A Glasgow bar at risk of closure is taking creative steps to mitigate the threat of the cost-of-living crisis and save the business from shuttering its doors for good.

Bonjour Bar on Saltmarket revealed to customers last week that it would be starting a membership programme in lieu of asking patrons to donate to a one-time fundraiser.

The bar is an important community hub for creatives and members of the LGBTQ+ community and the team that runs it has always been acutely aware of being affordable to its diverse clientele.

Glasgow Times:

Glasgow Times:

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READ MORE: Much-loved LGBTQ+ bar in Glasgow at risk of closure amid cost-crisis

Members of the profit-sharing cooperative that runs Bonjour Bar told the Glasgow Times that the membership programme was a way to generate support over the long term.

Simon Howard, a co-op member at Bonjour, said: “We didn’t want to survive on a donation because that would only plug a hole for a short while.

“We wanted to create something that allowed people to get something back.”

Bringing in a membership means supporters can donate art if they don’t have the means to donate financially, and people are able to get involved without having to go to the venue and buy drinks.

Subscriptions to Bonjour are available on the digital platform Ko-fi in five tiers starting at £5 per month, and each tier offers different benefits like free entry, a quarterly zine, and A3 riso prints.

The Bonjour team understands that raising money from a community that is also affected by the cost-of-living crisis is tricky, but they have reached a point where they can no longer manage the mounting costs without taking action.

Peter McKenna, a fellow Bonjour co-op member, said: “Stock prices have gone up, energy prices have gone up. That’s affecting us, that’s affecting our suppliers, that’s affecting our customers, our community.”

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Dill Dowdall, a staff member at Bonjour, added: “A lot of our customers, being from marginalised communities, don’t always have the means to be putting money into somewhere like Bonjour.

“And we do have things in place like pay-what-you-can entry to ensure that we are accessible, but a lot of our target audience doesn’t necessarily have the money to keep businesses alive right now because they’re already struggling.”

Peter said: “There are significant barriers to employment and financial stability that come with being a queer person, a trans person, and I think we see the effects of that.”

The Bonjour Bar champions being a safe space for trans people and is also one of the most accessible queer bars in Glasgow for people with additional support needs.

Peter said: “I think that was something we really saw from publicly stating our situation last week, was that once this space did exist and started to serve the community in the way that we do, people were really fearful that that would go away.

“The idea that there would once again be a gap in that kind of service and community building effort really scares people.”

The emergency announcement posted on social media last week has received an outpouring of support from people and businesses across Glasgow.

Frankie Mulholland, also a Bonjour co-op member, said: “We want to say thank you to everyone that’s supported us so far.

“It’s been a really incredible response from the public, very affirming, and has relit a fire to keep us going.”

Peter added: “We are aware that we are not the only small business affected by this [crisis] and we all need to stand in solidarity and support our communities and make sure people are taken care of.”