Boozers

Wednesday 2 September at 7pm (Doors Open 6pm)

Wheatsheaf Hall, South Lambeth Road, Vauxhall, London, SW8 2UP

(Opposite Holiday Inn Express, 6 mins walk from Vauxhall tube)

Were you on the gay scene in Vauxhall in the 1970s, 1980s or 1990s?

Come and share your memories with us

Boozers: the story of three South London backstreet queer pubs

'Take Courage' read the signs on three Vauxhall pubs in the late 20th century: the Royal Vauxhall Tavern (1968 - now), the Market Tavern (1983 - 1997) and the Elephant & Castle (1972 - 1996). That slogan was the trademark of the south London brewery. But you certainly needed courage to be a sexual or gender dissident and walk the mean streets of Vauxhall at the time: Homophobia was ordinary and everywhere

Only one of these three pubs remains, the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, that old London whore standing on the corner, still surviving. The Elephant is now a Starbucks, and the Market Tavern has been demolished to build luxury flats. But inbetween the rubble, the new glass sky scrapers and the corporate steam from the espresso machine, our stories survive

From the drag on the bar in the RVT of the 1970s to the ‘food menu’ at the Market Tavern to comply with Sunday licencing laws to the illicit underground sex worker scene at the Elephant & Castle, Vauxhall was the original gay village

Boozers is the first of 13 London Queer History Clubs produced by Duckie on Wednesday nights over the next year at Wheatsheaf Hall in Vauxhall, culminating in a big exhibition at the new London Museum

Tonight:

A potted history of British pubs from Magnus Coops

Interactive visual memory sessions with artist Robin Whitmore

Frontline despatches from legendary bar maid BJ Mortimer and other scene workers

A selection of local period film and video clips from public and private archives

Performance high-jinks from Miss High Leg Kick, Steve Nice & Sue Hewlett

Opera songs to raise the spirits from saloon soprano Jennifer Coleman

Free tea, coffee & cakes

Hosted by EJ Scott

Whether you are a veteran of the gay scene in the 20th century or a young queer buck with archive fever, this interactive intergenerational event is for you