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

Contents:

• THE 10 BEST LONDON GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS LONDON
• THE 10 BEST ENGLAND GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS ENGLAND
• THE 10 BEST ENGLAND GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS ENGLAND
• THE BT GAY BARS LONDON
• THE FIRST GAY PUB I DARED SET FOOT NOW HAS A RABOW PLAQUE. HERE’S WHY THAT MATTERS
• THE 10 BEST NORTH WT ENGLAND GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS NORTH WT ENGLAND
• THE 10 BEST LONDON GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS LONDON
• GAY BARS MANCHTER
• THE 10 BEST SOUTH EAST ENGLAND GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS SOUTH EAST ENGLAND
• TOM HOLLAND’S GAY SEX SCENE SETS SOCIAL MEDIA ALIGHT AFTER THE ACTOR SAID PLAYG THE ROLE ‘BROKE HIM’

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

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 ENGLAND GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS ENGLAND

A beguilg, alternative London gay bar. 110 plac sorted by traveler favorGay Bars • Dance Clubs & DissTrafalgar Square / EmbankmentBars & Clubs • Gay BarsTrafalgar Square / EmbankmentShowg rults 1-30 of 110What travelers are saygBier than expected but service was fast and iendly. Fabulo bar, a relaxed gay venue the day and fab bar the eveng, the drag queen on the door was amazg, acmodatg and knew what he was talkg about, would remend Wrten July 22, 2023This review is the subjective opn of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Gay Bars • Dance Clubs & DissTrafalgar Square / EmbankmentBars & Clubs • Gay BarsTrafalgar Square / EmbankmentLearn more about this ntentTours, activi and experienc bookable on Tripadvisor, ranked g exclive Tripadvisor data cludg reviews, ratgs, photos, populary, er preferenc, price, and bookgs ma through Tripadvisor. Fabulo bar, a relaxed gay venue the day and fab bar the eveng, the drag queen on the door was amazg, acmodatg and knew what he was talkg about, would remend Wrten 22 July 2023This review is the subjective opn of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Those that rema are often important muny spac imbued wh shared New Penny on Call Lane Leeds claims to be the olst ntuoly operatg gay pub the UK, and certaly is one of the olst outsi of London.

From the 1970s Earl’s Court had been the central foc of many gay men’s urban socializg the cy. The Coleherne pub at 261 Earls Court Road was popular wh gay men throughout the post-war perd.

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

Durg the 1970s and 1980s, gay pubs and venu found ways of operatg around licensg laws that required they serve food.

THE BT GAY BARS LONDON

I believe this was que mon for gay venu which often found hard to get licensed. Wh creasg tert the ‘pk pound’, gay pubs and clubs proliferated London and other ci and towns across the untry. VisibilyBy the 1990s gay venu across the untry started to transform.

The Yard, on Rupert Street (London) was rare havg an outdoor space visible om the Admiral DunnThe danger associated wh visg gay bars had not disappeared by the end of the 20th century. The Admiral Dunn at 54 Old Compton Street, Soho London has been tradg sce the 19th century and been a gay venue for s. Club Kali, a large and succsful mixed club for lbians and gay men sce the 1990s, operat at The Dome Tufnell Park, north London and tours to other venu.

It was the first place where I felt totally fortable and didn't feel the need to jtify intifyg as Gay, Mlim, Brish and Asian. The listg scriptn explas that ‘has bee an endurg symbol of the nfince of the gay muny London’.

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

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.

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.

THE 10 BEST NORTH WT ENGLAND GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS NORTH WT ENGLAND

”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. 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.

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

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.

GAY BARS MANCHTER

It whispered to ckney-accented gay boys like me: there are others like you.

Amongst the mt-attends: eccentric electronics and pornstar martis at Unntrollable Urge (Wedndays); cult-stat toilet rave at Happy Endgs (send Thursdays); and the big gay mobile strip club replete wh gogo boys on the bar at drag night A Man To Pet’s Basic Boys!

THE 10 BEST SOUTH EAST ENGLAND GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS SOUTH EAST ENGLAND

BBZWhere: Var venu, LondonBBZ is very much at the new wave of gay clubbg. Chapter 10Where: Var venu, LondonTake someone to their very first Chapter 10 and watch their ey win wh disbelief that a large “gay rave” playg somethg other than tech-hoe exists.

A slice of paradise for gay men the pal; the always unannounced programmg is as paramount as the eedom to exprs exuberant homosexualy. Eat Sleep Drag RepeatWhere: Var venu, BristolThe home of RuPl's Drag Race artists Bristol, ESDR was set up by the team behd the all-nquerg “unrground homo dis” Horseplay, and boundary-phg non-bary arts ftival Submerge.

TOM HOLLAND’S GAY SEX SCENE SETS SOCIAL MEDIA ALIGHT AFTER THE ACTOR SAID PLAYG THE ROLE ‘BROKE HIM’

HomoelectricWhere: Var venu, ManchterEven before Queer As Folk was airg on Brish telly, Manchter stutn Homoelectric was throwg parti at the now funct Folli way back 1998.