Gay leather club london
Field notes from The Backstreet, London’s lost leather club
Notably, Prem’s footnotes eschew traditional archiving processes, offering a messy account of their Backstreet experiences, peppered with everything from their thoughts revisiting the Backstreet display closure in December , as successfully as meandering realisations that highlight how an experience could differ for anyone who walked through the doors of the bar. At one point, they mention a visit to a formal attire desire night called Gentlemen. “That night, I ended up wearing the same suit I wore to dad’s funeral,” they write. “I found a napkin folded in one of the pockets. It must have arrive from the langar [a community kitchen] at the gurdwara.”
It’s an intriguing approach, one that doesn’t so much fetishise this fetish archive, but instead complicates it, refusing master narratives that display queer history through the dominant, pale and cis-gendered narrative. As Prem observes, this was a men’s‑only club. “I’m not part of the leather scene, for instance; I’m also non-binary,” they s
Relics of a lost male lover leather and fetish bar
Between and , if you strolled down a certain unassuming, graffiti-splattered alley in East London, you would arrive at an unmarked door to the city’s longest-running gay leather and fetish bar, The Backstreet.
John Edwards, 70, founded and ran the club for 37 years. In , his friend Mark Allnutt, 44, joined him productive behind the bar. The dress code was strictly enforced. To get in, you had to be wearing, or be about to change into, complete leather or rubber. If it was your first time, you’d be allowed to rifle through “The Box” of unclaimed clueless property to assemble a suitable look. In later years, they hosted themed club nights, like BLUF (breeches and leather uniform), Unzipped (totally naked) and Unzipped Light (totally naked, or jock, underwear or preference gear).
After surviving a number of hurdles over the years – the AIDS crisis, a smoking ban, shots to redevelop the building, a global pandemic – the club tragically succumbed to the rapidly accelerating require of living crisis. After receivi
BLUF events calendar
Hunter - Berlin Backlash
Friday 19 September,
Now in its 2nd year, HUNTER is now recognised worldwide as London's Ultimate Leather & Fetish Event. Hosted by Leather Daddy Brew Hunter (who also created the infamous Sex, Smoke and Submission late hours, MASTERY at the legendary BACKSTREET), HUNTER effortlessly re-creates the vibe and vigour of the classic leather clubs of the Castro and the Meatpacking district. Held at Electrowerkz – London's premier iconic alternative club venue – it's a rammed evening (in every sense of the word) that takes Kink guests down, deep and dirty.
In the famous FOREPLAY BAR, providing hardass, thrusting beats is co-host and London's newest and most hardcore Fetish DJ/Promoter - muscled, tattooed and leathered – DJ STEELE. Heavy-playing Leathermen with their bois and slaves mix effortlessly with the raunch and riot of rubberboys and K9s, with a heady dose of tattooed skins and scallies. Here, the Old Guard truly meets the Vanguard of London's fierce and upcoming Fetish Scene, where chains, ropes and floggers are everywhere y
East London was once home to a thriving queer nightlife, but soaring costs forced gay landmarks like The Backstreet off the map.
When The Backstreet shut its doors for the last occasion in July , London disoriented its longest-running and last men-only leather bar. That summer, queer men lost a club that had felt like home for 37 years.
In its final nights, The Backstreet thronged with visitors from all over the globe. Some travelled from Australia for the chance to party in the notorious fetish venue of head cages and chains one final time.
The legendary club was located in the shadowy backstreet of Wentworth Mews, behind Mile End station. With no outside sign and a no-phone policy, the secretive venue was kept underground despite its explosive popularity.
Walking past the club now, you wouldn’t spare a moment’s glance. Steel shutters border every entrance to discourage squatters, and some haphazard graffiti provides the only sign of remaining life around the vacant building.
But back in the day, Edwards, 70, was the custodian of a necessary meeting place, where gay men co