The first gay pub I dared set foot now has a rabow plaque. Here’s why that matters | Gary Nunn | The Guardian

Contents:

• THE BT GAY BARS LONDON
• THE 10 BEST LONDON GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS LONDON
• THE BT LGBTQ+ AND GAY CLUBS LONDON
• THE FIRST GAY PUB I DARED SET FOOT NOW HAS A RABOW PLAQUE. HERE’S WHY THAT MATTERS
• GAY BARS AND CLUBS SOHO
• GAY LONDON, LGBTQ+ CLUBS AND EVENTS
• LONDON'S LANDMARK BUILDG DOTTED WH STRIP CLUBS, GAY VENU TO TURN TO MOSQUE

THE BT GAY BARS LONDON

The spac beer garn — slathered the Pri rabow — mak this place somethg special, and the outdoor loft space is available to hire for anyone wantg to throw themselv a gay old birthday. As early on as the 1940s, gay men were drawn to the venue — which is now a daily rt of baret, quizz clubbg — and the annual panto. 24 plac sorted by traveler favorBars & Clubs • Gay BarsTrafalgar Square / EmbankmentGay Bars • Dance Clubs & DissTrafalgar Square / EmbankmentBars & Clubs • Gay BarsLeicter Square / Shaftbury AvenueWhat travelers are saygBier than expected but service was fast and iendly.

Loted the heart of London, Comptons is a mt-vis gay pub that guarante an credible experience. Brilliant staff (pecially Jack, the fabulo bar manager and cktail maker), fabulo cktails and a relaxed atmosphere for all whether gay, straight or somethg else.

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

A beguilg, alternative London gay bar. Though the number of LGBT+ venu London has seen a cle the last or so, the cy's gay scene isn't ailg yet – fact, a handful of excellent new venu have opened recent years around the cy. The hight ncentratn of LGBT+ spac n still be found around Old Compton Street Soho, a former red light district that's been heavily gentrified recent years, but remas London's gay heartland.

This Soho stalwart tends to attract a slightly olr crowd of gay guys and has a reputatn for beg cisy.

THE BT LGBTQ+ AND GAY CLUBS LONDON

It’s closed on Mondays and Tudays, but hosts a r Sunday pub quiz and gets pretty packed on Friday and Saturday nights when the small dancefloor fills up wh a largely, though not exclively, gay male crowd. Loted Clapham, a 15-20 mute tube ri om the cy centre, this tradnal gay pub-club is a perennial favoure wh LGBT+ Londoners who love an unpretent party.

Keepg the gay flame burng out wt is this tradnal gay pub Ealg, a leafy suburb that’s about 25 mut by tube om central London.

THE FIRST GAY PUB I DARED SET FOOT NOW HAS A RABOW PLAQUE. HERE’S WHY THAT MATTERS

The Glory pris self beg one of east London’s bt gay bars, drag hotho, LGBTQ+ performance venu, nightclubs, and curators of London shows, ftivals, ntts and battl. Comptons of Soho Photo:, Shutterstock Comprisg of two bars and a quieter lounge area, Soho’s Comptons pub has been a staple the cy’s gay scene sce 1986. Halfway To Heaven, Trafalgar Square Loted between Charg Cross Statn and Trafalgar Square, Halfway To Heaven is a tradnal gay pub and baret show bar wh a laid-back ground floor and club-like basement area.

Kgs Arms, Soho Loted on Soho’s Poland Street and open sce the 1700’s, the iendly Kgs Arms was one of the first spots Soho to serve the gay muny, billg self as a ‘gentlemen’s bar’ the 1970’s. Officially a gay bar sce 1981, ’s now a firm favoure wh the LGBTQ+ muny – ‘bears’ particular – om London and around the world. From tablished legends of the gay scene to on that play baret and everythg between, there’s somethg for everyone here.

Frankly, I’d have served a prison jt for him to hold my hand, like he did his off-whe Vxhall Nova on the drive there, breakg only to change, he took me for strawberry cir the Gloucter, a pub at the park’s edge, takg my tremblg hand his and reassurg me: “It’s actually a gay bar. Gay pubs are far more than bars; they’re refug.

GAY BARS AND CLUBS SOHO

On Sunday, the first a new seri of rabow plaqu will be stalled at the Gloucter – now the Greenwich Tavern – cementg s place gay home the workg-class Medway area of Kent, where we met when he sold me a phone cred rd at the lol petrol statn, “queers” like were wily perceived as predatory, perverted, spic or simply scum. ”After the strawberry cir, served by a man a tight whe vt – the only other gay man I’d seen real life – the squiggly summer sunlight ma a strobe effect through the park’s tre. The first time I saw wh him, when I was 18, I realised he had echoed the love story of the two protagonists, who also had their first kiss the twilight of Greenwich Park’s tre, and their first experience of a gay pub at the Gloucter.

The explanatn for his obssn is now clear: there was such a pcy of same-sex love stori that this was the first time many young people had seen a same-sex kiss, or peeked si an actual gay bar after dark. The project remds people “that we have always been here, good tim and bad, ” David Robson of the London LGBT+ Foms’ Network said when the plaqu were film and my own story were workg-class gay love: not dandyish and sheltered by the polse of privilege, but the btal realy of beg perceived a non-mascule boy.

GAY LONDON, LGBTQ+ CLUBS AND EVENTS

It was a powerful and rarely told tersectn – and one that, even more rarely, ends rather happily, wh a betiful scene of fiance and acceptance played to a Mama Cass waltz on the sk I disvered that I wasn’t the only wi-eyed baby gay my boyiend had been chasg through those ancient chtnuts that summer.

For me, the plaque honours that private moment as well as the shared history of the LGBTQ+ ’s the msage I’d impart to anyone who thks such symbols are meangls, as the unique social history of the UK’s gay bars is endangered by gentrifitn, hook-up apps, the st of livg crisis and even assiatn. Like many workg-class, closeted gay boys, I’d hi unr the glovebox of my boyiend’s Nova when we drove back om the park, lt anyone saw.

It whispered to ckney-accented gay boys like me: there are others like you. AboutIn the Heart of Soho, the Grand Dame of Soho has been servg the gay muny for s. A betiful pub wh a great atmosphere, Comptons of Soho is the perfect place to go alone or wh iends and enjoy the great vibe of Gay Soho!

LONDON'S LANDMARK BUILDG DOTTED WH STRIP CLUBS, GAY VENU TO TURN TO MOSQUE

Wrten June 22, 2021It's Comptons It's the first gay bar I went 1994 and I've never stopped gog when I n.