All may now be closed, but the area has experienced something of a resurgence Dalston Superstore, The Glory, East Bloc, and Vogue Fabrics (now VFD) represent a new slew of gay bars and pubs. It's left many asking, what next for queer London?Įast London has always housed a handful of queer venues, but it was in the 90s that the scene really thrived, with venues like the Bull and Pump on Shoreditch High Street, Oak Bar in Stoke Newington, and the legendary Joiners Arms. Madame Jojo's, Candy Bar, the Green Carnation, and Manbar are just some of the establishments that have recently closed. Such is the rate of closures now though, there are fears it could suffer a similar fate. That particular moniker passed to Soho in the 80s, a title it's held for some time. Once the city's most prominent gay village, Earls Court's queer quarter-a bustling hive of pubs, cafes and saunas-has all but vanished. People used to go out there because it was a little group of bars: Bromptons, Copacabana and the Coleherne."Īll three venues have now either been closed down, reopened as mixed venues, or redeveloped entirely. "When I was 15 or 16 and first out, people were still going to Earls Court. In September 2008 it was purchased by Realpubs, underwent a major refurbishment and reopened as a gastro-pub called The Pembroke."Over the years, the scene has always been fluid and moved from area to area," says club promoter Wayne Shires, a titan of London's gay scene since the early 80s. In the mid-1990s it sought to lighten its image with a makeover to attract a wider clientele, but to no avail. Ireland took them home, restrained them and in five cases, killed them. Ireland, who claimed he was straight, picked up men at the Coleherne, whose colour coded handkerchiefs indicated that they were into sadomasochism and passive.
Serial killer Colin Ireland began a series of five murders in 1993, as a New Year's resolution. The Coleherne was infamous as the stalking ground for three separate serial killers from the 1970s to 1990s: Dennis Nilsen, Michael Lupo and Colin Ireland. It is referred to in the lyrics of "Hanging Around" by The Stranglers. Īmerican author Armistead Maupin included references to the Coleherne in his Tales of the City book Babycakes. In 1972 Coleherne pub goers, angry at the politicisation of gay sex, lifestyle and position in society by GLF, pelted passing parade goers with bottles. The gay community flourished in Earls Court and many international tourists joined the locals. The Coleherne was known internationally as a leather bar by 1965.
Leather men wearing chaps and leather jackets with key chains and colour-coded handkerchiefs formed about half the clientele.
In the 1970s it became a notorious leather bar, with blacked-out windows, attracting an international crowd including Freddie Mercury, Kenny Everett, Rudolf Nureyev, and Anthony Perkins. Originally it was segregated into two bars, one for the straight crowd and one for the gay community, at a time when homosexuality was illegal. It opened in 1866 and had a long history of attracting a bohemian clientele before becoming known as a gay pub.