Lost Spaces: Memories from Gay Bars, Lesbian Clubs, and LGBTQ+ Parties

Mark Brummitt is an Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and Assistant Dean of Students at a small post-graduate college in Rochester, New York. In the early 90s, after a decade of service, he left his role as a Salvation Army Lieutenant and started exploring his queerness at The Black Cap, an iconic drag bar in Camden, London. We caught up to talk about that transition, Regina Fong...

Isn't that just the way? You wait months for one bearded drag queen to show up, and then two arrive a week apart! One week after schmoozing with Diana Fire I had the utter joy of chatting to Timberlina about living in Dalston in the 90s, how to cruise in the pre-internet days, and the perils of falling in love with a police officer. Find out more about Timberlina and The Duke of Wellington pub in...

Diana Fire is Portland's Daddy Bear Drag Queen, and is best known as a contestant in Season 2 of Camp Wannakiki. She first cut her teeth in drag bar Embers Avenue, which she performed at for the last few years of its existence up until late 2017. We caught up to discuss bachelorette parties, stinky basements (and no, that's not a euphemism!), and the confusing, confusing world of drag families! Fi...

Gregory Douglass is a singer-songwriter, born and raised in rural Vermont. Though now based in Los Angeles, he still has a soft spot in his heart for 135 Pearl, the only gay bar in the state of Vermont which closed in 2006. We talked breast reduction parties, making out in the men's bathroom, and sealing the deal with the love of your life. Find out more about Gregory Douglass at www.gregorydougla...

Aww, student life! Staying out late, sleeping in, eating cereal for dinner, and.... handing out condoms to strangers in bars... Or, at least, that was Venn Smyth's student life, after he started working for LGBT Youth Scotland on their sexual health project. We caught up to discuss the difference between Scotland and England, how a femidom works, and what it was like being one of the only boys on...

Drake Jensen is a Canadian country singer, who was born and grew up on the tiny Cape Breton Island, which is on the Eastern coast of Canada. After coming out, he moved to the nearby city of Moncton, where he discovered Triangles, the only gay bar in town. We caught up to discuss the straight gentrification of queer bars, why leather is the butch version of drag, and growing up gay in a small town....

This week's episode is our first trip to the US! Norman Brannon, musician and writer, was busy figuring himself out when he first stumbled upon Big Cup, a gay coffee shop that stood in Chelsea, Manhattan between 1994 - 2005... I ask a bunch of awkward questions about life as a hare krishna rock star (who knew that was a thing?), and the rules of living life as a Straight Edge-r. We also talk about...

The London Lesbian & Gay Teenage Group, which started in 1975, was pretty damn revolutionary as one of the world's very first youth groups exclusively for queer kids. Kevin O'Neill was a fresh faced 19 year old when he started going to the group, which at this stage was based in Manor Gardens in Islington, London. We caught up to talk about his coming out experience, his memories of the group,...

John Lee Bird is an artist/designer/musician and all around glorious human being. He is also one of the last people that I had imagined would have fond memories of Crash, a dance party held in South London from the 90s-00s (being a self-described 'pale awkward goth' type)! I really enjoyed this interview, where John told me all about his time working as a barman during student life, avoiding the c...

Though he only lived in London for a short while, author Colin Clews has fond memories of The Fallen Angel, a bar in Islington. Whilst desperately waiting for a visa to go to Australia, Colin volunteered at the newly formed Terrence Higgins Trust, and supported fundraising efforts of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, and has a slew of stories from this time to share! Find out more about Colin...

Her Upstairs was a kitschy drag and cabaret bar in Camden, London, which opened shortly after another nearby bar, the iconic Black Cap, closed in 2015, and filled a much needed gap for local queers. Though the bar was only open for two years, there was an uproar in the community when it abruptly closed in 2018. I caught up with the self-proclaimed #queernuisance Dr J to talk about what the venue m...

More rambling (her words, not mine!) goodness from the one and only Princess Julia. In this episode, which covers the mid-80s until now, we talk about her first steps in to the world of DJ-ing, the gothic movement, and Princess Julia ponders whether she was the world's first bio-queen! Taking in clubs such as The Embassy, Crash, Ghetto, and Kinky Gerlinky, there's sure to be a club you remember!&n...

Princess Julia launched into her tales before I got a chance to even set the mic up, and so I hastily pointed one in her direction and let the conversation carry on! We went on a potted tour of queer venues in London from the late 70s until the 00s - so many conversations in so many directions that I’ve decided to make it a two-parter! Find out about how queer punk was, where you could get the bes...

Not all queer spaces are queer. Or, at least, exclusively queer... In smaller towns and cities, where there isn't the population to support a full-time queer bar, straight bars can fill the gap by hosting themed nights weekly or monthly, providing a much needed opportunity for local queers to meet and interact... I caught up with Darryl Bullock, author of 'David Bowie Made Me Gay: 100 Years of LGB...

Obscene badges, old-school game shows, and exploding butts were all things you could expect to see if you attended Shinky Shonky, a legendary club night in London in the 00s. I caught up with Boogaloo Stu, host/producer/DJ/you-name-it of the night to reminisce about it and The Polar Bear, a bar in Soho that hosted the event for the majority of its life.

What's the difference between regular drama and lesbian drama? What is the lesbian uniform? Which dodgy dance moves are guaranteed to woo the ladies? I found out the answer to these (and many other) questions when finding out about a little gem of a lesbian bar called 'Ace of Clubs', which ran for about a decade and was DJ Jo Bunny's stomping ground soon after she moved to London in the late 80s!

Spread over two floors, Trash Palace was THE drinking place of choice for alternative queers for a hot minute in the mid-00s, and is another of central London's disappearing bars (thanks largely to higher rents)... I caught up with Quiet Choir to talk about the skills needed for flirting, the halcyon days of myspace and projectile vomiting down Charing Cross Road.

We are back to London this week, and visiting another venue that fell victim to the Crossrail development (a large scale construction project which saw a good chunk of central London demolished to make way for a high speed train line). I had the delight of talking to Ali Brumfitt, a performance poet and all around charmer, about First Out Cafe, one of London's only daytime queer venues, which was...

Brighton is generally accepted as the ‘queer capital’ of the UK, with an estimated 15% of all adults identifying as gay, lesbian or bisexual, and a thriving queer scene. That’s part of the reason it was such a shock when lesbian bar, The Princess Victoria (otherwise known as The PV), closed its doors. I caught up with radio presenter (and founder of Brighton Gin!) Kathy Caton to discuss the belove...

Queensland didn’t legalise homosexuality until 1991 (which kind of blows my mind when you think of Australia’s reputation for being an open and welcoming country). That, says dj and all-around-charmer Kurt Luthy, is what made going to The Terminus in the mid-80s such a thrill.

London’s heart broke when legendary drag bar ‘The Black Cap’ closed in 2015. I caught up with artist, music fan and dj Joe Pop to talk about his life as a ‘punk kid’, the ‘dignity in toast’ rule, and watching Pete Burns perform their heart to a bar full of bewildered patrons.

Ever fallen in love on the dance floor? That’s what happened to journalist and writer Charlotte Richardson Andrews at the legendary London club ‘Ghetto’. We caught up to discuss online dating, queer role models and falling asleep on the night bus home.

I had never heard of ‘Kudos’, which was an out-of-the-way pub in Charing Cross, London, but I loved hearing from sculptor Wilfrid Wood about his experiences there, and what the place meant to him whilst he was figuring out who he was and what he wanted from life. What I loved most about this conversation was how candid and up-front Wilfrid was… I’m sure you’ll enjoy his frankness too!

Who hasn't spent an evening stumbling out of The Joiners' Arms, which was once described as 'Britain's trendiest gay dive'? Due to its late night opening the bar had a reputation as a 'last chance saloon', and was often where people would head to instead of home when everything else had closed.  I spoke to Mark Walton - a fantastic poet, and founder of social enterprise Shared Assets - about...