In line on a Friday night to get into London’s legendary nightclub Heaven, my friend and I were standing behind what I will presumptuously call a dozen gawky young straight dudes. But then again, it was Gay Porn Idol night, so maybe they weren’t straight? But then, the competition was hosted by RuPaul’s Drag Race season 15 contestant Aura Mayari, and that show has become so mainstream that maybe they were indeed straight?
The bouncer quickly put an end to my wonderings. “All of you, out of the line! Out! It’s a private party. Regulars only. You too!” My friend and I, caught up in this purge, had to lobby another bouncer to plead our case that if “regulars” was code for “not straight,” then we were, indeed, regulars.
We descended down the stairs and through a hallway into the cavernous megaclub. Inside, the vaulted ceilings and perfectly calibrated sound system enveloped an excited young crowd that was as thrilled to sing along to remixes of ABBA as remixes of Dua Lipa. The drinks, purchased from kiosks backlit all red, were surprisingly cheap for a nightclub. Patrons were relaxed and joyful. What had been, when it opened in 1979, an edgy countercultural experience has transformed into an inclusive nightlife bop that could tempt pretty much anybody who loves a drink and working up a sweat.
Heaven’s home city, London, plays much the same role to the world—it’s got something to tempt any taste. The trouble is deciding what to do—and what to wear while doing it. With Charles III’s coronation behind us, and the fans of the monarchy sated, London’s Pride on July 1 looms as the next big event. But there is always enough going on in London that there’s no need to build a visit around an event.
I can’t give you a definitive guide to the city’s LGBTQ2S+ culture—that would take a full website. But I can drop a few breadcrumbs leading you to what I discovered on my visit this year.
We checked in at the Middle Eight, a new luxury hotel that opened during the height of the pandemic. It’s one of those spots where rather than checking in at the counter, you sit and have a refreshment while the staff come to you. Formerly the revered music venue Kingsway Hall, the hotel picks up on the music theme with suites named, not numbered, in reference to song lyrics and a speakeasy-style jazz club in the cellar, which features live music. The vibe is what I’d call quietly opulent and a little bit beat—wood, filigree hues and comfy furniture. Though the QT club is integral to the concept, my favourite spot was The Balcony, a lounge above the lobby that’s perfect for reading, flirting, playing games—and people-watching the comings and goings in the lobby. The company behind the concept is planning to roll out several more boutique hotels, each with a different history based on a theme.
Middle Eight’s Covent Gardens location is hard to beat; London is so big that seeing everything is usually beyond anyone’s pedestrian ambitions. That’s, of course, where the Visitor Oyster Card comes in, providing some discounts on buses and the Tube. But we were able to walk to both Heaven and the gaybourhood of Soho in about 15 minutes. The closest Primark—which in Europe is as handy a reference of conveniences as McDonald’s is in the United States—was also a 15-minute walk.
Soho’s Old Compton Street has managed something that gay villages around the world have struggled with—it’s kept its identity and still feels super gay. If, decades ago, you visited classic venues like Rupert Street Bar (50 Rupert St.), Comptons (51-53 Old Compton St.) and Admiral Duncan London (54 Old Compton St.), then guess what: they’re still there, as are the Clonezone (35 Old Compton St.) and Prowler gay-gear stores (5-7 Brewer St. and 58 Old Compton St.). Poppers aficionados will thrill at the legal selection available in the U.K.
For something a bit trendier and dancier, head to Ku Bar (30 Lisle St.) or its naughtier offshoot Little Ku (25 Frith St.). All Old Compton Street is lively starting with the after-work crowd, especially Fridays.
This may be all too polished and visitor-friendly for the cool kids. For an alt/artsy vibe, I’d advise heading out of the centre to The Glory (281 Kingsland Rd.). [Editor’s 2024 update: The Glory is now permanently closed.] It’s a pub/cabaret/nightclub in hip queer-friendly Haggerston, with ticketed shows in the cellar and more drag than even RuPaul can handle. The neighbourhood is where the hipsters have moved as Shoreditch, which is just to the south, has gotten posher. Haggerston’s Regent Canal and Kingsland Basin, which has a mini-marina, give the area a pastoral vibe where you can eat authentic Japanese soba noodles at Toconoco (unit a, 28 Hertford Rd.) after a jog along the waterside towpath. It’s funny what turns out to be queer. We randomly nipped into Chick ‘n’ Sours (390 Kingsland Rd.) purely out of hunger—and, boy, did the pickled watermelon salad go down well with the fried chicken burgers—only to discover queer art on the walk to the washroom.
As I mentioned, Shoreditch continues to get more and more glam, but with imagination and edge. We had difficulty finding the entryway to Seed Library (One Hundred Shoreditch Hotel, 100 Shoreditch High St.) and then through the building to the downstairs lounge. The Area 51-type mystery is definitely part of the appeal—you arrive in a hidden-away beautifully curated room, a contemporary take on a 1970s basement rec room. It’s all about the cocktails, though the sharing plates are fun. Seed Library is great for a visitor because you feel like you’re in a neighbourhood bar—but all the neighbours are London’s cultural movers and shakers.
One rule I’ve learned about London over the years is that, although eating out is not cheap, if you head to less touristy neighbourhoods, you’ll get a much better bang for your buck. You don’t have to venture as far as Shoreditch or Haggerston to do this. Spitalfields, just a 20-minute walk north of London Bridge, is full of eateries that will make you feel swelligent and tuned-in, no matter how many museums you’ve visited that day. We had lunch at Ottolenghi Spitalfields (50 Artillery Ln.), the largest of Israel-born chef Yotam Assaf Ottolenghi’s seven acclaimed London restaurants. Tahini, citrus, fennel and saffron loom large on the menu, where salads are as important as the fish and meat. The service is fantastic, as are the negroni sbagliatos.
One of my priorities on my most recent trip to London was seeing the Queer Britain museum (2 Granary Sq.), which launched in 2022. Though the collection hasn’t taken over the whole building yet, the inaugural exhibition is well-curated and worth spending time with. Some of the objects in the collection are astonishing: the door of the Reading Gaol cell where Oscar Wilde wrote De Profundis “as a letter to his lover on his allocated four sheets of paper per day.” The gift shop is the perfect place to buy a souvenir for your queer friends back home.
Queer Britain is located in Granary Square, a newly revitalized mixed-use neighbourhood which is tucked behind King’s Cross station. With a waterjet fountain, performance spaces, indie and chain boutiques and a market, it’s the perfect area for visitors to demonstrate they’re in on the latest cool thing. After taking it all in, and watching people taking selfies, we head to nearby Dishoom King’s Cross, a bustling multi-level Indian restaurant that will transport you to Mumbai back when they called it Bombay. The decor references the timeless look of Mumbai’s Irani cafés, with creative reimagining of the historic details, from the marble tabletops to the newsprint menus. It’s a transportive experience as much as it’s a meal.
Craving more queer art, I headed over to Mimosa House (47 Theobalds Rd.) to have a chat with its founder and curator, Daria Khan. It’s a storefront gallery/performance space dedicated to a dialogue between intergenerational women and queer artists, particularly artists who have never been shown or never had a solo show in the U.K. “We’re not militant about how artists identify, or even if they call themselves feminist, which is more of a Western word, but about the conversation their work stimulates, what it adds to the conversation,” says Khan. “For me personally, there’s no expectation of how queer art or feminist art has to look. Artists don’t have to check a certain box.” Khan’s vision certainly does feel like the next step in queer art—allowing queer people to be more than just queer.
Though I would highly recommend investigating whatever Mimosa House is exhibiting during your visit, obviously you don’t have to go indie to find queer art in London. Even an institution as stately and proper as the Victoria and Albert Museum will mount something like Re:Imagining Musicals (which is temporarily closed, reopening August 2023): the exhibit features album cover artwork from The Rocky Horror Show, a costume for Jamie New from Everybody’s Talking About Jamie and the red lace-up boots from Kinky Boots, among other talismans. The V&A’s gayest item, though, has to be its replica/reassembly of Kylie Minogue’s dressing room from her 2007 tour, including a wardrobe full of touring costumes and a note of affection from her sister Dannii.
Speaking of performance: London’s theatre scene is neck-and-neck with New York’s for best in the English-speaking world, so a West End show—or any show, really—should be part of a London tour.
We were lucky enough to catch Cabaret at the Playhouse Theatre, which is now running until December 16, 2023. This production, which renames the theatre as the Kit Kat Club, is everything fantastic that contemporary theatre is doing right now: immersive, analogue and as far away from a screen as you can get. It’s high, high-concept. Rather than enter through the lobby, audience members go in a back door, get a shot of schnapps and stickers to place over the lens of their phones. Winding our way up from the cellar to the theatre, we pass performers who are pouting and preening, dancing and playing music like hopped-up habitués of a bordello-slash-nightclub. During the scripted show itself, if characters aren’t making their entrances and exits by being lifted up to the stage via some sort of magical trapdoor system, then they’re writhing their way there and back through the aisles.
Eddie Redmayne and Jessie Buckley might have originated the roles of Emcee and Sally Bowles in this production, but the current stars, Olivier Award–nominee John McCrea and Aimee Lou Wood, are fantastic. Actually, the whole cast is fantastic. Or maybe I had too much schnapps at the molten-gold bar?
God save the Queen, the Queen is dead, long live King Charles III, Queen Camilla and that chaotic rascal who goes by the name of Brexit. Whatever your feelings about the current state of the United Kingdom—whether you’re pro-Harry, pro-William or even a little bit republican—one thing is certain: London will never bore you.
Editor’s note: The cost of the writer’s trip to London was covered by Visit Britain and its partners. The sponsors of the trip did not direct or review coverage. The views expressed are the writer’s own.
