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

Contents:

• GAY SNAS LONDON
• THE FUTURE OF BRA’S GAY SNAS
• GAY BATHHO NEAR ME

GAY SNAS LONDON

CulturePl Ml and Andrew Stt's All of Us Strangers, a ghostly gay romance, gets a release dateThe director of Weekend and A24's Lean on Pete has brought together an ensemble of all-star Brish talent for his next die flickFashnThe olt chefs London would never wear The Bear's $100 t-shirtThe new gods of Brish gastronomy open their kchens – and their wardrob – to serve up some on-the-job fsFood & DrkThe bt plac for lunch LondonWhether ’s a midweek pstop or a leisurely Saturday affair, we’ve picked out the bt lunch rtrants the cy. 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. “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.

THE FUTURE OF BRA’S GAY SNAS

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.

GAY BATHHO NEAR ME

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”.