Is Old Market’s stat as Bristol’s 'gay village' a thg of the past?

Contents:

• THE BEST BRISTOL GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS BRISTOL
• THE BEST BRISTOL GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS BRISTOL
• BRISTOL GAY MEN'S SOCIAL
• THE RADNOR HOTEL: BRISTOL’S GAY SAFE HAVEN OF THE 20TH CENTURY
• THE BEST BRISTOL GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS BRISTOL
• THE RADNOR HOTEL: BRISTOL’S GAY SAFE HAVEN OF THE 20TH CENTURY
• IS OLD MARKET’S STAT AS BRISTOL’S ‘GAY VILLAGE’ A THG OF THE PAST?

THE BEST BRISTOL GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS BRISTOL

Gay Clubs and Pubs. What we’re aboutWe are a group maly for cis-genred gay and bisexual men lookg to make iends and expand our social liv and terts the Bristol area.

The Radnor is the only gay pub Bristol we know of before the 1960s. It was certaly gay by the early 1940s and people have told was gay the 1930s. The Broadhurst fay had n sce 1925 so may have been gay for that long.

THE BEST BRISTOL GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS BRISTOL

In about 1975 was taken over by David Brokenbrow who cid that gay ctomers were not wele, although July 1976 Gay News reported that some women still drank there. By night and at weekends gays and theatrils om the Old Vic Kg Street or om the Hippodrome, cludg the actors Anton Walbrook, Eric Portman and the drag artiste Danny La Rue..

They really make an effort to do somethg a b different a time when gay pubs are bee so generalised that ’s hard for them to stand out and many close which is a great whilst I’m all for clivy, this bar also attracts a lot of straight femal who e here for a good night out.

I had to leave, forced out of a bar that surely is set up to attract gay men and their iends who are bears or like bears? I thk is amazg that straight women enjoy a good gay bar and I’m not someone who thks this is a man only space at all but I do wish they would do their b and regnise that the men there are not there for their personal entertament and try and act appropriately. At a time when homosexualy was still outlawed, a dimly l, smoky pub on St Nicholas Street was a haven for LGBTQ+ people Bristol and the surroundg areas.

BRISTOL GAY MEN'S SOCIAL

But, after dark, the Radnor Hotel was equented by gay people and those performg at the Bristol Old Vic and Hippodrome.

Durg World War Two, the pub was often vised by gay men the RAF and soldiers om the USA statned Clifton. It is possible that the soldiers first troduced the Amerin term “gay” to the parlance of the Radnor Hotel, replacg the more mon “queer” which was e the 1940s. By the time homosexualy was partly crimalised 1967, the pub was already known as a safe space for gay people Bristol and beyond.

THE RADNOR HOTEL: BRISTOL’S GAY SAFE HAVEN OF THE 20TH CENTURY

“I n remember thkg how odd that was as the eveng vibe was always so laid back, never stck me until then that anyone uld have anythg agast the gay muny. “It was jt such a strange suatn wh this nuclear 1960s fay om Frenchay/Downend, my dad was formerly an acuntant wh the TGWU and my mum a hoewife, takg over the more downbeat of the two gay pubs St Nicholas Street, ” says Jon.

Image source, Andy Trigg/BBCImage ptn, The mural took the graffi artist eight hours to pleteA mural of Jt Fashanu, the first profsnal football player to e out as gay, has been pated on the si of a pub Norwich. Fashanu grew up Norfolk and signed for Norwich the late source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Former Norwich Cy striker Jt Fashanu me out as gay 1990 while still playg profsnal football"He means a lot to a lot of people, pecially Norfolk, " said Christian Hodgkson, landlord of the Fat Cat and Canary on Thorpe Road, close to the cy centre stadium. "Beg the first player to e out as gay, and obvly beg black as well, he faced a lot of adversy.

THE BEST BRISTOL GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS BRISTOL

Amongst the mt-attends: eccentric electronics and pornstar martis at Unntrollable Urge (Wedndays); cult-stat toilet rave at Happy Endgs (send Thursdays); and the big gay mobile strip club replete wh gogo boys on the bar at drag night A Man To Pet’s Basic Boys! BBZWhere: Var venu, LondonBBZ is very much at the new wave of gay clubbg. Chapter 10Where: Var venu, LondonTake someone to their very first Chapter 10 and watch their ey win wh disbelief that a large “gay rave” playg somethg other than tech-hoe exists.

A slice of paradise for gay men the pal; the always unannounced programmg is as paramount as the eedom to exprs exuberant homosexualy. Eat Sleep Drag RepeatWhere: Var venu, BristolThe home of RuPl's Drag Race artists Bristol, ESDR was set up by the team behd the all-nquerg “unrground homo dis” Horseplay, and boundary-phg non-bary arts ftival Submerge. HomoelectricWhere: Var venu, ManchterEven before Queer As Folk was airg on Brish telly, Manchter stutn Homoelectric was throwg parti at the now funct Folli way back 1998.

This is home to the Bear – gay men of genero proportns – although of urse their many admirers are equally wele.

THE RADNOR HOTEL: BRISTOL’S GAY SAFE HAVEN OF THE 20TH CENTURY

It was then that Old Market saw s rurgence as the re of the cy’s LGBTQ+ scene and beme proclaimed by many as Bristol’s ‘gay village’. However, new data throws to qutn the neighbourhood’s morn and wily-regard stat as the cy’s ‘gay village’. In the once--a- data gatherg survey, the 2021 Cens rults officially clus LGBTQ+ people Bristol’s story, and reveals that here over six per cent of people are not heterosexual, and jt over three per cent of the South Wt clared themselv as gay or lbian, bisexual, pansexual, asexual and queer.

IS OLD MARKET’S STAT AS BRISTOL’S ‘GAY VILLAGE’ A THG OF THE PAST?

8 per cent intifyg as lbian, gay, bisexual or other, while Barton Hill, the area which enpsulat Old Market, the figure is much lower at 5. This prompts the qutn: is Old Market’s stat as Bristol’s gay village a thg of the past? There was a gay scene and was the heart of the LGBT muny Bristol.

Harkg back to the ceptn of Bristol’s gay village, Steve said: “There was the Bear Bar, the Palace, the Retreat, Flamgos nightclub, the sna, Market Tavern and more. This is the ntext of homosexualy beg partially crimalised 1967, meang gay men uld have sex as long as was private, was only between two men and both were over 21.

For many, however, and s after, homophobia remaed rife. Emblematic of the wang of the gay-intified neighbourhood Bristol was the closure of the G Palace, a legendary venue famed for s precipoly slopg floor and drag queens performg among s fad Victorian granur.