Bondage members' club is given a £36,235 taxpayer handout

Bondage members’ club which holds underground sex parties is given a £36,235 taxpayer handout by Arts Council England’s Covid recovery fund

  • London-based Klub Verboten received funds via its parent company Unbennant
  • Launched in 2016, club hosts monthly events at secret locations across capital
  • Klub Verboten said it was ‘rescued from going bust’ after application approved
  • Arts Council England said cash was sourced from Covid Culture Recovery Fund 

A bondage members’ club which holds underground sex parties has been given a £36,235 taxpayer handout by Arts Council England’s Covid recovery fund.

London-based Klub Verboten, which hosts monthly events at secret locations across the capital, received the funds via its parent company Unbennant.

Launched in 2016, the self-titled ‘fetish club’ sells sex toys, bondage products and nipple clamps for its members and ‘champions positive forms of alternative human interaction’, according to its website. 

Klub Verboten said it was ‘rescued from going bust’ after its application to the public body was approved in April. 

London-based Klub Verboten (website pictured above), which hosts monthly events at secret locations across the capital, received the funds via its parent company Unbennant

Arts Council England confirmed the cash was sourced from the Covid Culture Recovery Fund, reports The Scottish Sun.

It said Unbennant is a ‘creative production company that makes a valuable contribution to the night-time economy’, adding that it will ‘use its grant to create and protect a number of jobs through Covid-secure events’.

Klub Verboten tweeted at the time: ‘The Arts Council England just sent us into subspace by recognising Verboten’s cultural significance by approving our Culture Recovery Fund application. 

‘After one year without any financial support this news rescued us from going bust. So big hugs to you all!’ 

It follows Arts Council England giving £215,000 to a drag queen called Le Gateau Chocolat in October last year. 

Speaking on the size of the grant at the time, an arts council spokesman said: ‘Awards of all scales and sizes have been made, but in all cases the awards are proportionate to the needs of the organisation. 

Klub Verboten said it was ‘rescued from going bust’ after its application to the public body was approved in April, adding: ‘Big hugs to you all!’

‘Le Gateau Chocolat is a leading black and LGBTQ+ performer whose work spans across multiple art forms, including drag, cabaret, opera, musical theatre, and live art.

‘With this funding, Le Gateau Chocolat Ltd will put on a number of planned shows, which would involve employing a range of freelancers to produce and deliver work.’  

More than 2,700 organisations were offered money from the Culture Recovery Fund following its announcement in April. The funds are part of £400million in government grants and loans for the arts industry.

About £300million in grants was awarded to recipients including Glastonbury, which received £900,000, the National Football Museum in Manchester and Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland.

About £300million in grants from the Culture Recovery Fund has been awarded to recipients including Glastonbury (festival pictured in 2019), which received £900,000

More than £100million in loans has been offered to organisations including the National Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said the money will help ‘our cultural gems plan for reopening and to thrive in the better times ahead’.

Recipients of new loans also included the English Heritage Trust and The Lowry, a theatre in Salford. 

A further £6.5million was awarded to independent cinemas, including £138,333 for East Finchley’s Phoenix Cinema in London – Britain’s oldest cinema in continuous use.

MailOnline has reached out to Klub Verboten and Arts Council England for comment. 

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