Timeline of London Bars and Clubs

The gay scene in London has always been centred around the West End, especially Soho. In the 1980s some clubs opened up in Earls Court, where the rent was cheaper. In the 1990s, the scene reverted back to Soho, revitalised by new style bars like The Village. Vauxhall became the locus of gay clubs from 2000. Included in the following timeline are bars and clubs in Earl’s Court and Vauxhall, though they are not strictly in the West End.

1800s

1810 The White Swan, Vere Street (Vere Street)

1839 Admiral Duncan (54 Old Compton Street, Soho)

The Hundred Guineas Club (Portland Place)

1866 The Coleherne, closed 24 September 2008 (261 Earls Court Road, Earls Court)

1889 19 Cleveland Street, as in the Cleveland Street scandal

1893 St James's

1896 Trocadero Long Bar Shaftesbury Avenue

1900s

1905 Criterion

1910s

1910 York Minster, later The French House (49 Dean Street, Soho)

1920s

1925 Hotel de France, now the site of Heaven

1927 The Adelphi Rooms

The Marquis of Granby in Soho.

The Hungry Horse

Gerano's (New Compton Street)

Chez Victor (Wardour Street, Soho)

The downstairs bar at the Ritz Hotel

The Bunch of Grapes

Windsor Castle

Cavour

1930s

Jamset

Cosmopolitan Wardour Street

Running Horse

Black Cat

1931 Gateways, closed 1985 (239 King's Road, Chelsea)

1934 The Caravan (Endell Street, Covent Garden)

1935 Billie's Club (Little Denmark Street)

1935 Festival (Dean Street, Soho)

1935 Careless Stork (Denman Street, Piccadilly)

1937 Music Box (Leicester Place)

1937 Sphinx (Gerrard Street)

1939 Boeuf sur Le Toit (Orange Street)

1940s

Queens Head (27 Tryon Street, Chelsea)

The Salisbury (90 St Martin's Lane)

Cave of the Golden Calf (Heddon Street, Mayfair)

1941 Arts and Battledress (Orange Street)

1941 Sam's Café (Rupert Street, Soho)

1941 Swiss Hotel, later Comptons (53 Old Compton Street, Soho)

1941 The Crown and Two Chairmen (31–32 Dean Street, Soho)

1946 City of Quebec (12 Old Quebec Street, Marble Arch)

1950s

1951 White Horse (Rupert Street, Soho)

1952 A&B, previously Arts and Battledress in Orange Street (Rupert Street, Soho)

Rockingham (Archer Street)

Spartan (Tachbrook Street)

Bennett's Festival (Brydges Street)

1960s

The White Bear

The Carousel Club (Orange Street, then Panton Street)

The Roundabout

The Coffee House (Haymarket)

Vince (Foubert's Place)

Danny La Rue's (Hanover Square)

La Douce (D'Arbly Street, Soho)

Peppermint Lounge (Piccadilly Circus)

The Boltons, closed early 1990s (326 Earls Court Road, Earls Court)

Catacombs, closed early 1980s (Finborough Road, Earls Court)

The Champion (opening TBC), until 2004 (1 Wellington Terrace, Notting Hill)

1962 The Black Cap, closed 12 April 2015 (171 Camden High Street, Camden Town)

1966 King Edward VI, closed 2011 (25 Bromfield Street, Islington)

1970s

El Sombrero including Yours or Mine, date TBC (142–144 Kensington High Street)

Kings Head (Gerrard Street)

Golden Lion (Dean Street)

Green Man (Portland Street)

The Dog and Trumpet (Great Marlborough Street, Soho)

Apollo (Wardour Street, Soho)

Pink Elephant (Newport Place)

Toucan (Gerrard Street)

Vortex (Tachbrook Street)

Louis (Poland Street, Soho)

The London Apprentice aka The LA (333 Old Street, Shoreditch)

Princess of Prussia (15 Prescot Street, Tower Bridge)

Club Louise aka Louise's (61 Poland Street, Soho)

1975 The Regency Club (Great Newport Street)

1976 Bang! (Sundown Club later named LA2, 157 Charing Cross Road)

1978 The Embassy (Old Bond Street, Mayfair)

1979 Heaven (Under the Arches, Villiers Street)

1980s

Stallions, later named Substation and, from 2001, Ghetto (Falconberg Court, Soho)

Mud Club (Charing Cross Road)

Harpoon Louis, later named Harpo’s and Banana Max (180–182 Earls Court Road, Earls Court)

Copacabana, later named Copa (180–182 Earls Court Road, Earls Court)

The Market Tavern (Nine Elms, Vauxhall)

The Fallen Angel (Graham Street, Islington)

The Joiners Arms, closed January 2015 (116–118 Hackney Road, Bethnal Green)

1980 Eagle, run by Bryan Derbyshire [1943–2001], closed summer 1981, reopened as the Cellar Bar (Heaven, Under the Arches, Villiers Street, Hungerford Lane entrance)

1981 The Cellar Bar, closed March 1985, then The Altar, then Soundshaft (Heaven, Under the Arches, Villiers Street, Hungerford Lane entrance)

1981 The King's Arms (23 Poland Street, Soho)

1981 Subway (Leicester Square)

1981 The Two Brewers (114 Clapham High Street, Clapham)

1984 Bromptons, closed 2008, building demolished 2014 (294 Earls Court Road, Earls Court)

1984 The French House, previously The York Minster (49 Dean Street, Soho)

1984 Clubbing in London in 1984 – http://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.co.uk/2008/02/clubbing-in-london-1984.html

1985 The Backstreet (Wentworth Mews, Mile End)

1985 The White Swan (556 Commercial Road, Limehouse)

1986 Comptons, later named Comptons of Soho (53 Old Compton Street, Soho)

1987 Daisy Chain, ended 1990 (The Fridge, Town Hall Parade, Brixton)

1987 Madame JoJo's, closed 2014 (8–10 Brewer Street, Soho)

1988 The Block, closed 2000s TBC (Touch/200 Balham High Road, Balham and Silks [later Opera on the Green]/126 Shepherd's Bush Shopping Precinct, Shepherd's Bush, then Traffic [later City Apprentice aka The City]/York Way, Kings Cross, then Paradise Club/5 Parkfield Street, Islington, then Bromley-by-Bow TBC)

1990s

The Anvil (The Shipwrights Arms, 88 Tooley Street, London Bridge)

1990 Trade, ended 2015 (Turnmills, 63 Clerkenwell Road, Clerkenwell, then various locations)

1990 The Village, closed early 1990s (Hanway Place)

1991 Halfway II Heaven (7 Duncannon Street)

1991 Village, second Village branch (81 Wardour Street, Soho)

1993 The Edge, renamed Soho Square November 2015 (11 Soho Square, Soho)

1993 Freedom (66 Wardour Street, Soho)

1993 G-A-Y (Astoria Theatre/157 Charing Cross Road until 2008, then Heaven/Under the Arches, Villiers Street)

1994 79 CXR, closed October 2012, reopened as Manbar (79 Charing Cross Road)

1994 FIST, ended 2002 (various venues)

1995 Central Station (37 Wharfdale Road, Kings Cross)

1995 Club Kali

1995 Popstarz, closed 2014 (Paradise Club/5 Parkfield Street, Islington then various venues including Hanover Grand/Hanover Street, The Leisure Lounge/121 Holborn, The Complex [ex-Paradise Club], Scala/275 Pentonville Road, Kings Cross, Sin/144 Charing Cross Road, The Den/16 West Central Street, plus Green Carnation, Hidden, The Coronet)

1995 Rupert Street (50 Rupert Street, Soho)

1995 The Yard (57 Rupert Street, Soho)

1996 Barcode, closed 2011 (3–4 Archer Street, Soho), Vauxhall branch opened in 2006

1996 Candy Bar, closed 2014, six years after departure of founder Kim Lucas (4 Carlisle Street, Soho)

1996 The Hoist (Arches 47b and 47c, South Lambeth Rd, Vauxhall)

1998 The George & Dragon (2 Blackheath Hill, Greenwich)

1999 The Admiral Duncan (54 Old Compton Street, Soho)

2000s

2000 XXL (various venues including The Arches/Arcadia in London Bridge, then Pulse at 1 Invicta Plaza, Southwark)

2000 Friendly Society (79 Wardour St, Soho)

2001 Ghetto, creator Simon Hobart, closed 2008 (Falconberg Court, Soho)

2001 The Shadow Lounge (5 Brewer Street, Soho)

2002 G-A-Y Bar (30 Old Compton Street, Soho)

2002 The George & Dragon, closed December 2015 (2 Hackney Rd, Shoreditch)

2003 Egg (200 York Way, Kings Cross)

2003 Fire (39 Parry Street, Vauxhall)

2003 Kaos (Madame JoJo's in Soho, then Stunners in Limehouse, then Electrowerkz in Islington)

2006 Barcode Vauxhall, closed 2015 (Albert Embankment, Vauxhall)

2007 Ku Bar, later named Ku Leicester Square/Ku Klub (30 Lisle Street), plus Ku Soho (25 Frith Street, Soho)

2007 The Nelsons Head, closed 2015 (32 Horatio Street, Bethnal Green)

2008 Green Carnation, closed 2015 (4–5 Greek Street, Soho)

2008 Vault 139, later named The Vault (139—143 Whitfield St, Fitzrovia)

2009 Dalston Superstore (117 Kingsland High Street, Dalston)

2010s

2010 New Bloomsbury Set (76 Marchmont Street, Bloomsbury)

2011 Circa (62 Frith Street, Soho)

2011 Vogue Fabrics aka VFD (66 Stoke Newington Road, Dalston)

2012 Manbar, opened 1 November 2012, closed January 2015 (79 Charing Cross Rd)

2014 The Glory (281 Kingsland Road, Haggerston)

2015 Bloc Bar (18 Kentish Town Road, Camden Town)

2015 The Queen Adelaide, opened December 2015 (483 Hackney Road, Hackney)

External sites

http://qxmagazine.com/pdf/gayhistory-soho.pdf

http://www.kemglen.talktalk.net/stradivarius/