It’s a midweek evening at Booters, London’s recently launched only Americana-themed butch supper club, and I’m in a pub full of lesbians watching Chopova Lowena model and poet Yasmin Omoregie perform a temperature-raising striptease. People are hollering and waving tipping dollars. My vegan burger and shoestring fries – though delicious – remain largely untouched. I haven’t had this much fun on a Wednesday since my girlfriends and I staged an L Word rewatch marathon.
It’s official: the much-vaunted lesbian renaissance (see also: Chappell Roan’s stratospheric ascent and big-screen depictions such as Love Lies Bleeding and Drive-Away Dolls) has hit the capital’s food and drink scene. It all kicked off with La Camionera, a pop-up that was such a roaring success – its launch was so popular it literally shut down east London’s Broadway Market – that it was able to crowdfund more than £80,000 for a permanent space in Hackney. “We built the bar and I know how weak that thing is – it’s made of plywood. I’m always screaming, ‘Get off!’” says owner Alex Loveless laughingly, recalling one of the raucous late nights at the sleek, steel-fronted tapas bar, featuring a Mediterranean menu inspired by Loveless’s Spanish cofounder and partner Clara Solis.
La Cam, as it’s affectionately known, isn’t all rowdy parties – you can just as easily nip in for a coffee in the day or tuck into some biodynamic orange wine and a plate of funky, deep-fried anchovies and pickles (“gross but sexy”, in Loveless’s words) by night. Around the corner, there’s Goldie Saloon, opened this summer, with its dimly lit corners, moody interiors and general air of date-night debauchery – not to mention its impressive cocktail menu and draught beer from Queer Brewing. Cofounders Mai Harris and Ell Pennick describe the space as a “sexy gay living room” – one with its own signature cocktail (the Goldie is a louche blend of whiskey, honey and miso).
Once you’ve sated your thirst, you can cap the night off at one of the London’s many new FLINTA+ (that’s female, lesbian, intersex, nonbinary, trans and agender) clubnights – Booters cocreators Oran Keaveney and Ariane Trueblood recommend Carabiner, Plastyk and Strapped.
It’s enough to fill up a queer gal’s calendar till the New Year, but Goldie’s Harris notes that the seeds of the lesbian renaissance have been there for anybody who cared to look. “We’ve always been here,” they explain. “I find it emotional that we’ve existed without the places we have now – I want more!” Stick around long enough at any of these establishments and you might just find your new best friend or the love of your life. At the very least, you might get shouted at to stop dancing on the bar.
London’s Hottest Lesbian Bar Is Home To Some Truly Excellent LooksGallery21 PhotosView Gallery
