Back Pocket Guide to London

The Back Pocket Guide to London was a street map of London's West End, Earls Court and Camden Town which showed the location of most of the gay venues in London. It was the first gay street map that had been produced for decades. 40,000 maps were printed and distributed free (paid by advertising) every three months. It was designed and produced by Jonathan Harbourne, who often distributed them himself outside of night clubs, such as Heaven. There were four designed and produced during 1994, following which, the Gay Business Association also produced one, having many members in their organisation already, the Back Pocket Guide survived only as the illustration printed in Boyz magazine each week for the next five years. The map itself was quite detailed, with many buildings and landmarks drawn in 3D. Over 70 different gay venues were listed and shown on the map, including bars, clubs, restaurants, shops and gyms.

Personal recollection

An ex-boyfriend of mine helped me with the map and sold some of the advertising. I think he must have thought it made more money than it did — printing was expensive. There was no official agreement between us and no profit forecast. We were young. I was twenty-six, maybe old enough to know better, but I had no experience of business. When I failed to pay him what he was expecting, he took the idea to the Gay Business Association. They had funds and a good relationship with more clients than I did, so I could not compete.

– Jonathan Harbourne, designer and publisher of the Back Pocket Guide · recorded 2026

The listings

Each edition carried, on the reverse of the map, a complete set of listings for the capital's gay and lesbian venues, giving the address and postcode of every bar, club, café, restaurant, shop, sauna, gym and hotel then trading, with the newest venues marked. Because each issue is dated, the listings survive as a record of the scene at a particular moment. Two have been transcribed in full:

London 1993 LGBT Venues – from issue 2, autumn 1993
London 1994 LGBT Venues – from issue 4, July 1994

Read together they show how quickly the scene turned over. Between the two issues Bang at the Astoria had become Resurrection, G-A-Y had appeared at 157 Charing Cross Road, Substation had spawned a Sunday afternoon night in Portobello and a women's night of its own, and The Anvil, The Backstreet, The Little Apple and CXR79 had all opened.

The Cheque Book

The front cover of the check-book, a month’s supply of flyers and offers

Alongside the map, JWH Design produced a Cheque Book of discount vouchers for gay venues and businesses. Its eighteen vouchers covered Queer Nation on Sundays, Heaven on Wednesdays and Fridays, G.A.Y. on Thursdays and Saturdays, the Covent Garden Health Spa, Rage on Mondays, Village Youth on Mondays, Way Out on the first Thursday and Saturday, Crews on Mondays, the Centre Point Gym, Kudos, Res-erection, Sub-Station, the Book Warehouse, Phase magazine and a discount directory.

Personal recollection

When the Gay Business Association produced their own map there was not room for two, and that was the end of the Back Pocket Guide. Not long afterwards the Marshall Street office was burgled and everything was taken. It was Kelvin Sollis who offered me a job at Chronos, which published Boyz and the Pink Paper, and he told me to use the map artwork inside Boyz – so it carried on in that form for years afterwards. He also sent me and Matthew Hodson to Brighton for a weekend to sell the idea there. We went cold calling round the gay businesses, but we did not get enough sales to make it work.

– Jonathan Harbourne, designer and publisher of the Back Pocket Guide · recorded 2026

The Back Pocket Guide had a stall at the 1994 Gay Lifestyles Exhibition in Earls Court.