The Video Pub, Jerusalem’s only gay bar in recent years, will shut at the end of June after 14 and a half years of activity. Opened in 2012, it became one of the most recognizable nightlife hubs for the city’s LGBTQ+ community and gained international attention as a meeting place for religious, ultra-Orthodox, Arab and formerly religious LGBTQ+ people. It also drew straight patrons and tourists. “The past few years have been challenging, but more than anything we feel it is time to move on,” the owners said.
The bar, located at Yohanan Horkanos Street, 1 in central Jerusalem, became over the years one of the most closely identified venues with the city’s gay nightlife, in a place where LGBTQ+ life is far more complex and fraught than in Tel Aviv.
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The Video Pub, Jerusalem’s only gay bar in recent years
(Photo: Courtesy of the Video Pub)
In a farewell message, owners and nightlife figures wrote that they are “closing this chapter” and saying goodbye to a place that was, for them and many others, “much more than just a bar.” The main reason for the closure is the cumulative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing wars since the October 7 attack.
“After 14 and a half years, the Video Pub is closing its doors,” they wrote. “At the end of June we will complete this chapter and say goodbye to a place that was, for us and for many others, much more than just a bar. It was a meeting point for community, friendships and memories.” They added, “This was not an easy decision. The past few years have been challenging, but more than anything we feel it is time to move on.”
Behind the restrained wording lies a difficult period for small businesses and nightlife in Jerusalem: the pandemic, long stretches of security instability, war, declining tourist traffic and the ongoing challenge of sustaining independent nightlife in the city. But the closure of the Video Pub is not just the closing of another venue. For many in Jerusalem, it marks the end of one of the last spaces where the city’s LGBTQ+ community could gather openly, freely and on a daily basis.
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The bar became over the years one of the most closely identified venues with the city’s gay nightlife
(Photo: Courtesy of the Video Pub)
The reactions to the announcement underscored how much the Video Pub meant beyond nightlife. “Thank you for a place that is home, a place that is the essence of the Jerusalem I love,” one commenter wrote. Another said that even after leaving the city more than a decade ago, she was saddened by the closure: “One of the places I most loved going out to during my coming-out journey. Liberal and free.” Another wrote, “Whenever I was asked about a good party in Jerusalem I always said ‘Video’ without hesitation. A real shame. There is no place like it in the world.”
Alongside the personal grief, others saw the closure as part of a broader picture of the city’s condition. “One can only wonder what will remain standing in Jerusalem,” one commenter wrote. Another said, “The last remnant of the community in Jerusalem. Sad and worrying. There are almost no places left for the community in the country.” Another summed it up simply: “My heart hurts. The place that was my home for so many years.”
A hidden place where Jerusalem allowed itself to let go
Inside an old Jerusalem stone building, behind a small gate and a staircase, the Video Pub opened in 2012 and quickly became one of the small but significant institutions of Jerusalem nightlife. Unlike large clubs or flashy venues, it operated on a distinctly local, intimate scale: a small bar, a dance floor, a terrace, pop and electro music, drag performances and a retro 1980s aesthetic.
Over the years, the Video Pub appeared in LGBTQ+ travel guides and international tourism websites, which described it as the city’s only dedicated gay bar and one of the few places in Jerusalem with clearly defined LGBTQ+ nightlife.
Its uniqueness was reflected in the unusually diverse crowd it attracted: LGBTQ+ people, formerly religious individuals, closeted ultra-Orthodox patrons, Arabs, students, foreign tourists and straight partygoers who found a freer, less judgmental and more open atmosphere. In international travel reviews it was described not only as a gay bar but as a rare community space in a complex city like Jerusalem.
Culturally as well, the Video Pub played a broader role than a typical venue. It served as a small stage for drag, music, performance and queer Jerusalem humor in a place where LGBTQ+ visibility is far from guaranteed. Travel guides highlighted its drag shows and parties as part of its alternative character, one that helped make Jerusalem feel a little more open and distinctive.