’t successful, but it was. It had that reputation for cabaret,” he had told the New Journal. “It is bloody disgusting that anyone should want to use the Black Cap to build luxury flats in the first place. It is like every bloody square inch of London is becoming luxury flats, and for what? For rich overseas investors to have somewhere to stash their money, while our communities wither.”

Mr O’Grady had worked as a social worker for Camden Council in the 1970s and 1980s, and lived in the area after moving to London. In his memoirs, he recalled: “For my debut at the Black Cap that Saturday afternoon, 7 October 1978, I thought it best if I went for the low comedy look rather than attempt high glamour as I had neither the resources nor the finances for sequins and feathers.”

The Black Cap Community, which is working to have the venue in Camden High Street re-opened, said yesterday: “He was not only an iconic performer and drag queen as Lily Savage, he was a fierce campaigner for LGBTQ+ rights, and for the dogs and other animals he loved. He was also an absolutely lovely human being. The news is totally heartbreaking.”

The pub has stood empty since its closure and is among a list of lost LGBT+ venues in London.

The campaigners are frustrated with hoardings in front of the closed pub

The campaigners are angry that the front of the building is now used for advertising hoardings and tweeted last week that an interactive sign asking people to indicate how they were feeling by attaching stickers to a mood gauge was “hiding the Black Cap behind adverts and useless displays”.

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