Wele to Sailors Gay Sna, which is East London's bt kept secret

Contents:

• INSI CHARTS, LONDON'S BIGGT GAY SNA
• THE FUTURE OF BRA’S GAY SNAS
• GAY SNAS LONDON
• WHEN I WAS HOMELS, I SOLD MY BODY GAY SNAS TO SURVIVE
• THE 10 BEST LONDON GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS LONDON

INSI CHARTS, LONDON'S BIGGT GAY SNA

Charts is a gay sna that’s somehow stood firm and risted the velopers for nearly 20 years. Amidst a vastatg year for gay venu London, alarm bells were set off June when was reported that the se might make way for a luxury hotel, but thankfully for s patrons, there’s been very ltle follow-up.

‘It was found 1997, ’ says staff member Lewis, ‘when fdg a fy, welg place to be openly gay or explore your sexualy was perhaps tougher than is now. For the uniated, a gay sna is, as our listg onle stat: ‘like a leisure centre, but wh sex’ – a place where men cise and hook up. ‘That always ma me giggle – the last thg a gay du to a sna for is a mouthful of fish.

‘Some misnceptns are fuelled by homophobia’.

THE FUTURE OF BRA’S GAY SNAS

Speakg of hair, you might image that wh that zty, naturel activy gog on, a gay sna would be ked lube and all manner of curly follicl.

There are still a lot of gay or bisexual guys who aren’t out.

GAY SNAS LONDON

Sadly, I fear some misnceptns are fuelled by homophobia. If was a straight swgers’ club, might be seen as cheeky, racy, darg, but bee ’s a gay spot, ’s more likely to be nsired sleazy and gross. Before ronavis h, Charts Vxhall claimed to be ​“Europe’s largt gay sna” for men wantg steam, queer mararie and a potential subterranean hook-up.

Charts Vxhall was the last survivg outpost of a gay sna cha which at s 2005 peak had six branch dotted across London. Losg Charts is a major blow for London’s queer male muny, but gay snas across the UK have weathered an credibly ttg 12 months.

WHEN I WAS HOMELS, I SOLD MY BODY GAY SNAS TO SURVIVE

“Gay snas n of the possibily of sex, but whether people actually have sex when they get here is a pletely different thg, ” says Stephen Gunn of Mantire Spa Plymouth. In 2021, gay snas are faced wh the same toxic cktail of threats as any other LGBTQ venue.

But when we talk about savg our val queer spac, gay snas tend to be exclud om the nversatn. Nick Batt, owner of Pk Broadway Southampton, says a lol rad statn was terted hearg about his stggle to survive the panmic as a small bs owner until he said he ran a gay sna. Even wh the LGBTQ muny, gay snas have a lgerg image problem.

THE 10 BEST LONDON GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS LONDON

In 2016, gay magaze Attu published an op-ed tled: ​“Perhaps the time has e for gay snas to close – and that’s fe. Pl Town, manager of The Locker Room South London, says is rctive to pigeonhole all gay snas as ​“expensive knockg shops”. Clearly, gay snas exist so that men have n sex wh men a space that isn’t their home, a hotel or a cisg spot.

Sce I started visg gay snas a ago, I’ve seen steam room i, group jack-off ssns the showers and men wag expectantly large leather slgs.

In my experience, gay snas are sexy, sex-posive spac where not everyone ends up havg sex.

“Nobody ever talks about the lonely olr gay man, ” says Pk Broadway’s Nick Batt.

​“Maybe their partner’s passed away and they want some pany, but they don’t feel like they belong the [gay] bars bee you’re visible those plac if you’re over 40. ” Batt also says his sna provis a safe space for gay and bi men who aren’t out. ​“I’d say up to 70 per cent of our ctomers don’t live what you’d ll a ​‘gay liftyle’, ” he says.

​“I’ve had ctomers e up to me and say: ​‘My mum died yterday and she never knew I was gay. Gay snas like London’s Pleasuredrome, which pre-Covid opened 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, n also bee a refuge for vulnerable and homels young men.

Dean, a 25-year-old queer man om London, says he ma his first viss to gay snas around seven years ago ​“out of sheer necsy”. Dean adms that gay snas were ​“ no way an idyllic sanctuary” and says he sometim felt sred sleepg such a sexualised environment. Other young gay and bi men vis snas bee they offer relatively hassle-ee hook-ups.

Tom, a 23-year-old gay man om Edburgh, says that pre-Covid he popped to gay snas once every uple of months bee felt ​“slightly kky and different and excg”. Whereas the mastream LGBTQ scene ​“favours cis, whe, affluent gay guys, you see a different si to the muny at snas – people you wouldn’t see bars”.

Jack, a 25-year-old gay man om Plymouth, says he would normally vis his lol sna once a week simply to ​“chill out and have fun” while ​“meetg new and different people”.

The mols didn’t reprent buildgs of any great distctn, but to members of the dience they were a faiar lp: the Black Cap, the Joers Arms, the Glass Bar, the Lbian and Gay Centre. “Some of the media narrativ were around technology and Gaydar, Grdr, how that’s changed everythg, ” says Campk.

”The loss have clud fixtur of the London scene: the Coleherne Earl’s Court, which had been gog sce the 1930s; Islgton’s olst gay pub, the Kg Edward IV, and the Black Cap Camn, which closed 2015 after 50 years. Some – like the London Lbian and Gay Centre (LLGC), which closed 1992, and First Out Cafe, swept asi by the Crossrail velopment – functned as muny spac durg the day.

The LLGC, set up a poultry facily Smhfield by the Greater London Council the early years of the Aids epimic, faced hostily, not least om the people who might have helped to nvert – Campk says simply fdg a non-homophobic nstctn pany was a stggle.