Difference between revisions of "Caravan Club"

Revision as of 00:05, 17 March 2012

The Caravan was a gay club that opened in 1934 at 81 Endell Street, Coventry Garden. Its advertisement flyer read:

After the day's routine pond you evening at
the caravan
81 Endell St.
Entrance in Court
(corner of Shaftesbury Avenue, facing Princes Theatre)
Phone: Temple Bar 7665

London's Greatest Bohemijan Rendezvous
said to be the most unconventional spot in town

All night gaiety – dancing to Charlie
Periodical night trips to the great open spaces, including the Ace of Spades, etc

The Caravan was raided by police after letters from Holborn Council and ratepayers from Endell Street complained the the place was "frequented by sexual perverts, lesbians and sodomites... an absolute sink of iniquity, your prompt attention is respectfully craved". Then the London District Command accused the venue of corrupting service-men and had the place patrolled by the military police who tried to keep it out-of-bounds. Then came pressure from the Public Morality Council (PMC) who were surveying 25 venues by special request, and the Caravan was finally prosecuted in 1933, along with dance halls in Baker Street and Archer Street and a ball room in Holland Park Avenue.

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, another Lyon's Corner House.

References

Queer London – Perils and Pleasures in the Sexual Metropolis, 1918-1957 Matt Houlbrook, The University of Chicago Press, 2005.