White Horse: Difference between revisions
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'''The White Horse''' was a pub in Rupert Street in London's West End frequented by homosexuals in 1951. The licencee Edward S. was concerned that police powers (e.g. [[ | '''The White Horse''' was a pub in Rupert Street in London's West End frequented by homosexuals in 1951. The licencee Edward S. was concerned that police powers (e.g. [[Defence Regulations and Emergency Powers Acts (EPA) | EPA]]) that were being used to discourage gay men meeting in bars would lead to him losing his licence. He informed the police, but they refused to act. He attempted to maintain a strict door policy, but when this failed, the pub was raided. | ||
Revision as of 00:00, 17 March 2012
The White Horse was a pub in Rupert Street in London's West End frequented by homosexuals in 1951. The licencee Edward S. was concerned that police powers (e.g. EPA) that were being used to discourage gay men meeting in bars would lead to him losing his licence. He informed the police, but they refused to act. He attempted to maintain a strict door policy, but when this failed, the pub was raided.
Other clubs and pubs popular with homosexuals at the time were the York Minster, the Swiss and the Marquis of Granby in Soho. Peter Wildeblood called them "less [than] discreet", rough and cruisy. Throughout the 1930s respectable men in evening dress and camp queans solicited sailors and workmen in the Running Horse. Other venues included the Billie's Club, the Hungry Horse, Gerano's in New Compton Street, Chez Victor in Wardour Street. The downstairs bar at the Ritz Hotel was frequented by men from high society, nicknamed l’Abri (the shelter), and the Trocadero Long Bar, owned by Lyon's Corner House.
References
Queer London – Perils and Pleasures in the Sexual Metropolis, 1918-1957 Matt Houlbrook, The University of Chicago Press, 2005.