I wish I could pack this pub up and transport it to London with me…read more Not sure how much of a 'scene' there was in Southend, through trawling the internet we found Hush bar and this place. Approaching we nearly turned around. Slightly out of the main shopping area this place looked like a dodgy local boozer with hanging baskets. Getting closer I spotted the dazzling lights of a disco ball and I knew we were in the right place. This place is awesome. Pool table, check. Clean, check. Good selection of booze, including a non-alcoholic beer for the Mrs, check. Cheesey tunes, check. Fabulous and friendly staff, check. Lesbians, check. I have to especially say to the guy behind the bar when we went who was an utter delight. Letting us know the places to go an be seen. Even remembering my order. Toto, we're not in London anymore.

OK I admit I'm a stereotype, but I'm a gay dude who loves to dance in clubs with bangin' sound…read moresystems. This London gay club has just the right mixture of sexual undercurrent and outrageously good sound system. It is a gay cousin of the alien bar in the opening sequence of Star Wars, with a definitely one-of-a-kind vibe, and some characters that may or may not be human. It used to be much more in-your-face with the sex, but that's been toned down from NC-17 (bordering on X-rated) to R-rated...just the same, even now don't bring prudes here. Bizarrely enough, my straight work colleagues turned to me and said they wanted to go to an outrageously fun gay disco. So, I took them to this Vauxhall institution, and they let the female work colleagues in too, after I flirted with the bouncer. Before the night was over, they'd definitely had the aforementioned outrageous fun. The place really reminds me of another one-of-a-kind club with a sex theme dialed up to the max and a chest-vibrating sound system: Miami's E11even. The main differences are (1) this club is not 24 hours, 365 days a year like the Miami fraternal twin (opens 8PM and runs very late), and (2) there are boys wearing next to nothing gyrating, not girls. It's easy to find with GPS. Any London cabbie will know the place, and it's easy to get to by subway. For logistics, just remember the Tube closes down fairly early by large city standards, and the cabs get a huge spike in demand when the last train departs. Thank [insert deity here] that London let Uber resume operations. The neighborhood can be slightly edgy, especially late at night, but dodge the dark archways, etc., and you should be fine. If you're a cocktail fan, this place has a great bar. The real star of the show is the truly amazing sound system with laser lights, etc. Most nights have themes, and the night we went was Horse Meat Disco night, which despite the name seems to be generally just a fun dance party with cool lighting effects. Other nights are a little more themed by body type and clothing (bears, underwears, etc). Oh one important thing: with a name like Eagle London, you might expect this to be mostly leather guys and maybe a little seedy. Instead it's sort of a radical cross-section of gay Londoners and pretty spiffy decor. I recommend the place highly.

Fun and relaxed atmosphere. My husband and I were visiting from Los Angeles and we had a great time.read more

This place is hilarious…read more Nestled in the surburban-y nowhere of South Ealing is this strange and wonderful place. I'd heard of West Five. It has an ambiguous reputation, meaning my imagination ran wild with the all kinds of grott and depravity it could be. This place blew my expectations. I imagined some tacky bar with large dancefloor and disco-balls galore. Some attempt to rival the Soho scene. Oh No. It's a pub. A really big pub. Traditional pub sign hanging high outside proudly coloured in rainbow. Inside, aside from the purple-pink neon bar it's your local. Good selection behind the bar and really reasonable prices. The staff are unpretentious and friendly. There's a real feeling of community here, everyone knowing everyone, instead of everyone sleeping with everyone. We went on a Friday, the evening started early with great entertainment. A wonderful gentleman playing you show tune classics on the stunning grand piano in one section of the bar. We moved from the dance classics to join him. He took requests and invited us up to sing. It was a wonderful atmosphere for friends catching up. Moving on from civilised sing song and chat we take up our space on the dancefloor and get ready for the head-liner. A fantastic caliber of drag act entertained us. Far from your dodgy man in a dress was this wonderful entertainer that warmed us up for an energetic night on the dancefloor. This pub is great for groups. Pool table, seating, different spaces for different crowds and a good atmosphere. It's not always very busy, even on this particular Friday it was no where near full, and it was quite clear they were mainly audience for the headline act. Don't get me wrong, it's still all kinds of camp, disco balls included and the ladies leave a lot to be desired but it's got a lot of soul. I wish this place was not in the arse crack of no where, but I suppose if it was, it wouldn't be the same.

This is my favorite gay venue in the whole of London!…read more The place is just great, it's big, got friendly staff and something for everyone. Bingo nights, karaoke nights, quiz nights, DJ's, drag shows, a massive garden, a piano lounge, big dance floor, comfy sofas, yeah, everything you could wish for when you want a night out! Another reason for this being my favorite place is that the people who go there seems more relaxed than in central London. Less artificial and pretentious. There is also a big mix between girls and boys, women and men, straights and gays, in all ages! If you want a good and fun night out, or just somewhere to chill, this is your place!

KU is a corner bar that sits smack in the middle of the gayborhood. The first floor is the "bar"…read morewith a jovial and packed pub atmosphere. Upstairs is more lounge-like with plush couch seats around cocktail tables. We liked upstairs but could only find stools at the bar. It was fun to observe the bartenders pouring drinks. We found the bartenders don't serve the customers directly and they don't have cash registers. So you don't really chat with the bartenders or tip them. Instead orders are placed via roaming servers who handle the cashless transactions. This was a first for me in a gay bar setting. The world is changing. Upstairs music was current. Volume was not too loud (surprising for a Friday night) so we could converse without shouting. Clientele was a great mix, showing the diversity of LGBTQ+ London. We like that and will come back again.

Love KU!!!!! Always have the best time! Best staff! Yummy drinks and a good vibe. Would highly…read morerecommend!!! And again the whole staff is lovely and Awesome!!!

I am reminded of one of my favorite stickers "Every bar is a gay bar." Yay! Only 10 meters from our…read moreAirbnb...pleasant environment, fun music...nice tables. Came in for a glass of wine. Will sneak back in when the parents arrive.... ;)

Have been here several times - though this time a new member of staff made the choice to…read morespecifically pick me out and decide to flex their power. About 15 guys were crowded around the bar, some of them even sat on stools right at the bar. I was there with a friend, and were also stood at the bar. A gentlemen asked if he could get to the bar, and I happily moved out of his way. This new staff member then called me *back* to the bar after I'd made space by stepping away, and told me to make room for other people - completely ignoring the 15 or so other guys standing around, and literally *seated* at the bar. It felt as though I was being personally picked on; not only had I *already* moved out of the way, but I was the only one to have bothered to move for this new gentlemen. I've been here plenty of times before, but I'm not sure if I feel particularly safe with this new staff member working there, he seemed to zero in on me, and decide to abuse his power to call me back, only to send me away from the bar I'd *already* moved away from....

Central Station is not the classiest of establishments…read more I'm sure it has a very loyal, local clientèle, but I'm afraid I won't be back. In the area with a few hours to kill, The Mrs remembers - somewhere around here is one of the oldest gay bars. Central station. Not one to miss out on a dodgy gay bar, we Yelp it and start the trek. On the approach; our negative suspicions were proved right as we saw the well worn exterior of the pub. Taking a deep breath we ventured in. On first impressions it actually looked quite nice. Deep purple painted walls and trendy wall paper. A light and airy look. The Problems started when we ordered a drink at the bar. Drinks weren't cheap and I got what I believe to be the dirtiest pint ever had the displeasure of drinking. It just tasted foul, like the lines hadn't been cleaned, ever. Everywhere on the bar and tables seemed to already be wet. Even for 8pm on a Friday night the atmosphere was lifeless with just a scattering of lone men sitting around the place. Bar flies were a staple here. As standard, there was no lock on the ladies - which was another delight. Describing itself as a 'restaurant' even going so far as putting itself on TopTable I was sceptical. I'm afraid we didn't brave the food as the menu didn't look very appetising. Now there is a club downstairs, and a pool table lives out the back so I'm sure there are better nights to go there and when there are people I'm sure its a hoot. But. No. Just. No

This is a traditional old school gay bar, club ('Underground' in the basement) and budget hotel…read more Very welcoming, confident and uncompromising in its culture and identity. As a bar, it's not hip nor stylish but offers a welcome home to a variety of local community events embracing all aspects of queer and allied trade identities including regular socials for trans people, cross dressers and their admirers - if you're no comfortable with this then prepare to see your horses frightened! If you are then enjoy one of the warmest spaces in town. The hotel (perhaps more B&B) is clean but dated, with reasonable facilities and a can do attitude. They have a lovely little roof terrace and while hardly boutique, it does a great breakfast fry up and a proper cup of tea - a rare find in that big London these days.

Visiting from the U.S. and blown away by how the POC staff here treat people who look like them…read more You'd think there would be at least a little friendliness but no. They'll bend over backwards for certain folks and completely ignore you. It was so bad another customer had to apologize to me for how they were acting. Wild to see that level of self hate in action. Definitely not tourist friendly.. unless you are white.

No wonder they have 2 stars. Tonight 08/17/2024 I was there. I went to the bar to get a drink. I…read morewas over looked by the 2 bartenders for at least 20 mins. It wasn't that crowded at the bar. When other guest would walk up they would get immediate attention. I didn't want to loose my spot so I stayed there to see if eventually one of them would come over. At one point which was the last straw 2 guys walked up on the right of me and one of the bartenders looked our way and said "hey there" thinking he was speaking to me. I smiled. Then he walked right past me and spoke with them and went back to the other side of the bar! As I walked away a tall guy was behind me and he saw it and looked in shock as to say he saw what happened, he didn't say anything to the bartenders to assist. It wasn't he job to I know. I asked for the manager, I shared my experience, he apologized and gave excuses saying the guys were new. And that he will speak with them. He offered to get me a drink. I was done by then and I declined. I mentioned that I would give a review. I won't be back. What happened to customer service? If I could left the stars blank I would have.

Came here on a Thursday evening and I was blown away - wow, so many people, even after midnight!…read moreApparently it closes all the way at 3:30am even on Thursdays. The place was *packed*, but still easy to get into/no problems with mean bouncers or anything like that. The first thing that caught my eye was that all types of people were here - there were young gorgeous girls and guys, as well as older gentlemen in couples and groups too. It's a very inclusive place. The shape of the place is rectangular, with the bar on the left and a bit of space for dancing on the right (I should mention that the music was great here too, even for dancing!). I'm not sure if there are tables (with bottles) but it looked like on the right hand side there may have been tables. Lots of fun-loving gay guys here too, and I actually only later found out that this is a gay bar! However like I said it's very welcoming and there are all sorts of people having fun here - young and old, women and men, British and international, gay and straight :)

Just stopped for drinks. Nice spot didn't know the history…read morebut pleasantly surprised Service was nice and friendly

Comptons has been around for a long time, looks the same for years, and still manages to pack in…read morethe gay crowd especially in evenings and weekends. Don't let the crowds outside fool you thinking there's a long line to get in. They're just drinking and smoking in the designated sidewalk pub area. Downstairs can be smashing full of fun, but we enjoyed upstairs even more. It was a "little" more sedated and Cheers pub-like with lots of regulars. Drinks are reasonably priced, and doubles are encouraged. That's cool so we don't have to wait at the bar twice, especially since only one bartender upstairs was handling the whole floor.

Clearly this is the most popular gay bar in Soho, right? When Jamie W. and I sauntered by on a…read moreweeknight evening, we were quite intimidated by the number of guys hanging out right in front. It was like Mickey's in WeHo on a Saturday night, just without the go-go boys. That's not to say there weren't lookers lurking about. We steeled ourselves to enter the premises and ordered our £12 drinks from the busy bartender. Now here's the trick. Walk up to the second floor... The vibe changes to low-key with patrons sitting either at round tables and in comfy upholstered wingback chairs. There's even a bar upstairs, so you don't have to compete with the West End boys and East End girls taking up space below. Jamie nursed a Gin & Tonic, while I had a Tequila, OJ and Cranberry Juice mix (photo: https://yelp.to/vdCmPktddk). He didn't have grenadine for a Sunrise but no complaints from me. We were chillin' with our mates upstairs. DRINKS - 4 stars...stiff and potent AMBIANCE - 4 stars...the downstairs is packed but the upstairs is like a pub SERVICE - 3.5 stars...busy bartenders TOTAL - 4 stars...gay central in Soho RELATED - Exploring London? Here's my collection of places I've visited and reviewed: https://bit.ly/3zFACrx

Oh yelpers... hidden stairwells, gays, cocktails... if you've been keeping up with my hot lists,…read moreyou know that this is the way to my 5-star affection. Be on the lookout for for the NBS sign, because we were absolutely baffled at first as to where this place actually exitsted (76 seems like a fairly straightforward number, but the entrance isn't off marchmount...) Great cosy little bar that suits the locals in the know. NBS has some well-crafted cocktails that packed quite a punch and a chilled out atmosphere. There's a couple of small little private caves with mini flatscreens and pillows if your group wants to be a bit away from the crowd, otherwise plop down on one of the cushy leather sofas and sip the night away. We were there on a Sunday night so it was pretty quiet, though we were told that it does pack up a bit more on prime nights. All in all, the NBS is a great little bar that delivers exactly what you would expect from this neighborhood.

It's 5pm, I'm starving and tired…read more Simon - What are you doing tonight? Eric - Damned if I know. You? Simon - Come out with my friends and I. Eric - Done. Two hours and an unappetising avocado and chicken pesto sandwich from Pret A Manger (that's a review for another time) later, I met my friend at The New Bloomsbury Set. There was a lovely blast wall of air-conditioning as soon as I walked down the stairs and entered the bar. It is small and minimalistic and comfortable. Those things don't always go hand in hand but Jez has pulled it off somehow and I thank him for it. If you take a look at the wall on your left as you enter you will see three little alcoves that look like they may have been storage space at one time. I didn't have a chance to ask but they've been gussied up as a nice little chill out space. Throw pillows and carpets make these little spaces nice and cosy but don't completely alienate you from the rest of the room. They have a full bar with a wonderful drink menu and plenty of beers to suit a number of tastes. It's a safe bet that you're in good hands unless you only drink odd things like 20 year aged mescal. I have a light hearted warning to pass on about the hall outside the bathrooms. There is a disco ball and coloured lighting so beware. A dance party might just break out. If you happen to be looking for a nice, intimate place to have a drink and relax then I highly recommend The New Bloomsbury Set.