The Pink Past.
More About the Eighties
DOVER
CASTLE IN DEPTFORD
I was one of the many DJs working in
Pubs & Clubs in London back in the early to mid 1980’s, and I loved
every minute of it. There were so many places to discover back then, each
with it’s own charm and appeal. The Elephant & Castle, Union Tavern,
Two Brewers, The Cricketers... and so the list goes on.
I worked in many of the Pubs, and looking
back, my only regret is not taking photos, you just didn’t, which is a
shame, as so few seem to exist today to remind ourselves of those great
days. I recently came across some photos of The Dover Castle however, which
was in Deptford. I was the weekend DJ there for about a year back in 1985,
and it was one of the best places to work. The staff were so friendly,
and the crowd really knew how to party – we had some amazing nights dancing
and watching the Drag act on the stage (sound familiar?). The DJ box was
right next to the stage, and more often than not I’d be called upon to
help Carla or Ceri Dupree with a stuck zip between acts, all the time hoping
the backing track, which was usually on a worn out cassette, kept going!
The photos I’ve found aren’t the best
quality, as they’ve been tucked away in a drawer for the past 25 years,
but they should bring back memories to anyone who used to frequent the
place back then.
Several of the staff can be seen, including
Terry, Owen & Jason, who worked behind the bar, and were lovely. Sadly,
the manager of the pub back then, Malcolm, was keeping well away from the
camera. Malcolm always came across as being awkward, but was in fact an
old softy. I’d love to know what happened to those guys.
Happy memories.
Paul x
PHOTO DESCRIPTIONS.
Dover 1 – General view of the stage
and DJ box.
Dover 2 – Jason & Terry behind
the bar.
Dover 3 – Jason, Owen, ?????? &
Terry behind the bar at a Caribbean night – 3rd August 1985.
Dover 4 – View from the stage.
Dover 5 – View from the DJ box.
Dover 6 – Terry sweeping up after the
Caribbean night!
Dover 7 – Owen & Jason behind the
bar.
Click on images to see full size.
MORE
LONDON VENUES
Thoroughly enjoyed reading this and would love to see it flourish
…… it would be nice of people could email in any memorable nights of a
non sexual nature ………..
Would even be great to get in touch with some characters of the
past !
A few venues not mentioned, or at least, I didn’t see mentioned
:
The Market Tavern Vauxhall
Touch nightclub in Balham …. People used to walk down from The 2
Brewers, above shops ( Maybe Bejam’s ? )
Sunday nighters at the Kensington Roof Gardens
The Reflex in Putney ( Now in Kingston …. I believe )
Bangs of Streatham
Good work lads !
Damn! Almost forgot – The Bell in Islington !
Paolo
THINGS
WE DID FOR MONEY !!!
In the early Thatcher years of the eighties, both myself and my partner
were unemployed as were half the population and hard up. Our one enjoyment
was watching the few gay movies we had on our National VHS video which
we had on rental.
These were poor quality copies of copies of copies and mostly super
8 movies copied onto video. We were told of a small back street shop in
Coventry which sold and bought gay films under the counter so we hired
another VHS machine and ran of a few more copies of our precious tapes.
Blank tapes cost about £8 each at the time and the shop paid us £20
a copy. Taking off the petrol and the hire of another machine we made enough
to buy food.
the owner of the shop had a ready market for the films on the north
sea oil rigs it seemed.
We also hired one night a video camera, quite a novelty at that
time, and filmed ourselves in various situations in our bedroom. This tape,
although better quality than the super 8 copies, we duplicated and offered
to the shop. He checked it and was delighted with it so our images ended
up as wank material for frustrated oil workers out in the north sea.
I still have a copy of the tape and sometimes play it to bring back
memories. Strangely I find it more of a turnon than the pin sharp glossy
DVD's of East European guys looking bored stiff as they pleasure each other
!
Jim
THE
BLACK CAP AND MORE
Hi ya , just rediscovered the site after
an absence ! It makes me nostalgic for a past that I didn't experience
and remember with some affection one that I did.
I'm 45 this year and started going to the
Black Cap at 17 ( where I was mistaken for a dyke ! ) absolutely terrified
to go in. Three years later still wouldn't walk in alone.
Fond memories of Marc Fleming, Mrs
Shufflewick, the Dissapointer Sisters, the Harliqueens Barry Scott
. I have some pics of the Dissapointers mark 2 ,without Roy Powell
. I can send them on if you like. The strange thing is, if felt daring
at the time taking pictures in a gay pub. I feel that it was frowned upon
a bit and no one wanted to be identified
I particularly remember being trapped in
there at times because there were skinheads outside ,apparently. We were
also moved away regularly by the police from the pavement at the
end of the night because we were 'blocking the pavement' ..... Yeah, right...
and occasionally the police would come in to the pub and just look around.
Can't imagine why.
There were also coach parties of tourists
that would arrive, order dozens of 'barley wine' , trek out the back for
a quick look at the drag and the poofs and then all pile out onto the coach
again. Very odd. I suppose the landlady had some sort of deal, but it did
feel like being in a zoo sometimes.
My first gay club was The Royal Oak [ is
that right ?] at Manor House , one of Tricky Dicky's nights and then Bangs
which I used to do regularly . I feel lucky to have survived that period,
a lot of people I knew from that time didn't. Anyway back to looking thru
the site now!
Simon
SOMBERERO
MEMORIES
One evening in the early eighties, I met
in the Champion, a young guy, probably no more than eighteen. When the
pub closed as they did then at around half past ten, I asked him to come
to Sombrero with me. Sombrero was a small club in Kensington High Street.
There was a small door alongside Rymans and a narrow staircase leading
to the club which was in the basement.
Sombrero had a reputation, which it probably
deserved, as a pick up place for young men especially orientals. We had
a great couple of hours with lots of hands under the table, kissing and
the sexual tension built. We danced on the glass illuminated dance floor
which was straight out of the film 'Grease'and had a great time. I really
wanted to take this guy home and spend the whole night enjoying his body
However, the young man had to work the
following day and lived out in Essex. His last train from Liverpool Street
station left just before 1.0am. I ran him to the station, parked the car
and took him to the ticket barrier. At the barrier and in front of the
black ticket collector, he threw his arms round me and gave me a beautiful
kiss.
I watched him run for his train and as
he climbed into the carriage, he turned and waved and blew another kiss.
I waited till the train pulled out and
as I started to leave, the black ticket collector called me. I thought
he was going to complain about kissing another guy in public. Instead he
just said to me 'Won't I do ?'
I looked at him and he smiled. 'I finish
my duty in ten minutes. I'm not eighteen but I'm a lot of fun' I was taken
back but he was good looking, around 25 and had a lovely smile I couldn't
resist. I had so much sexual tension inside me, his approach was
like a gift from heaven. And yes he was a lot of fun.
I didn't see the young man again although
I thought about him a lot and he is still on my fantasy play list nearly
twenty years later when I'm alone in my bed.
k
PORTSMOUTH
For some time in the eighties I worked and lived in Portsmouth. The
gay scene which everyone told me had been great in the thirties was not
too exciting. Young sailor lads supplementing their wages by consorting
with older gentlemen still went on as it had for centuries however.
Some of the sailors however, were genuinely gay and a trawl arund some
of the pubs in the docks area especially the City Arms could usually turn
up a companion if not for the night at least for an hour or two.
A couple of clubs had gay nights including one called Grannys and another
in Norfolk House.
Away from the docks were a few gay or gayish pubs, the Wiltshire Lamb
and the Captains Table in Southsea spring to mind. The Palmeston was OK
but was raided rather a lot by the police looking for drugs.
There was some serious cottaging in Southsea and the sand dunes at Hayling
island were always worth a visit.
THE
CINEMA CLUBS OF SOHO
In the early eighties, video recorders were only just making an impact
on the British public. They were expensive and so were the tapes and while
poor copies of american gay porno movies were just starting to circulate,
for most people if they wanted a moving image it was either an 8mm home
movie or a visit to a porno cinema.
London at that time had plenty to choose from. Mostly pretty seedy,
using either dodgy film projection or sometimes ever poorer video images
images, the cinemas operated as clubs staying just inside the law (probably
!) During the performance there was lots of seat swapping and many
cinemas didn't even bother with a sound track, the audience provided it's
own moans and groans.
Names come floating back, The Blue Boy,Colt, Charley Browns, Abcat,
Climax, Erames, Lamda,Trade, Office, Playboys, Spartacus and so on
On this page we have captured some images of these pleasure palaces.
They don't look very impressive but they were all we had. Now DVD captures
every minute detail of the action in your own home. Somehow, I found the
blurred, scratchy images of the past strangely more erotic. perhaps it
was the company we watched them in.
Ted.
ABCAT
|
CLIMAX
|
COLT
|
ERAMES
|
LAMBDA
|
OFFICE
|
SPARTACUS
|
TRADE
|
SUBWAY,
AHEAD OF IT'S TIME
I remember Subway very well. It opened if I remember right over the
Christmas period in 1981. It used basement premises which had formerly
been Adams in Leicester Square. A notice on the door before entering read
'We are the first American style Club. Use your imagination'
The club catered very much for the leather/coboy/denim market with
a fairly strict dress code which was spelled out on a notice at the top
of the stairs which led to the basement.
The club itself had wall paintings similar to those of Tom of Finland
with lots of bulging crutches, chains and mean looking faces. Beer was
about 70p a pint and there were two bars, a dance floor and video games.
It was simply too way ahead of it's time and a bit in your face
for such a central location, still I had lots of fun there and so did evryone
else for a short time at least. The Ku bars and Rupert streets of today
seem a bit tame by comparison.
Michael
YOUR
MEMORIES WANTED
Can you add material to these pages ? We are
always happy to include your memories of the eighties, or even the seventies
and sixties ! We don't use your name.
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Pink History
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