Clubbers at Orange (image: Sam Kesteven)
Vauxhall gay village
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By Paul Burston
Posted: Fri Apr 7 2006 -
The village people of Vauxhall - the gay village - and the new developments: After-hours clubbing, cabaret nights and much more
Just south of the river, straddling a busy network of roads and railway crossings known locally as Vauxhall Cross, you’ll find what is commonly referred to as the Vauxhall Gay Village. It’s a strange sort of village by anyone’s standards. There is no village post office, for instance, and no village shop. There is a village green of sorts in the shape of Spring Gardens. And there are a few village idiots. They’re the ones you see being carted off in an ambulance after overdosing on GHB. The Vauxhall Gay Village isn’t really a village at all, more a collection of clubs where gay men can party all weekend if they want to, provided the drugs don’t bring them down first.It wasn’t always thus. A few years ago the only gay venue to speak of was the Royal Vauxhall Tavern - which, although home to Duckie, hardly qualified as a club venue.
Things changed with the opening of Crash. Despite warnings that West End boys wouldn’t be persuaded to travel south of the river, Crash built up an enormous following. Soon the club’s claim to being ‘the underground sound of London’ didn’t seem so far fetched, and other promoters were sniffing around, hoping for a piece of the action. Competition arrived, appropriately enough, with the opening of Action. Suddenly there were two clubs within staggering distance of one another, both competing for the same target audience of muscle Marys with a taste for house music. Feature continues
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Gradually, more clubs moved into the area, enabling the new village people to spend the best part of their weekend indoors. A:M and Orange opened as afterhours clubs on Friday and Sunday respectively. Then along came Beyond, aiming for the all-important afterhours Saturday night/Sunday morning market. It’s a measure of how successful Beyond became that some people held it responsible for the closure of the legendary Trade. With the addition of after-afterhours clubs like Later, life in the Vauxhall Gay Village was all sown up. It was now possible to go clubbing for the entire weekend without ever stepping foot outside the Vauxhall area.
There have been a few changes since. The success of Sunday’s Horse Meat Disco means that South Central now caters to fashionistas as well as its traditional audience of bears. Chariots sauna has also moved into the area, providing the perfect place to unwind after all that dancefloor acton. Action itself is no more, its joint promoters having gone their separate ways with new clubs LoveRevolution at Renaissance Rooms and Juicy at Fire. The weekend has now been extended to Tuesday morning with Open also at Fire. And the biggest surprise of all is that there still seem to be more than enough punters to go round. Even counting those who regularly end up in hospital.- Add your comment to this feature
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47 comments
i cannot wait to visit the many openings for me in london...i wll be saving for the rest of the year and spend every pound in december and make it a 2012 to remember
Visited vauxhall not been there in years and won't go back what a dump and as for the gay village what village? U pay 6-8 quid just to get in a bar where the music is shite and the people are all off their heads!! Well u have to be to get some sought of enjoyment! The staff are surly and up their own backside. The good days there are long gone. Final warning be street wise the area is down beat with all kinds of un savoury people. If u want a good time go to Manchester they know how to have a village and a good time without all being on planet gaga!!
Well guys london gay scene for me is pathetic, is my first time here and on the street you can see only homologate people nothing exiting...... Hidding what? Cruising parks are a bit english too.... I do not know howvto explain the miserable impression i had about gay british scene. That's is also for etero and all scene. London lost the good of the difference can be all the normal cities of the world..... No funny at all... But still beautiful and with mistery in the past things ... Houses and dark past.... But a city can survive only with the past! Thanks for readings it...my is not a bad comment only a delusion
I have been back in London now for 3 years, and have only been to Vauxhall once, how bad is that. But we had a really good time, the clubs were buzzing, atmosphere was good. need to get my arse down thee alot more, and enjoy myself x
been to fire twice and both times was unpleasant.Only 1 room was open in Fire and the music was crap and the Crowd was'nt the best.spoilt up till then a good night...sticking to heaven and soho in future....
Great Article. Just about sums up this trashy crap part of town (although you could have explressed more about the shawlowness and materialism of the gay population that live there). You only need to walk around for a few mins to see that lack of individualism in the gay population is centred around drugs, unsafe sex, disease and fitting into the 'ghetto'. I dont remember village people of the 70's but there seems be a lot of lookie likies there now. Yuk. Stick to the West End.
Nah Vauxhall is so trashy. Basically guys who dont have a job or a career end up in vauxhall off ther heads and take the bus home. Stick with Soho - more classy in my opinion and its where the cute professional guys hang out (like myself).
no mention of music policy unfortunately!
would love to know which clubs play good undergound house and which ones to avoid with shitty electro house / banging non sense. thanks
Hi,I,m in London on sat 28.11 travelling alone,are there relaxed/chilled bars?
Hello!! I'm visiting London in 2 days' time, till next Tuesday, with some friends and we'd like to know where to go in the gay scene (pubs, clubs, bars...), thanks for helping. Hasta pronto!! See you soon!!
Hi. I ve been to Fire once long time ago. cant remember much ;-).I recently become single and I'm discovering London Gay Night Life again. I spend my weekends in Soho mostly in G-A-Y but I think I be visiting Vauxhall soon. I love good house music, something whats deffinitely missing in Soho and prabably Vauxhall has. I like Soho but ........ see u in Vauxhall then. ;-)
i totally agree because i live near vauxhall in brixton and never seen any trouble but as you said Paul be aware do you fancy going for a drink one knight Paul
I live near Vauxhall and have NEVER seen any trouble. Like all large cities you have to be aware in London, but Vauxhall is not the sort of place anything would happen - especially around the venues. It is nothing like Washington DC for example.
You have to remember that there are literally THOUSANDS of clubbers out at the weekend in Vauxhall. Currently clubbers from all over London condescend at Area on Sunday morning to continue clubbing from 3am to lunchtime. The clubs all have queues outside and there are official taxi cabs outside the clubs (not RVT).
If you are worried about getting home in the early hours (especially if alone) always take an OFFICIAL taxi from the dispatcher at the club.
To be safe dont go wandering around ANY part of London alone in the early hours of the morning especially the parks (which are closed), and never carry more money than you need.
hi Ethan no vauxhall is not very safe but it depends on who you are with and if you or your friends are drawing attention to them self then it becomes not safe but really it is fine and you never know you might meet the man of your dreams ha ha ha.
i live in brixton and i have been drinking in vauxhall a few times and i did not think it was all that so if anyone knows of a good gay bar in london let me know.