Peter Dorey opened the Marchmont Street store with Ernest Hole and Jonathan Cutbill in 1979
19 February, 2021 â By Tom Foot
Peter Dorey, left, and co-founder Ernest Hole on the shopâs first day
TRIBUTES have been paid to Peter Dorey, one of the founders of the pioneering Gayâs The Word bookshop, after he passed away on Friday aged 73.
The store in Marchmont Street, Bloomsbury, is the oldest LGBT+ bookshop in the UK and had to survive spurious raids by the authorities in the 1980s.
Mr Dorey had opened the shop with Ernest Hole and Jonathan Cutbill in 1979.
Current staff members said that the âmoral courageâ of the founders âcannot be overstatedâ.
The Dorey and Gay s The Word families
February 18, 2021
Peter Dorey (left) with Ernest Hole. (Gay s the Word)
Peter Dorey, who co-founded London’s beloved LGBT+ bookshop Gay’s the Word, has died aged 73 at his home in Brighton, England. Here, his family and Gay’s the Word remember him.
In 1979, Peter was one of a small group of LGBT+ activists, including Ernest Hole and Jonathan Cutbill, who established a small, specialist bookshop on Marchmont Street, Bloomsbury.
Gay’s the Word was one of Britain’s first queer bookshops, opening when LGBT+ titles were generally not available in ordinary bookstores. Peter provided the very necessary funding for it.
BBC News
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image copyrightGay s the Word/ Instagarm
image captionGay s the Word co-founders Peter Dorey (left) and Ernest Hole outside the store in London the day it opened in 1979
A pioneering shop owner who opened the UK s first gay book store has died at the age of 73.
Peter Dorey, who was among a small group of gay activists, opened Gay s The Word in Bloomsbury in central London in 1979.
The shop acted as a safe place for LGBTQ+ communities during a period of oppression and discrimination.
Mr Dorey, who was raised in Harrow, died on Friday following years of poor health, his family confirmed.