QX 597 MASTER PT.1 31/7/06 4:20 pm Page 8 qx FEATURE Vauxhall Cross Union Jack Club Interior of a Rowton Hostel The second in a series tracing the history of London’s gay ghettos - North, South, East, West and Central. This week: SOUTHERNUntil early morning clubbing took off in the 1990s there wasCOMFORT no gay scene in South London. Or was there? By Haydon Bridge THE River Thames is almost like the border Gardens. Pleasure gardens were parks Gordon Westwood recounts the experiences between two countries. People north of the where the aristocracy and workers mingled to of a man who had particularly risky encounters river have never had much in common with enjoy all kinds of entertainments. The Vauxhall on the Common with police officers. “One those on the south side. This is because of dif- Gardens, which opened in 1661, were night they want sex,” he claimed, “and the next ferent priorities. If you choose to live in North London’s most fashionable, but by 1712 were night they’ll run you in.” Unlike North London’s London, you want to be close to the action: attracting prostitutes. Later, brothels opened Hampstead Heath, which has supported a gay the West End, the seat of Government, rail nearby. In the 19th century, the area had pub, the King William IV, since before World access to the rest of the country. Most South become “unsavoury”; gentlemen came here to War II, Clapham was without gay bars until Londoners have made the decision to remain pick up working lads. The Vauxhall Gardens relatively recently. The Dorset Arms in apart from all this. Consequently, the rebels, closed in 1859 and all that now remains of Clapham Road had drag shows in the 1970s, the crusaders and the adventurers who creat- them is Spring Gardens, the famous ‘grassy but the first successful pub was the Two ed gay history have tended to live in North knoll’ next to the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, Brewers in Clapham High Street, taken over London. South London’s oldest surviving gay pub. by Phil Starr in 1981. Having recently cele- Although there’s little documented evidence, In a London guide book, published in 1855, brated its 25th anniversary, the pub’s Phil it’s possible that one of the first haunts of gay there is the first mention of “pooffs” (sic), Starr Cabaret Bar honours the late drag leg- men in South London was Southwark, where recognisable by their “effeminate air and fash- end. Starr later went on to manage the Prince theatres were built in the late 16th and early ionable dress.” They operated in Fleet Street, of Wales pub in Brixton. 17th centuries. They employed pretty boys to the Strand and Charing Cross, but not, it Recently, Clapham’s reputation as a civilised, play women’s roles. Marlowe definitely liked seems, south of the River. This was to remain the boys, Shakespeare probably did too, and the stamping ground of working class queers. these arty bisexuals can’t have been the only By the turn of the 20th century, homosexuality The first reports of gay ones. Nicholas Wright’s 2000 play, Cressida, was common in Lord Rowton’s poor men’s cruising south of the river come speculated about the lives of the boys who hostels (South London had two, in Vauxhall worked in women’s clothes. and Elephant & Castle) and apparently ram- from the Vauxhall Pleasure South London is a mirror image of North pant in the Union Jack Club, the military hos- Gardens. Pleasure gardens were London in that it has posh suburbs (Putney, tel in Waterloo Road. Men in uniform were Barnes) in the West and poor areas highly desirable and so promiscuous that in parks where the aristocracy and (Bermondsey, Deptford, the Old Kent Road) 1903, an Army order prohibited soldiers from workers mingled to enjoy all in the East. In the 19th century, the middle loitering in the royal parks after dark. They ground (Vauxhall, Kennington, Clapham), began going further afield for trade, and from kinds of entertainments. where rich and poor met, became semi-fash- the early years of the 20th century arrests ionable. The Old Vic theatre and the Oval increased in South London’s open spaces, elegant retreat for gay professionals has been cricket ground opened there. With two enor- particularly Battersea Park. tragically tarnished by violence. 24-year-old mous railway stations (Waterloo, Clapham Clapham Common, where MP Ron Davies bar manager Jody Dobrowski was murdered Junction) nearby, and the notoriously cruisy had “a moment of madness” in 1998, is prob- on the Common last October, and there have Strand just a few minutes’ walk over Waterloo ably London’s second oldest, continuously vis- been further homophobic attacks on the Bridge, it was inevitable that this is where ited cruising ground. (Only Hyde Park has a Common and in Clapham High Street. South London queer life should take root. longer history). According to historian Matt Clapham may have been targeted by queer- The first reports of gay cruising south of the Houlbrook, the Common was notorious by bashers because solitary gay men make easy river come from the Vauxhall Pleasure 1926. In his 1960 book, A Minority, author pickings. Cowardly thugs steer clear of 08 09 QX 597 MASTER PT.1 31/7/06 4:21 pm Page 9 Cremorne Gardens Kennington public toilet RT The Market Tavern Vauxhall and Kennington, now invaded by the West End and now internationally. In 2005 In 2006, Vauxhall seems to have come thousands of us every weekend. the crumbling building was threatened with through a sometimes shaky transitional period Today it’s hard to imagine that gay presence in redevelopment; but it was bought by two gay during which feuds, licensing problems and the area was once very discreet, just a couple businessmen who are committed to restoring failed ventures made some of us wonder what of drag pubs and a few cottages. The pubs the venue and opening it seven nights a week. the future held for gay life in South London. were the RVT and the nearby Elephant & By the 1980s there were other pubs operating Big investments have all but destroyed that Castle. Perhaps one of the most important in the area. Notably the Market Tavern had early alternative feel; but Vauxhall is develop- moments in London’s gay club history to note special opening hours (due to the location of ing a vibrant personality of its own. It’s is that the very first gay disco was at a venue the nearby New Covent Garden fruit and veg London’s boys’ town. (There are only two called the Father Red Cap in Camberwell, markets on Nine Elms Lane) and became a girls’ bars, one of which, Southopia, is on promoted by Tricky Dicky in the 1970s. (And if hugely important venue, especially popular as the outskirts). The main action is split between you wanted to meet Tricky Dicky himself, pop a post-Trade party. Nearby, the King’s Arms the mega-venues - Club Colosseum, the into Trax Records on Greek St in Soho and and Duke’s had a loyal following, too, howev- Renaissance Rooms and Fire - and the ask for owner Richard Skanes). er, the birth of modern Vauxhall as an alterna- more cruisey clubs - The Hoist, Crash and A surviving cottage that must be mentioned is tive gay village can be said to date from 1996, Club Factory. Other gay businesses include at the junction of Kennington Lane and with the start of Duckie and the opening of the Paris Gym and the newest branch of the Kennington Road. It closed in 1987 and was The Hoist. In 1998 Crash opened, kick-start- Chariots sauna chain. The King’s Arms has about to be demolished when local resident, ing the House music based club formula that smartened itself up as a friendly mixed pub, Celia Stothard, drew English Heritage’s atten- dominates the area today. Legal, afterhours the Little Apple, and Duke’s now has a com- tion to the toilet’s rare mosaic floors and mar- clubbing may have begun in North London, at pletely new wild and horny image as South ble urinals. Within months it had been Grade II Trade, in 1990, but it was Vauxhall that made Central. Several venues are now open mid- listed! In 2004 it re-opened briefly as part of staying up from Thursday night through to week. The latest arrivals are Wyvils Bar, the Vauxhall Festival. There were suggestions Tuesday morning a phenomenon, notably at Barcode Vauxhall and Area. that the cubicles, replete with glory holes and the venue Fire (formerly the Viaduct, former- What Vauxhall lacked, because people were graffiti, should be saved for London’s gay ly fetish club The Dungeon). The success of coming south for the weekend and then going museum. Saturday morning afterhours session A:M and back north again, was a sense of community. The RVT was an early Victorian music-hall Monday morning Orange (which started life in That too is changing, says Wyvils manager which, by the 1970s, had gone over to drag. a run-down pub in Rotherhite in the late 90s) Eren Hassani, who came to Vauxhall after Almost every drag act of the period worked have changed the way we party at the week- shaking up Hackney with his early Sunday here, although only Lily Savage stood the test end. However, who could have foreseen that sessions at the Royal Oak, Columbia Road. of time. Nearby in Camberwell, the Union in 2006 clubs like Gravity and Open would Eren claims he’s now the happiest he’s been Tavern, was commonly regarded as the drag be keeping us dancing into the early hours of in two years.