Slash

Slash represents the more recent end of Ghent's gay bar scene — a contemporary venue with a younger-skewing crowd, good music programming, and the kind of relaxed but lively atmosphere that the city's student population and younger LGBTQ+ community gravitates toward. The Penitentenstraat location is close to the city centre's main gay cluster and walkable from Café Video and the other established venues. Regular themed events — queer DJ nights, drag performances, community fundraisers — give Slash a programming identity that keeps a regular crowd returning throughout the year. The bar is more explicitly oriented toward the contemporary queer identity spectrum than some of the older venues: a younger, more gender-diverse crowd, music that ranges beyond the traditional gay bar canon. For visitors wanting to understand where Ghent's gay scene is heading as much as where it has been, Slash is the complement to Café Video's institutional history.