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Finally, some good news for London nightlife. The capital’s legendary queer party Duckie is making a grand return in 2026, but it’s going to look slightly different from its past iteration.
The iconic LGBTQ+ knees-up took place at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern (RVT) for 27 years before throwing its final shindig in 2022. Co-founded by former London Night Tzar Amy Lamé, since it began in 1995 Duckie has been a trailblazer for London’s queer nightlife scene, hosting parties, performances and DJ sets all over London.
RECOMMENDED: Time Out celebrates 27 years of nightlife legend Duckie.
Duckie announced on social media that it would be coming back on March 7 2026. It’s moving on from its south London home at the RVT to St Paul’s Church Hall in Stoke Newington. Duckie claimed the change in location was to avoid ‘greedy, right-wing south London pub landlords’.
The new iteration of the night also promises to have a cheap bar, free buffet and cups of tea. The night will run from 7pm until 11pm because the organisers ‘wanna be in bed by midnight’, and will be bi-monthly, because ‘no-one goes out much anymore’. Duckie’s famous ‘door whores’ Jay Cloth and Father Cloth have now retired, to be replaced with ‘door butchers’ Libro and Tink.
As for the soundtrack, expect to hear ska, rocksteady, dancehall, funk and soul music, alongside a sprinkling of glam rock and pop. The night’s original DJs Readers Wifes will not be gracing the Duckie decks in 2026, with DJs Little Cloud, Joe Egg and Stav B at the controls instead, although a post on social media teased that Readers Wifes would make a ‘dramatic comeback’ one day. There will be performances too, which Duckie says will be ‘thoughtful and inventive’ and ‘not just drag queens’.
Duckie promises to have accessible toilets, step free access and an intersectional mixed-gender crowd with ‘loads of old people on the dancefloor … and loads of young people with interesting haircuts’.
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