Advertisements

London's Gay Scene

London is one of the best cities in the world to be gay and the gay scene is a reflection of that. With a population of over 7 million and counting, the gay population (there are no accurate stats) probably stands at around 500,000 strong. The LGBT is visible in all walks of life and across all cultures from gay Muslims asserting themselves during London's gay pride to the large gay Brazilian community which has an ever increasing presence on the gay scene.

London's Gay and Lesbian scene is a staggering community with gay restaurants, gay barbers, gay clothing shops, gay bars, gay accountants, gay health clubs, gay estate agents - gay everything under the sun.

To experience Gay London head straight (!) to Soho. You can't miss it - it practically screams out at you at every turn. Go into a shop or bar and pick up the fliers to get an idea of what's on and where people are going.

Pride London is the biggest Lesbian and Gay Pride event in Britain. This year's Pride Festival Fortnight will be held from 17th June 2012 until 18th July 2012 with the World Pride Parade on Saturday 7th July, beginning in Baker Street.

The two areas of London with the most highly concentrated gay scene are Soho and Vauxhall. Soho has a very diverse array of gay pubs and dance bars (though musically it is not so diverse, with camp pop and house dominating most venues), a fantastic array of gay shops selling impossibly tight tops and more restaurants than you can shake your stick at. The crowd is usually clean cut, cute, well groomed and up for a mad night out.

Vauxhall on the other hand has a far edgier, more underground and after hours feel to it and a notoriously late opening number of venues: in fact it is possible to go out in Vauxhall and club through to Monday morning. To give these crazy clubbers their stamina it is fair to say that drugs proliferate on the Vauxhall scene more than in Soho and this does give the place a more a vibe more akin to underground Berlin than the fresh faced “innocent” twinks who populate Soho.

Other gay friendly areas in London include trendy Hoxton and parts of Islington have a trendy gay vibe.

All in all, with strong political support from all mainstream parties and gay marriage soon on the horizon, it is fair to say it is home to more than one happy Queen!

This article was written by Gabriel Saclain, CEO of www.enqueer.com. Enqueer is London's most high profile and fastest growing gay guide. It is also an exciting online guide to gay businesses worldwide. Each city including London has an overview of its gay culture and a live events calendar showing gay events in London overall, or filtered into business types. Each London gay business showcased on Enqueer features a business overview, service information, customer reviews, job vacancy page, photo gallery, google maps, etc. as well as its own events underneath.