An insider's guide to LGBTQ+ London
London celebrates diversity like no other city in the UK, if not the world, with a cultural history that takes in Joe Orton and Oscar Wilde, Dusty Springfield and Leigh Bowery, annual events such as Pride in the summer, and a rainbow social scene that rarely sleeps. Despite some high-profile closures in recent years, there's plenty to keep you busy. Here are the best places to go, night and day, from bars to bookshops. Or check out our guide to London Pride for details on where to celebrate this year.
AlamyWhere to go in the day
Hampstead Heath
There’s no better place to spend a sunny day in London than Hampstead Heath, a vast green space with views over the city from Parliament Hill. It is home to three bathing ponds — men’s, women’s and mixed-use — the first two of which are LGBTQ+ destinations in their own right. In a sheltered area by the female pond, the meadow allows women to sunbathe topless in total peace — while the lawn outside the entrance to the men’s pond becomes a popular destination on summer weekends. The water is very fresh, even in summer, although some enthusiasts swim year-round. It is easiest to jump straight in – the men’s has a diving board, and you can leap off the deck by the women’s pond rather than taking the stairs. It’s a very natural experience, with birds nesting in the buoys. Follow on from a swim with a drink and something to eat at the nearby King William IV.
Address: Hampstead, London NW3 1BP
Website: hampsteadheath.net
Roelof BakkerDennis Severs' House, Spitalfields
Step back in time at this extraordinary address in Spitalfields, a time capsule of 18th-century London. Gay American artist Dennis Severs spent 20 years turning his home into a living museum, with the townhouse’s 10 rooms representing snapshots in the life of an imaginary family between 1724 to 1914. Since Severs’s death, the house has been preserved as he left it and is open to the public for daytime and evening tours. Every detail is immaculately considered to make you think the former residents have just stepped out of the room; from the smell of freshly-brewed coffee to bedsheets that look like they’ve just been slept in. Book well in advance.
Address: Dennis Severs House, 18 Folgate Street, London E1 6BX
Website: dennissevershouse.co.uk
Open Barbers, Hoxton
If you’re in need of a fresh look, this fantastic and inclusive salon caters to all genders, sexualities and hair types. Open Barbers operates as a not-for-profit business, offering sharp cuts and bold colour services on a sliding scale based on what customers are able to afford — ensuring that everyone can get a great haircut, without fear of discrimination. See also Barberette in Hackney, which specialises in gender-neutral cuts and colouring.
Address: Open Barbers, 4 Clunbury Street, Hoxton, London N1 6TT
Website: openbarbers.com; barberette.co.ukGay's The Word, Bloomsbury
This LGBTQ+ bookshop is a much-loved London institution. On Marchmont Street in Bloomsbury (a central London enclave once home to Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury set), the shop has been a landmark since 1979, stocking queer fiction, non-fiction and poetry from all over the place. The choice is exhaustive, featuring classic and contemporary authors including Audre Lorde, Oscar Wilde, Alison Bechdel and James Baldwin. It hosts events and book readings in the small shop space; and its wonderful staff will be happy to give you recommendations and historical anecdotes. Don’t leave without a campy postcard — the selection has to be one of the city’s best.
Address: Gay’s the Word, 66 Marchmont Street, London, WC1N 1AB
Website: gaystheword.co.ukSh! Emporium, Shoreditch
Run by and for women, Sh! is an erotic boutique offering a first-class selection of toys and literature in the most welcoming of environments. Staff will offer you a cup of tea or coffee as they dish out advice on their products. And they know their stuff — founder Kathryn Hoyle is responsible for introducing the Jessica Rabbit to the world. The shop also hosts regular evening classes on everything from lesbian sex to beginners’ bondage.
Address: Sh!, 31-35 Pitfield Street, London N1 6HB
Website: sh-womenstore.com
Where to go at night
Royal Vauxhall Tavern
One of London’s oldest surviving gay venues, the Royal Vauxhall Tavern has been an entertainment destination since the 1860s. Expect everything from inclusive football screenings to raucous cabaret shows and late nights on the dancefloor to 90s, noughties, and the latest pop and dance tracks. Basically, you can come here any night of the week, and you’ll be at the heart of the action – this small, welcoming venue is centred around a stage that has been trodden by many performance legends over the years. It's said that Diana, Princess of Wales, dressed up in drag to join Freddie Mercury for a drink here in the 1980s.
Address: Royal Vauxhall Tavern, 372 Kennington Lane, Lambeth, London SE11 5HY
Website: vauxhalltavern.com
Savage Disco at Metropolis, Bethnal Green
An East End strip club from Tuesday to Friday, Metropolis opens its doors every Saturday for thrilling Queer parties. The club is set over four lavish floors, with leopard-print carpets, neon lights and a hot tub on the roof terrace. Open until 5am, it’s the after-party of choice for East London clubbers, who come here to dance to house and disco alongside pole-dancing drag queens.
Address: Metropolis, 234 Cambridge Heath Road, London E2 9NN
Website: metropolisclub.co.ukHeaven, Charing Cross
Heaven is hands-down the biggest and most famous gay club in central London. Established in 1979 in the arches beneath Charing Cross railway station, it’s one of the city’s legendary nightlife spots — notorious for its acid house and hardcore raves in the late 1980s-early 1990s. In 2008 it was taken over by G-A-Y and became much more mainstream. Thursday’s Porn Idol is an amateur strip contest judged by guest stars — mostly RuPaul’s Drag Race alumni these days. Heaven is also a gig venue, familiar to everyone from Cher to Lady Gaga, and feels like a homecoming gig for the artists and icons who play here.
Address: Heaven, The Arches, Villiers Street, Charing Cross, London WC2N 6NG
Website: heavennightclub-london.com
Marcellus KimontThe Queen Adelaide of Cambridge Heath
Many great London venues have been lost to redevelopment and rent hikes in recent years, and one such loss was the George & Dragon pub in Shoreditch. Forced to close in 2015, its departure left a big hole in the East London scene. Fortunately, it wasn’t long until the landlords announced a new venture nearby: The Queen Adelaide, in a former lap-dancing club and seafood grill. With trinket-filled interiors and good-value beer, the pub is popular with art school students and creative professionals. Make sure to visit the loo, a curated art gallery known as the White Cubicle.
Address: The Queen Adelaide, 483 Hackney Road, London E2 9ED
Website: thequeenadelaide.com
Bernice MulengaDalston Superstore
Since bursting on to the scene in 2009, Dalston Superstore has been a major player on East London’s contemporary LGBTQ+ landscape. Open all week, and serving food in the day (including drag brunch on the weekend), Superstore houses DJs across two floors playing to a fashionable and diverse crowd. Highlights include Wednesday's Bodyswap centred around transgender dance music, and the hedonistic Happy Endings on Thursdays – the perfect early start to a LGBTQ+ weekend in the capital.
Address: Dalston Superstore, 117 Kingsland High Street, London E8 2PB
Website: dalstonsuperstore.com
Ben FisherLGBTQ+ festivals
Tate Lates (last Friday of every month, pictured)
Once a month Tate Modern stays open through the evening for a series of curated events for young-minded audiences, often featuring LGBTQ+ programming.
LGBT+ History Month at the Museum of London (February)
The Museum of London holds an interesting series of lectures throughout February to mark LGBT+ History Month.
BFI Flare (March)
A festival at the BFI puts the best LGBTQ+ cinema from around the world under the lens, with related talks and club nights.
Pride (June/July)
June is Pride month across London, an event that started (unofficially) in 1971 and has been gathering pace ever since. The official parade marches to Trafalgar Square, followed by a Soho street party. Alternative events include UK Black Pride and Queer Picnic.
Fringe! Queer Film & Arts Festival (autumn)
With events in cinemas, galleries and pop-up venues across East London, this arts festival celebrates the city’s queer creative scene.
Getty ImagesThe best LGBTQ+ neighbourhoods
East London
For years, East London has been the home of London’s alternative LGBTQ+ scene. Nightlife caters to a diverse and creative local community, in bars and clubs across the boroughs of Hackney and Tower Hamlets. Edgy, fashionable and inclusive, the area has something for everyone — on any night of the week.
The main hub centres on the former shopfront and basement venues of Kingsland High Street in Dalston. Take in amateur performance art and avant-garde parties at VFD or sing your heart out at The Karaoke Hole, a basement karaoke bar with drag queen MCs. You can turn up any night of the week to hit the dancefloor at Dalston Superstore, or venture further east towards the eccentric Queen Adelaide pub and the Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club, a fun setting for many a queer night. In terms of what's playing, expect house, disco and alternative — plus pop favourites.
While most venues shut by 2–3am on a weekend, you can keep the night going at one of Metropolis' club nights. In Hackney Wick, near the Olympic Park, the monthly gay rave Chapter 10.
If you need fuel on your night out, Dalston is packed with late-night eateries. It’s home to fantastic Turkish food (highlights include Mangal 2 and Somine), pizza-by-the-slice at Voodoo Ray’s and tacos at Del74 or Viva. And if you’re looking for a new outfit, Hackney has everything for vintage lovers. Local picks include Mero Retro in Dalston, and the Princess May Car Boot Sale for budget gems on weekend mornings.
Getty ImagesSoho
Between Oxford Street and Chinatown, Soho is the geographical and spiritual centre of LGBTQ+ London. With more gay bars per square mile than any other area, Soho is buzzing on any night of the week. It’s mainstream fun: expect an all-ages, international crowd and pop music as sugary-sweet as the cocktails.
Bars are spread out on the main strip of Old Compton Street and surrounding backstreets. They include Admiral Duncan, a historic pub with drag shows most nights of the week; Ku Bar, a cocktail lounge and club popular with gay men; the lesbian bar She Soho and the big courtyard bar The Yard.
Soho has some of the most inventive restaurants in London — try seasonal plates at Ducksoup, modern British food at Quo Vadis or pasta at Lina Stores, the restaurant offshoot of a long-serving Italian deli nearby. Maison Bertaux serves tea and French patisserie all day, and you can stop in for an espresso at Bar Italia until 5am.
As for shopping, Prowler, Clonezone and REGULATION all sell fetishwear and toys. In summer the Soho Square lawn is a great destination for picnics and people-watching — it becomes the unofficial centre of celebrations during Pride. It’s also worth seeing what’s on at Soho Theatre, a great local venue with lots of LGBTQ+ programming.
If you venture outside the Soho bubble, you can find a number of great alternative nights in central London. These include Transister, a queer techno all-nighter in King’s Cross, and Kaos, a grungy underground warehouse party at Elektrowerkz in Islington.
AlamyVauxhall
Look south of the river for some of the best gay clubbing in London. Since the late 1990s, the Vauxhall railway arches have been home to underground parties and mainstream nights. Although there have been high-profile closures in recent years, it remains a clubbing hotspot – particularly popular with gay men.
On the banks of the Thames in the south-west of the city, Vauxhall has a history of entertainment. In the 17th century, the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens opened, drawing crowds in by boat for its many shows, fireworks and attractions.
The Royal Vauxhall Tavern opened in the area in the early 1860s, and became a popular post-war venue with drag revues. It’s still going strong today, having been granted 'sui generis' status by the local council in 2017 to ensure it can continue to entertain for years to come.
Club venues include Fire, a multi-room space for techno and house music, and Union, which has some of the longest operating hours in the city. Eagle London draws regulars for the legendary Horse Meat Disco on Sunday, as well as Debbie – a fun monthly with female-fronted rock and pop on the playlist.