Royal Vauxhall Tavern: The Movie

A short film about London's oldest gay venue, and the campaign to save it from the property developers.

Warning: Someone mentions the fairy story about Freddie Mercury and Kenny Everett taking Princess Diana dressed in man-drag to the Vauxhall Tavern AS IF IT ACTUALLY HAPPENED!!

Black Cap: Advert

Facebook. *

And don't forget other kinds of free advertising in the gay media are available...

There's advertorial pushing anti-listing petition this w/e (yeah, cheers gay listings mags 💅), so pls remind ppl of both sides 😘 #LoveTheRVT

— RVT Future (@RVTfuture) June 12, 2015

* Here's an interview with the Black Cap squatters from a well-known anarcho-queer zine.

PS Now going to step back in time and fill in some of this week's thrilling gay news, which will be filed below on the day the story appeared. Roughly.

Battle Of Soho: Going Going...

Battle Of Soho | OFFICIAL TRAILER from Aro Korol on Vimeo.

Campaigns are also now underway to save the Black Cap and the Vauxhall Tavern.

Fagburn wishes them every success, but I'm not sure what you can do to turn back the inexorable tide that's turning all of central London into luxury flats.

London Gay Scene: Closing Time?

“As a young gay boy, I still feel the need to connect with other people who understand where I’m coming from.

“It’s important to have a designated area – it’s about being validated and told you’re OK, and it’s about a community feel. You can end up talking to a gay man in his 60s and learn so much about gay history and culture. It’s like your nan passing on wisdom. We take advantage of the fact we can walk around and be gay, but too often we don’t know our history. Knowing your history, knowing your movement, gives you power.”

Travon Steadman, a 20 year-old student and Black Cap regular.

Quoted in yet another article in the straight press about how the gay scene - usually with specific reference to Soho - is dying.

And straight bars are thriving?

Vauxhall: Attack

A man has been jailed after he sprayed a substance believed to be ammonia at clubbers in a 'vile' attack.

Jonathan Lynn, of Worcester Park, doused three young homosexual people outside the Lightbox club with the noxious liquid in south London’s “gay district” Vauxhall.

The 31-year-old previously pleaded guilty to seven offences in relation to the two incidents which took place in the area on June 8.

He also admitted splashing the liquid on a fourth man in the group and a female passer-by before he assaulted another man, who was sprayed with the fluid after Lynn stepped on his foot as he waited in a nightclub queue.

Inner London Crown Court heard some of the victims were left with ulcers in their eyes, mouths as well as psychological problems.

Sentencing Lynn to two years and four months, Recorder David Etherington QC said: "I make this clear, this was a vile, violent, cowardly and disgraceful attack by you, but I do not find it was motivated by dislike or hate of people of homosexual orientation." ...

Evening Standard.

Odd then that the Standard - going on police advice - initially declared it a 'homophobic attack', as did most media. 

It was a reasonable assumption, but just because a gay man gets attacked, it doesn't mean it always has to have been motivated by homophobia.

• Painfully sincere full disclosure: All stories posted from this one to Tuesday September 2nd were written on that day.

Vauxhall: Fucked?

And so the shrinking of Vauxhall’s scene picks up a pace. Orange, who own Fire and Area (noting Covert/ No. 65 has already had its license withdrawn) have announced Area’s to close. They say Network Rail and Lambeth Council aren’t letting the club their license as they want to turn the Albert Embankment into a “vibrant high street”. The politics of this news is complex but we do wonder if it’s because Orange has found it has too many venues to fill.

Whatever the reason, there’s no doubt things are changing in Vauxhall and not rosy for the scene. We’ve already lost Hidden, the Coloseum and the old Renaissance Rooms days are numbered. Four groups are involved: the local community, the emergency services, Lambeth Council, commercial interests and Orange Group.

The local communities long ago grew tired of what the scene brings. Cars parking outside your house, 24/7 noise including screaming, shouting, ambulances, police and the rest.

The Metropolitan Police and London Ambulance are the involved emergency services and have to deal with it all – though St Thomas’ down the road have also had enough. Scene casualties and the associated crime have raised alarm bells. It’s hard work and horrible to those in the caring professions. Examples? A man died being restrained outside Covert recently, ambulances position themselves from 6am to run a shuttle service to St Thomas’, a man died trolleyed falling under a train last year, muggings and homophobic assaults are up.

Enter commercial interest. The property boom and gentrification. Enormously powerful developers are building a huge amount of luxury skyscrapers in Vauxhall for the foreign market – China, Russia and other developing nations who don’t want to see or go out to gay venues. Developers need to pitch a cool and vibrant area and are giving millions to the local council when they need most. Money talks and the neighbourhoods on the up so no wonder Network Rail recognise there’s more cash from regular less troublesome tenants. M&S, Waitrose and others have already checked out every Albert Embankment venue – the sauna included...

Interesting article on DiscoDamaged.

Vauxhall's like another country to me now, but DD are usually reliable on such things.

Gay Star News: Time To Say Goodbye?

Only GSN could steal this story from one that someone else - DiscoDamaged - broke 10 days ago and say "Gay Star News can exclusively reveal..."

Fagburn is opposed to anti-drugs hysteria and thinks people should be free to do whatever they want to do with their own bodies and minds, but who else but GSN could spin this so that they bemoan how "an effort to save lives" "may end up destroying businesses".

Astounding amorality in service to capital as per ahoy!

Pink profit over people, indeed.

Here's the original DiscoDamaged.com story, which they have mockingly titled in a parody of tabloidese; Loony Lambeth Labour Out To Shut Down Vauxhall Gay Scene...

Labour, huge developers, cash and homo cleansing


You only need to look at Lambeth's planning department for the clues as to why they want the gays out. This is homo cleansing by Labour for billion dollar corporations wanting delicatessens for their foreign millionaire tenants not us gays dancing the light fantastic. Nine skyscrapers. a new American Embassy, Chinese Embassy, Danish embassy - they're all to be built in Vauxhall and we're in the way. Worse, let's not forget many of Lambeth's councilors are religious and welcome the chance to rid themselves of us.

Why would they do that? Struggling Labour Lambeth get cash from developers whenever they build anything. Lambeth also recently announced plans to demolish the bus station and build a new high street. They need cash and developers. Network Rail who own the arches must also have their eye on better paying tenants if they can just get us to hand back the leases. Do the math...

[Vauxhall and I are strangers these days, and the machinations of local councils are often beyond bizarre, as is the reporting of them, and they are often public spats about undeclared feuds by rival political crooks, so Fagburn has no comment to make on this story itself. DD's story seems a bit overblown as it doesn't seem to affect currently existing venues licenses].

Fagburn asked Gay Star News earlier if they thought their endless undeclared advertorial for Barclays, Microsoft etc were in breach of the Enterprise Act.
Still waiting to hear back...

And finally... GSN apologises yesterday for wrongly saying a man was a convicted child rapist - OOPS!

Regular viewers may know fact-checking is not GSN's strong point.
In fact a lot of what they publish is just whatever press releases they got emailed, or some crap they Googled from the straight press and wrote up unchallenged.
'Shirtless X Factor reject, who is out and openly openly gay, slams Russian Nazi Pasta Gay Death Camps' etc.
What is point?
I could spend all day every day pointing out all the errors, lies and basic fuckwittery in each and every story they run, but life's too Snow White And The Seven Fucking Dwarfs [ie Short].
Fagburn is all for a free press, but if you're as seriously and systematically bad as Gay Star News is, maybe you should consider doing something other than running a gay news website?
Just a thought, Tristram Posh-Name.

Gareth Williams: Bondage, Barcode and Drag Cabaret

A press release from the Metropolitan Police today...
OFFICERS from the Homicide and Serious Crime Command investigating the circumstances into the death of Gareth Williams (date of birth 26.09.78) in August continue to appeal for information.
Police have issued two e-fits of a man and a woman they wish to speak with in connection with the enquiry.
They are described as of Mediterranean appearance, aged between 20-30 years-old.
They called at 36 Alderney Street, Pimlico, SW1 late one evening in June or July, 2010.
Having gained access to the communal area of the building, they intimated that they had a key to Gareth's flat, number 4, and were last seen walking towards it. It is believed they said they had been given the key by a 'Pier Paulo', or something similar.
At this stage, officers are making a further appeal and are urging this man and woman to come forward and assist, so that they can be eliminated from our enquiries.
There are also a number of other points on which officers are asking the public for their help.
Gareth was attending Central St Martins College, Clerkenwell, on a fashion course for beginners - police are urging anyone who knew or met him through the course to come forward if they have any information.
In addition, Gareth's wardrobe contained a collection of female attire, such as dresses and shoes, which were new, and seemingly unused, worth in the region of £15,000, as well as a collection of wigs. If anyone knows where, or when he might have bought such clothing, officers would very much like to speak to them.
Police would also like to hear from anyone who met Gareth on a visit he made to a drag cabaret - 'Bistroteque' in Mile End on 13 August 2010. Gareth had bought tickets for two other shows at the same venue. They also want to speak to anyone who saw Gareth in May 2010, at the 'Barcode' gay bar in Vauxhall, south London, when there was an unconfirmed sighting of him...

[Continued in comments below]

Daily Star: Every Man And Woman Is A Star

Surprisingly there was nothing for Fagburn to comment on in today's Daily Star Sunday, but I was struck by this delightful photo of Umbrella-singing Rihanna with James Ingham, the Star's celeb gossip columnist, taken backstage at a recording of the Graham Norton Show, no less.
He couldn't look more gay if he had a cock in his mouth.
I expect young Mr Ingham is the sort of chap who often spends his weekends in Vauxhall, don't you?