"Looking for London's most iconic cultural hotspots?" asked TimeOut in showcasing "the 50 best cultural spots, venues, museums, theatres, parks, pubs and markets that make the city what it is today."
TimeOut's list included Gay's the Word bookshop in Bloomsbury, noting: "When it first opened in 1979, Gay's the Word was the U.K.'s first shop dedicated to gay and lesbian books. Since then it's stocked everything from erotic fiction to queer theory, but it's the activism born here that has really left a mark on London. It was the meeting place for Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners during the strikes of the '80s and it's still a thriving hub for LGBT+ meet-ups--but the community have had to fight to keep things that way. In 1984 the shop's directors were charged with conspiracy to import indecent books. The public rallied around the bookshop, raising a £55,000 defense fund. Donations also piled in when a brick was thrown through the window this year. Thank God this grassroots fighter is still going strong."