While The Birdcage may have flown the coop, the building will finally return to its roots when a new LGBTQ+ bar opens at the same address later this month.
The Corner, as the bar is now called, plans to open near Halloween at 927 Race Street downtown. It is owned by Pride Holdings Group, a publicly-traded company that specializes in LGBTQ+ hospitality venues.
As queer Cincinnatians likely remember, The Birdcage closed without warning on Christmas Eve 2024.
The closure came after a failed expansion attempt into the former 7,000-square-foot Rebel Mettle Brewery space downtown on Central Avenue in June 2023; that space closed shortly after opening in February 2024, and The Birdcage returned to its original location.
The bar’s final closure was announced on Christmas Eve 2024 via a Facebook post, and despite many rumors of acquisitions and reopenings, the building has sat unused — until now.
CityBeat toured the space on Monday night with Pride Holdings Chief Operating Officer Joshua Cooper, who was hard at work on construction to get the space in tip-top shape.
He shared that the bar would be open on afternoons and most weekdays, unlike many other queer spaces in the area. Two major differences between The Birdcage and The Corner will be a larger stage for performances and a giant LED screen placed on the back wall — although those two elements won’t be ready in time for the bar’s opening.
Currently, there are already plans for karaoke, drag bingo, movie nights, special Bengals watch parties and more.
“The Corner represents the first of many organic openings by Pride Holdings Group,” said Tim Majors, the company’s CEO, in a statement. “Joshua Cooper has done a wonderful job getting this location ready for opening and demonstrating our commitment to creating thriving and inclusive LGBTQ+ spaces.”
After Cooper completes “phase 1” of opening — that is, getting the main bar up and running — he’ll transition to work on a second phase in the winter, where he’ll transform The Birdcage’s former dressing room into another bar.
This bar will be a small, speakeasy-style lounge with couches. He joked that since his husband is a DJ, he’s constantly surrounded by music and likes having a place to relax that isn’t so loud. He hopes that this second bar will provide something similar for people who want to go to a queer space but aren’t necessarily interested in a ‘club’ vibe that night.
While it’s anyone’s guess whether The Corner will reach its projected opening date of “October 2026,” Cooper was brimming with confidence that the bar will be open by then —and even if it doesn’t, whenever it arrives, it’ll be filling a major hole in Cincinnati’s LGBTQ+ community.
CityBeat will have more information on The Corner later this month. In the meantime, visit The Corner’s official Instagram page.
