Queer Cinema World Tour is our regular feature taking you to destinations that provide the settings to your favourite LGBTQ2S+ film moments. For this stop on our tour, we’ll visit Yorkshire, England, U.K., the setting for 2017’s God’s Own Country.
This “Brokeback in Yorkshire” has a happier ending than Ang Lee’s 2005 cowboy love story, and, for some, its bucolic sheep-strewn landscape is more alluring than Brokeback Mountain’s rugged one.
The politics of God’s Own Country are also more contemporary and layered. Self-loathing, hard-drinking Yorkshire lad Johnny (Josh O’Connor) finds himself attracted to Gheorghe (Alec Secăreanu), a Romanian migrant worker Johnny at first holds in contempt—they are unequal in their status as well as the supports and advantages they have in life. But Gheorghe’s tenderness, among his other attributes (read: he’s hot), slowly wears away the chip on Johnny’s shoulder. Though Yorkshire folks are known for being no-nonsense, with sharp flares of dry wit, this melodramatic movie is clearly and singly focused on affairs of the heart.
The indie film was mostly shot around the market town of Keighley, which has a population of about 54,000, and whose picturesque train station appears in the film (it also appears in 1970’s much loved The Railway Children). It’s not a fancy place to stay—most of the accommodations are small and independent—think cottages and B&Bs. But from here you can take a vintage steam train about eight kilometres south down the valley to the cute village of Oxenhope. Head north and you’re on the edge of Yorkshire Dales National Park, a large natural area with unique rock formations and dozens of walking and hiking trails.
It’s not all stone fences and craggy river valleys, though. Fledgling Keighley Pride, founded in 2019, now takes place each August; the organization’s website contains links to community resources available throughout the year. The nearest year-round gay venue is The Sun in the city of Bradford (the designated U.K. city of culture for 2025), home to dragtastic shows, karaoke and trivia night.
If you imagine the look and feel of West Yorkshire, you’re likely picturing pastoral villages, farms and lots of sheep, which is mostly correct. The film certainly shows its two leads in relative isolation from modern urban gay life. But West Yorkshire’s largest city, Leeds, also happens to be the U.K.’s fourth largest metropolitan area, with a population of about 1.7 million. If Johnny and Gheorghe needed a break from backbreaking farm work or each other, they could find a lively gay scene in Leeds about a half-hour train ride away.
In Leeds, they could blow off all that sexual tension at Steam Complex (Ledgard Way, Armley, Leeds. U.K.), a gay bathhouse which is near a couple of golf clubs (yes, Yorkshire is known for golf, as well as sheep). Or they could party at the gay and LGBTQ+ friendly bars on and around Lower Briggate, perhaps starting with the popular happy hour at LGBTQ+-owned and -oriented Queens Court (167 Lower Briggate, Leeds, U.K.), then taking in drag at Viaduct Showbar (11 Lower Briggate, Leeds, U.K.) or, if it’s Monday, play gay bingo there. Tiny Blayds (3-7 Blady, S. Yard, Leeds, U.K.), probably Leeds’s oldest gay bar, gets packed and campy on the weekend.
Back in Keighley, The Kings Arms (Bolton Rd., Silsden), on the outskirts of town, is where, in the film, young Johnny liked to get plastered. It does, indeed, have well-priced drinks, but they also do a decent fish and chips with peas, according to some online reviews.
