Gay Abandon
| POPSTARZ Scala, 275 Pentonville Road, N1 (020 7833 2022). Fri 10pm-5am. Three rooms of pop silliness make this a ridiculously fun night out for those who love snogging, singing and serious hip-swinging. From the R&B sounds of the entrance bar to the harder rock and house soundtrack in the cavernous main room, through to the wild Eighties bar upstairs, Popstarz is guaranteed to put a smile on your face. |
FICTION The Cross, Kings Cross Freight Depot, off Goods Way, N1 (020 7749 1199). The smarter, late twenties set get their rocks at this ‘polysexual’ session set in The Cross’s four ex-railway arch spaces. Tunes are of the tribal and pumping house persuasion and, while the crowd is hedonistic, Fiction avoids some of the sweaty excess of other gay venues. |
| G-A-Y CAMP ATTACK Astoria, 157 Charing Cross Road, W1 (020 7434 9592). Fri 11pm-4am. A gay institution and rightly so. Two rooms are absolutely heaving with a young, fun crowd for whom a quick snog by the bogs is just their way of saying ‘hello’. A booming soundsystem and decent drink prices help add to the general mayhem. |
HEAVEN Under The Arches, Villiers Street, WC2 (020 7930 2020). Sat 10.30pm-5am. Wednesdays, Fridaysand Saturdays see this three-roomed labyrinth of gay good times packed with a mix of tourists, pretty boys and open-minded straight clubbers. House and garage gets them moving on the dancefloors although many prefer the quiet confines of the wooden church pews for late-might trysts. |
| NAG NAG NAG The Ghetto, Falconberg Court, W1 (020 7287 3726) Wed 10.30pm-3am Does it get any trendier than this? Birthplace of London’s ‘electroclash’ sound and attracting a crowd who push the sartorial envelope to the limit, Nag is a small-but-perfectly-formed club. DJs Johnny Slut (possibly not his real name) and JoJo de Freq provide the shock and awe with their vinyl bombs. |
TRADE Turnmills, 63 Clerkenwell Road, EC1 (020 7250 3409). Monthly Sat 4am-late. The daddy of all gay hard house clubs and now in its 14th year, Trade is not for the fainthearted. Kicking off as normal clubbers are thinking about bed, Trade clubbers push on through till midday in a frenzied atmosphere soundtracked by DJs playing the rougher end of house. |
| QUEER NATION Substation South, 9 Brighton Terrace, Brixton, Sw9 (020 7737 2095). Sat 10.30pm-6am. An excellent music policy of funky melodic house plus a friendly mixed crowd of pretty boys, cool Brixtonians and straight girls out for a hassle-free girls night makes this a firm favourite on the gay scene. Get there early though because this place fills its 2,000 capacity very quickly. |
ORANGE Fire, South Lambeth Road, SW8 (07905 035 682). Mon 3am-noon. Yes, it starts at 3am Monday morning and goes through till noon. Two rooms of the most outrageous wrongness and full of the fruitiest clubbers you could ever hope to meet. Amazing production and great house music keep the work-shy crowd rocking till the promoters can pry the last ones off the ceiling. |
| BEYOND The Colosseum, 1 Nine Elms Lane, SW8 07970 503 5682) Sun 4.30am-noon. The first true rival to Trade, this is proving mighty popular with the after-hours market. Three rooms play a mix of tribal, deep and hard house from DJs such as the Sharp Boys and The Olly. Beyond stays packed till midday, making it one of London’s most successful gay clubs. |
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