Clubbers at Orange (image: Sam Kesteven)
The village people of Vauxhall - the gay village - and the new developments: After-hours clubbing, cabaret nights and much more
Clubbers at Orange (image: Sam Kesteven)
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.
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.
Gay & Lesbian London
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24 comments
I'm looking for somewhere to stay in December / New Year, around the Scene.
Any suggestions for a reasonably priced room with 1/2 decent standards?
Karl
I'm a guy looking for my first male experience. Is vauxhall a good place to go? Any advice?
Not sure if its just me but has anyone else noticed Soho is becoming quite homophobic. Ive been to compton st twice in the last month. The first time there was a straight stag do with the groom walking down the street in his underpants while his mates called out that he might be "bummed". The second time a group of 12 straight guys ran in and out of comptons giggling cos it was a gay bar. Ha s anyone else noticed a change??
Hedonism doesn't neccessarily involve drugs or sex - it's just about letting go. And Vauxhall is so inclusive (esp. the Royal Vauxhall Tavern) you can. It's had a face lift so certainly isn't grimy anymore and has some top acts during the week as well as weekends. The sunny sunday afternoon is the best time to visit (see above) where the anyone who's passing chills out on the 'grassy knoll' in london. It's truly unique - all gay life is there sprawling out on the green grass for free, less than a mile from the Houses of Parliament. Where else does that happen in the uk apart from the 'seal colony' in distant Hampstead Ponds. Then you can pop into the RVT to see irrepressible leg-end that is The Dame Edna Experience for half the price of a normal club night. Gay hedonism? More like Gay Nirvana.
Why Vauxhall? I was there going to a club once but they wont let me in beacuse I was not good looking to get in. What wrong with Soho area, thought that was suposse to be best place to hang out. Anyway London is getting worst....
There are certainly different sort of events on offer on the London gay scene. a great example is Village Drinks - it's a socialevent for gay professionals, and I think they are starting one soon in Manchester. have a look at www.villagedrinks.co.uk
Vauxhall is cool.. check out all the beautiful muscle mary's in Chariots, then go to RVT for some camp fun, then Barcode, then Fire. It's the best place to live and enjoy gay life.
IM CONFUSED!! should i stay in Manchester or visit London...i dont wana waste my money on a pointless night out...i know Manchester is gr8 but London is quite far away and would cost me alot of money 2 get down and stay over...is it worth going??
I have witnessed the rise of the so called vauxhall village as a clubber and I can safely say that I have managed to balance my professional life and in the meantime enjoy the music, dancing and camaderie that clubbing offers...plus the many interesting guys I met along the way. It is true that it gets trashy but this is part of a lifestyle that our community has developed. To reject that is simply an indication of homophobia. It's amazing how homophobic some gay guys can be!
Just back from london and did the sunday nite monday morn thing in fire (orange), although a little shocking, what goes on, it kinda just makes you want to go back for more. Looking forward to the next time. Just certainly couldnt do that each weekend, do these people ever work !! :-)
Hi fella's, coming down to London soon, I'm getting very mixed messages here about not just Vauxhall, but London in general. Been on the seen in Mancs, Newcastle, Edinburgh. I gotta say, I think it's all the same, depends on your disposition? Are incomers made to feel welcome? Really looking forward to coming down to the Big Smoke to see whats on offer. Might see ya's peeps! Sven xx
Vauxhall is a great place to live and to go out in . There is a lot of variety out there and a lot of opportunities to socialise and meet great looking men. It just needs a bit more of a community infrastructure and somewhere to have a meal or a coffee. Bar code feels more like somewhere I'd want to meet a friend after work and chat. The RVT has got a range of interesting and experimental different nights during the week. Horse meet is eclectic and great. You don't need to be georgous but you do need to be comfortable around drugs, alcohol and sex. Not everything needs to be glamourous and stylish, not for me anyway. Sometimes rough around the edges can feel pretty good.
As an outsider, I found the social system of A-listers, wanna-bees, and those who dont care quite fascinating in London.
Drugs ARE everywhere. Was lauded by a few for not ebing a user and being able to party all night.
Muscle guys. Well, they are not obviously unfriendly, but still you can sense the conceit. Which is usually kind of pointless, as there is so many of them, that being other than a just another generic shaved-chest muscle mary is quite a task.
It's not perfect, but I think London is a great place to be gay. If you like clubbing you are spoilt for choice. Tom asks where the gay book club is - answer: Gay's The Word book store (I've never been - too busy being superficial). For spirituality and community action there are lots of non gay-specific avenues to explore. My biggest discovery of recent years though is that I can go clubbing and stay up all night without taking drugs, and it is more fun. In fact ... just done it! I love bank holidays ;-)
The URL for that bookstore:
http://freespace.virgin.net/gays.theword/
The Vauxhall Tavern as always is the best pub/club in the area. Try going there on a Sunny Sunday afternoon and you will see the gay community that you are all looking for on the grassy knoll behind the venue. Never mind the BEST show for only £6 when Edna comes on stage. Get out of the after hours clubs and into the day light and you will see a different side of Vauxhall...
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