The Yard – Rupert Street
The bar that let the sunlight in
The Yard opened in 1993 in a converted Victorian coach house on Rupert Street, and its central feature was quietly radical: an outdoor courtyard bar. At a time when gay bars were defined by darkness and anonymity – low ceilings, blacked-out windows, all for a reason – The Yard offered sunlight. Tables in a courtyard, a loft bar above, a relaxed welcome for both the old Soho scene and a new generation.
Norman Higgs and Andrew Pringle created a venue that defined the lighter side of 1990s gay Soho: a place to arrive, to meet, to sit with a glass and watch the afternoon turn into evening. In the summer of 1993 people sat outside. That was something new. The Yard is still open – still with its courtyard.