Notable Events
Coleherne pub goers, angry at the politicisation of gay sex, lifestyle and position in society by the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), pelted passing parade goers with bottles in 1972.
Over the years, many police arrests were made for a range of offences, including obstruction, soliciting, importuning, and the more serious conspiracy to corrupt public morals, in the street outside the pub at night when customers left at closing time. These arrests were often just as a result of little more than gay men standing in the street talking to each other. This, despite the fact that many other non-gay pubs in the area used to have similar crowds at closing time and no police action was taken against them. There were several street disturbances and demonstrations through the 1970s and '80s as a result of continual, decades-long police harassment around the Coleherne.
The pub was infamous as the stalking ground for three separate serial killers from the 1970s to 1990s: Dennis Nilsen, Michael Lupo and Colin Ireland. Serial killer Colin Ireland committed five murders in 1993, after making a New Year's resolution. Ireland, who claimed he was straight, picked up men at the Coleherne, whose colour coded handkerchiefs indicated that they were into sadomasochism and passive. Ireland accompanied his victims to their homes, where he restrained and then killed them.
Read more about this topic: Coleherne Public House
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