Skip to content
Three men have been charged following the G-Bar Liverpool stabbing, which left three men injured outside one of the city’s best-known LGBTQ+ venues.
Merseyside Police were called to Tithebarn Street at around 6.35am on Sunday, 20 September, after three injured men were found in Liverpool city centre. Officers believe the incident happened outside G-Bar on Eberle Street following an altercation between two groups inside the venue.
All three injured men were taken to hospital. One remained in hospital in a stable condition in the latest police update.
Three men were arrested on 22 September and formally charged the following day.
Importantly, police have said there is no suggestion from their enquiries so far that the incident had a hate-crime element, despite G-Bar being a well-known LGBTQ+ venue.
What happened in the G-Bar Liverpool stabbing?
According to Merseyside Police, the incident began following an altercation between two groups inside G-Bar before violence continued outside the venue.
Officers were called to nearby Tithebarn Street, where the three injured men were found.
Police carried out CCTV, forensic and witness enquiries before arresting three men on Tuesday, 22 September.
The following morning, detectives confirmed that all three had been charged.
Two of the men were charged with two counts of Section 18 wounding with intent and violent disorder, while the third was charged with one count of Section 18 wounding with intent and violent disorder.
Additional charges include possession of a bladed article for two of the defendants and possession of a Class B controlled drug for another.
The three defendants were due to appear at Wirral Magistrates’ Court on 23 September.
Proceedings are active and the charges have not been proven.
Was the G-Bar stabbing an anti-LGBTQ+ hate crime?
The location of the stabbing understandably caused concern within Liverpool’s LGBTQ+ community.
But Merseyside Police has been clear about what its investigation has established so far.
Detective Chief Inspector Lisa McNaughton said there was “no suggestion from our enquiries so far” that the incident had a hate-crime element.
That distinction is important.
The stabbing happened outside a recognised LGBTQ+ venue, but there is currently no evidence released by police indicating that the violence was motivated by hostility towards LGBTQ+ people.
For queer media, that matters. We should take violence affecting our community seriously without turning an LGBTQ+ location into evidence of an anti-LGBTQ+ motive where one has not been established.
What is happening to G-Bar Liverpool?
The incident has also triggered action under Liverpool’s licensing system.
Liverpool City Council lists G-Bar, Percy Building, 1–7 Eberle Street, as subject to a summary review of its premises licence following an application dated 22 September.
That process allows licensing authorities to consider urgent action following a serious incident associated with licensed premises.
It puts the future operation of one of Liverpool’s established queer nightlife venues under fresh scrutiny while the criminal investigation continues.
Why G-Bar matters to Liverpool’s LGBTQ+ community
G-Bar sits in the heart of Liverpool’s Pride Quarter, an area that has played a significant role in the city’s LGBTQ+ nightlife for decades.
And queer venues are rarely just somewhere to grab a drink or have a dance until silly o’clock.
Historically, LGBTQ+ bars and clubs have offered spaces where queer people could meet, socialise, find partners and simply exist openly at times when doing so elsewhere was considerably harder.
That role still matters.
Across the UK, LGBTQ+ venues have faced pressures from rising costs, redevelopment and changing nightlife habits. Losing a queer venue can therefore mean losing another piece of physical LGBTQ+ community space.
But protecting queer spaces must also mean ensuring that the people using them can feel safe.
Liverpool’s queer spaces deserve safety and facts
The G-Bar Liverpool stabbing is a serious incident without needing speculation to make it more dramatic.
Three men were injured. Three men have been charged. A police investigation continues and the venue is facing licensing scrutiny.
At the same time, police have found no evidence so far suggesting an anti-LGBTQ+ hate-crime motive.
Both facts can exist together.
For Liverpool’s queer community, the wider conversation should not be about manufacturing another culture-war headline. It should be about ensuring that LGBTQ+ nightlife remains both visible and safe.
Because Britain has already lost too many queer spaces.
The ones that remain deserve protecting — and so do the people inside them.
