Lost Gay Bars of Earl's Court, London

Contents:

• LOST GAY BARS OF EARL’S COURT, LONDON
• GAY RIGHTS
• THE SE OF THE COPABANA THE 1970S – THE FIRST GAY NIGHTCLUB LONDON
• GAY EUROPE (1995)

LOST GAY BARS OF EARL’S COURT, LONDON

In the 1970s and 1980s was one of the ma gay areas of London, but most or all of the bs aimed at gay men have disappeared, as Soho and Vxhall tablished themselv as the foc of gay nightlife. The first public nightclub aimed at a gay clientele, The Copabana, opened Earls Court Road the late 1970s, but was re-themed as a general venue the late 1990s. The pub unrwent several different rnatns as a gay nightclub, the last as "Infy", but is now closed.

The Coleherne dat om the 1880s and had a long history of attractg a bohemian clientele before beg known as a gay pub. The Boltons, near the Coleherne, was "one of the seedier gay venu, wh dgs and prostut helpg to create a pretty prsg atmosphere. In the 1970s Harold Haywood and others were volved the Earls Court Project, aimed at helpg gay young people the area [2].

GAY RIGHTS

"Over the years, the scene has always been fluid and moved om area to area, " says club promoter Wayne Shir, a tan of London's gay scene sce the early 80s.

Once the cy's most proment gay village, Earls Court's queer quarter—a btlg hive of pubs, f and snas—has all but vanished. All may now be closed, but the area has experienced somethg of a rurgence; Dalston Superstore, The Glory, East Bloc, and Vogue Fabrics (now VFD) reprent a new slew of gay bars and pubs.

"There were always gay thgs east London; the Gee and Dragon was one of the first plac and the Joers had been there for 20 years. "What's tertg, when you start pickg apart London's gay scene, is that at any one pot there will be two or three different scen gog on, " says historian Matt Cook, thor of Queer Domtici: Homosexualy and Home Life Twentieth-Century London.

THE SE OF THE COPABANA THE 1970S – THE FIRST GAY NIGHTCLUB LONDON

So maybe 's also no surprise that there's ls appete for gay bars now that people are tendg to socialize mixed bars. "As well as a more dramatic physil shift, London's gay scene has also wnsed somethg of a psychologil one.

GAY EUROPE (1995)

At the height of the AIDs epimic the 80s and 90s, gay pubs provid sanctuary, a platform for lnchg the kd of activism that raised sential awarens and funds. "It felt very polilly important at that moment of rampant homophobia, acute anxiety and grief, and all that muny activism around Aids.

"Before, may have been the se that stealth trans people didn't go out to trans nights or gay nights, and trans people that didn't pass only went to trans nights, " says Munroe Bergdof, DJ and trans activist.