It started here
Lewisham's Black queer history is quieter in the public record than its numbers deserve — but it has already produced one of the country's most successful openly gay Black men.
MNEK — born Uzoechi Emenike in Lewisham in 1994, raised in Bellingham — has written and produced for Beyoncé, Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Dua Lipa, Stormzy and Little Mix among many others, and won the ASCAP Vanguard Award in 2016. He has spoken openly in interviews about being a gay Black man in an industry that doesn't always make that easy. He's not a BLKOUT story — he's Lewisham's own, and this page is proud to say so.
Beyond that, where the record exists, it's mostly ours to tell, and it mostly runs through one building. The Albany, Deptford's community arts centre, has hosted us more than once. In 2016, BLKOUT ran a series called E-troducing there. Over the years since, we've also supported a play staged at The Albany, and spoken at an event run by Black Gay Ink — Troy Fairclough's writing development scheme for Black gay men, which held workshops and showcases there into the mid-2020s before evolving into Black Rainbow Ink. And in April 2023, BLKOUT put out a direct call-out — #StrongerTogether — to Black bi, gay and/or trans men in Lewisham more widely: get together, get support from local professionals, decide what would work for you. 'Your crown has been bought and paid for.' We don't have a public record of what that group went on to do, which is exactly the kind of thing this page exists to find out.
What's real and building now: Deptford's Piehouse Co-op — a railway arch venue that closed and was fought back open by its community in November 2024 — and a council-backed capacity-building project launching in April 2026, explicitly prioritising Black and racially minoritised LGBTQ+ people as it rebuilds the borough's LGBT+ network. The infrastructure is arriving. If you were part of the 2023 group, on that stage, or in that writers' room — the panel below is where you tell us.
The 2021 Census counted around 81,900 Black residents in Lewisham — the third-largest Black population of any London borough. On the estimates we publish, that's 1,800 to 2,600 Black queer men living here right now. These are working estimates and we welcome correction. The point is the scale: we were never a niche. We were just never counted.
Here in Lewisham
In April 2023 we put out a direct call-out to Black bi, gay and/or trans men in Lewisham to co-create a peer support project together. We don't have a public record of what came of it — help us find out, or help us restart it.
Nothing else is listed in Lewisham right now beyond the directory below — checked 31 August 2026. That's a report, not a silence. The door below is always open.
In the directory — BLKOUT in Lewisham
- The CookOUT — Queer African collective celebrating Black British LGBTQ+ culture through events — The CookOUT
From the BLKOUT Places directory — every entry checked for activity in the last year.
Gatherings across London — the BLKOUT events calendar
Fewer and truer: what's actually on for Black queer London, checked by people, never padded.
Beside us in the borough
Neighbours doing good work in Lewisham. Use them — and tell them we sent you.
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Proud to Be Me CIC
Support for girls and LGBTQ+ young people (11–24) at risk of exclusion or exploitation, with a stated priority for Black, Asian and marginalised communities — part of the Lewisham Local capacity-building project launching April 2026.
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SE London Pride
South-east London's Pride organisation, rebuilding the borough's LGBTQ+ network alongside Lewisham Local — ran a Black History Month social, 'Stand in your power', at Lewisham Youth Theatre in October 2025.
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Triangle LGBTQ+ Cultural Centre
Deptford's LGBTQ+ gallery, cinema, studios and social club, running since 2021.
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Piehouse Co-op
A Deptford railway arch venue, reopened in November 2024 after a community campaign to save it — home to the Rotten Crip Collective's residency and a genuine local win worth backing.
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Worth the journey
Black queer men have never let a borough boundary decide where community happens. Where you're centred, not just welcome:
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Black, Queer & Thriving — Black Thrive Lambeth
A genuine Black-queer-centred mental health programme, one borough over in neighbouring Lambeth.
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Look after yourself
Free, confidential, no GP needed, no judgement — and your business stays yours.
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Sexual Health London (SHL)
Free, discreet home test kits and PrEP by post anywhere in London — order online, nothing to explain to anyone. Lewisham takes part in full.
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56 Dean Street
Soho's LGBTQ+ specialist sexual health and HIV service — Europe's largest, and long the home clinic of queer London.
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Find your nearest NHS clinic
Every NHS sexual health service near you — testing, treatment, PrEP — searchable by postcode.
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Next door
The doors are opening borough by borough. Step through, or help us open the next one.
Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2025. Contains National Statistics data © Crown copyright and database right 2025.
2,600
Your guess stays in this browser.
One dot for every Black queer man the census estimate puts in Lewisham — between 1,800 and 2,600 of us.
| Borough | Black residents (2021) | Black queer men (est.) |
|---|---|---|
| Croydon | 88,500 | 2,000–2,800 |
| Newham | 88,200 | 2,000–2,700 |
| Lewisham | 81,900 | 1,800–2,600 |
| Southwark | 80,100 | 1,800–2,500 |
| Lambeth | 76,100 | 1,700–2,400 |
| Brent | 62,500 | 1,400–2,000 |
| Hackney | 59,300 | 1,300–1,900 |
| Enfield | 58,200 | 1,300–1,800 |
| Haringey | 52,400 | 1,200–1,700 |
| Waltham Forest | 46,700 | 1,000–1,500 |
2021 Census analysis — Who Are the UK's Black Queer Men? (BLKOUT's Critical Frequency dossier)
Nobody keeps this number. Not the council, not the NHS, not the people who commission work in this borough. The estimate is ours, built from the 2021 Census, because a population nobody counts is a population nobody plans for.
Know your Lewisham?
Three questions. No prizes except the stories.
01 In April 2023, BLKOUT put out a direct call-out — #StrongerTogether — to which group of Lewisham men?
A call-out to Lewisham's Black bi, gay and/or trans men to co-create a peer support project on mental health and wellbeing — get together, get support from local professionals, decide what would work for you.
02 In 2016, BLKOUT ran an event series called E-troducing at which Deptford venue?
The Albany — a genuine, if quiet, chapter of our own history in the borough. Over the years we've also supported a play staged there and spoken at a Black Gay Ink writers' event on the same site.
03 Which Lewisham-born record producer and songwriter — openly gay, raised in Bellingham — won the ASCAP Vanguard Award in 2016?
MNEK — born Uzoechi Emenike, he's written and produced for Beyoncé, Madonna, Dua Lipa and Stormzy, among many others, while being open about being a gay Black man in the industry.
Reading the borough
Lewisham's queer record includes one of British music's biggest names — start with these, and tell us what belongs on the shelf.
- MNEK — Wikipedia, ongoing. On the Lewisham-born, Bellingham-raised producer and songwriter's career and his openness about being gay.
- Pride in Lewisham Local: how we are prioritising LGBTQ+ inclusion — Lewisham Local, 2026. The capacity-building project behind Proud to Be Me CIC and SE London Pride's current work, explicitly naming Black and racially minoritised LGBTQ+ people as a priority. Read the piece
- London Borough of Lewisham — LGBT History Project UK, ongoing. General borough queer history — Lewisham CHE (1972), the amateur film David is Homosexual, and the South London Gay Young People's Group in Catford from 1981.
- Black Gay Ink — Troy Fairclough, with Spread the Word, concluded, mid-2020s. A writing development scheme for Black gay men, funded by Arts Council England — ran workshops and showcases at The Albany, Deptford, including at the 2024 Deptford Literature Festival, before evolving into Black Rainbow Ink. BLKOUT spoke at one of its Albany events.
From the BLKOUT archive
Lewisham doesn't yet have a piece in our published story archive — but our 2023 #StrongerTogether call-out and the 2016 E-troducing series at The Albany are both real, and belong here once we've brought that record back online.
Browse the story archiveAsked, answered
Where can I meet other Black queer men in Lewisham?
We called for one to form in April 2023, and we're honest that we don't have a public record of what came of it — start with the door on this page, and BLKOUT's national community is open to you today. If a few Lewisham men want a table in the borough, we'll help hold it.
Where can I get an STI test or PrEP in Lewisham?
Sexual Health London posts free test kits and PrEP to any London address, no GP and no conversation required. 56 Dean Street is a short ride away in Soho.
Is BLKOUT a Lewisham organisation?
BLKOUT is one community-owned co-operative for Black queer men across the UK — with a door in every borough. We're registered in Croydon and we belong wherever our men are. We ran events in Lewisham a decade before this page existed.
I'm not out. Can I still come?
Yes. Come as you are — nobody at this door asks you to be anything first, and your business stays yours.
Is the history on this page accurate?
It's checked against the public record and dated so you can see when we last looked — and where we couldn't find something, we've said so rather than guessed. If we've got something wrong, or you were part of a chapter we've missed, the panel at the bottom is where you tell us, and the page changes.
Be met
Come as you are. We answer.
Leave your name and we'll keep you posted about Lewisham — what's on, what's starting, and how to be part of it. This goes to BLKOUT, a co-operative owned by its members. No engagement machinery, nothing sold onward — just a community that answers.
Step inside
The door is how we find each other. BLKOUTHUB is where we live.
The members' room: Black queer men across the UK, owned by the men in it. Why knock:
- Real connection. Nearly four in five members say they came to find it — and found it.
- No algorithm, no ads, nothing sold onward. A room that doesn't monetise you. Your attention is yours; we're after your company.
- Where things actually start. Occasions, groups, and the knowledge that never gets written down — passed man to man, the way it always has been.
- Owned by us. A co-operative with an asset lock: what we build together stays ours, and passes to the men who come after.
And don't just read about AIvor — talk with him. Our own voice, named for the man whose name is over every door. Ask him about BLKOUT, about Black queer life, about Lewisham — he answers.
Talk with AIvor nowMake it truer
We know this page is thinner than Lewisham deserves — and the people here know the rest of it. If there's a group we've missed, a chapter of our own history you were part of, or something building we haven't heard about — tell us. Corrections get credited, if you want the credit.
If you work here
This page is for Black queer men first. But if you serve this borough — NHS, social prescribing, council, community sector, creative health, or you run a room — there's a door for you too.
- Refer. Supporting a Black queer man who could use his people? Send him this page — that is a referral, and every knock gets answered by a human.
- Commission or partner. Working on Black queer men's health, culture or connection in Lewisham? We're the community-owned, by-and-for partner — and the evidence base is already on this page. Write to rob@blkoutuk.com.
- List us. Maintain a directory, a support page, a signposting service? Our entry, ready to paste:
BLKOUT — the UK's community-owned co-operative for Black queer men. In your neighbourhood: https://events.blkoutuk.com/lewisham/ · blkoutuk.com · rob@blkoutuk.com - Run a room. A venue, night or group our men should know about? Tell us — the page gets truer, and it points at you.
We list our neighbours and our neighbours list us. That's how a borough works.