It was an interesting concept for a bar as its setup was mixed for LGBT+ and mixed customers. Two sides of the bar catered for two different audiences.
A Facebook message confirmed the closure, revealing that the last day of trading would be the 6th September.
The statement said,
“Unfortunately it’s true, the Old Lady of Tryon Street will be closing her doors,
“We’ve been unable to come to reasonable terms for renewal of the lease on the building with our landlords and therefore we’ll be shutting up shop.
The Queens Head will be back in some form or another but the place that we all know and love will cease to be.
In a later post, management of the Queen’s Head explained that the pub’s owners, Stonegate Pub Company where not to blame for the closure but the building’s owner saying,
“If the landlords are asking for too much money then it’s untenable for them to keep the place.
“They honestly didn’t want to let us go and have been trying for months to come to an agreement with the landlords.”
In case you missed it… Lewis Bloor got his bits out AGAIN.
Lewis Bloor has certainly used his time in the Big Brother house to bare his soul/body. Rather disturbingly his gave his housemates another view – his naked ball sack, in probably the most unflattering way…
CREDIT: Channel 5
A screeching Renee was shocked as the former TOWIE star paraded round the bedroom with his balls hanging out the side of his underwear, his Big Brother girlfriend Marnie Simpson laughed and reminded the house at how big his penis was.
★★★ | In 1944, big band leader Glenn Miller’s plane went missing over the English Channel as he flew to Paris to entertain the troops during the Second World War. From his humble beginnings, Miller’s musical arrangements defined the sound of a generation and secured him legendary status as one of the greatest musical artists of all time.
Photo Credit – Pamela Raith
There is a double dose of nostalgia on display in this musical biopic, with not only the music of Miller, but also the presence of the show’s top billed star, Tommy Steele as the titular character. Classed as the first English teen idol and rock ‘n’ roll star, Steele still holds a loyal fan base from his success in the late 50’s and early 60’s, clearly still resonating with the target audience and retaining a certain charisma and an air of ease and professionalism. That said, at 81 years old, he is twice the age of Miller when he died, requiring a healthy suspension of disbelief, especially during the slightly uncomfortable-to-watch romantic scenes between him and a much younger Abigail Jayne, playing Miller’s wife to be. But despite his age, Steele can still trot out the tunes and knows how to play to the audience.
So whilst Steele is billed as the star on the posters, the real attraction here is the music itself, and although the show is generally overly-light on narrative, it doesn’t scrimp on the classic big band sound; as a number of Miller’s best known numbers are performed by the on-stage sixteen piece orchestra, including Moonlight Serenade, In the Mood and String of Pearls. Throw into the mix a number of lively jazz numbers, all with the trademark Miller-style arrangements, and you have an energetic and up beat set of songs ably undertaken by the orchestra and ensemble.
There is very little in the production values to make this show stand out from the crowd. There is generally a basic, but perfectly competent, presentation and Bill Deamers choreography nicely retains the spirit of the era. But show is primarily a tribute to the music itself, and it really comes into its own as the orchestra takes to the stage, especially during the second act.
The Glenn Miller Story is a pleasant, easy and gentile watch, which is undemanding and which, most importantly, doesn’t pretend to be something it’s not. It is pure unabashed and unashamed nostalgia which gets the feet tapping and celebrates just how good these classic songs are.
The Rainbow Pride flag will now fly in Leamington Spa for the county’s Pride.
The town hall in Leamington Spa will now fly the internationally recognized symbol for LGBT+ pride, the Rainbow flag, this weekend to celebrate Pride in the city.
A spokeswoman for the council told THEGAYUK,
“I am pleased to confirm that the Town Hall will be flying the Pride flag from 9am to 5pm on Saturday 20th August.”
Warwick District Council had come under criticism after refusing to fly the rainbow flag during Warwickshire Pride, a petition was launched with many who signed, describing their disappointment with the council’s original decision.
Daniel Browne, the organizer of Pride said,
“Thank you to everyone who has supported this campaign. By sending supportive messages, writing to Warwick District Council, highlighting this issue and signing the petition that was running, you have contributed to bringing positive change and progress to Leamington Spa. For that we are eternally grateful.
“A number of Warwick District Councillors and Leamington Town Councillors have shown support during this issue. A thank you must be extended to them for supporting the LGBT+ community.
“Finally, a thank must also go to Chris White MP, who has again shown himself to be an ally of the LGBT+ community by supporting the rainbow flag being flown at Leamington Spa Town Hall and for his intervention in this issue.”
Warwickshire Pride takes this weekend in the Pump Room Gardens in Leamington Spa from 11:00AM to 6:00PM.
TheGAYUK is a proud media sponsor of Warwickshire Pride.
The historic Yard Bar in Soho has been saved after planning inspectors upheld Westminster City Council’s decision to protect it.
The well-known LGBT venue in the heart of Soho found itself at risk, as the developer, Consolidated Property Corporation Limited, originally submitted plans to build flats over the courtyard area.
Westminster City Council first blocked those plans in March 2015, but the developer submitted subsequent applications and launched two appeals that were finally rejected in the Planning Inspectorate on 10th August.
In its final report, the appointed inspector described any move to build over the Yard’s courtyard as one which would “fundamentally alter” the character of the bar.
The decision represents a full vindication of the council’s two-year battle to protect this much loved Soho bar, which received outstanding support from the local community and the bar’s owners, who led a high-profile ‘Save The Yard’ campaign.
Cllr Robert Davis MBE DL, Westminster City Council’s Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for the Built Environment, said,
“Soho is one of the most iconic areas of Westminster, with a unique character that everyone at the council is committed to protecting.”
“The Yard is a jewel in Soho’s crown and I am thrilled that we have joined forces with the ward councillors and the local community to ensure it remains open for business.”
“I am absolutely delighted that Westminster City Council has been able to play its part in saving this long-standing example of Soho’s history, culture and diversity.”
The proposals for the development of three flats meant that the courtyard would have been enclosed beneath a glass roof, something which the Soho Society and Historic England also strongly objected to.
This would mean the loss of an “extremely distinctive feature of the bar and its related culture” said the planning inspector.
The Yard Bar’s owner, Andy Jones, led the “Save The Yard” campaign which brought the issue to even greater attention.
He said,
“It has been a very long battle and we are so delighted that we have been successful. The support we got from Westminster City Council, ward councillors, Historic England, Soho Society, heritage experts and the LGBT, business and residential communities was huge and unbelievable. We can’t thank everyone enough. Ultimately, all of their support helped to overcome the multiple applications and common sense has prevailed. Long live The Yard!”
First Dates star Paddy White has bared all in a BBC documentary about porn.
CREDIT: Paddy White
Personal trainer and social media star Paddy White has bared all in a brand new documentary by BBC Newsbeat about how online porn has affected society’s sex expectations, consent and body image.
The episode produced by BBC Newsbeat looks at how porn has changed sex and what pressure it has put on men and women in terms of how to performance and expectations.
CREDIT: Paddy White
In the documentary, which is aired from 15th August, Paddy reveals that he’s been watching adult content since the age of 10 saying,
“I know it’s had a massive impact on my development as a young gay man and it felt time to share completely honestly and openly about my sex life.”
‘Brought Up On Porn’ will be available on BBC iPlayer from Monday 15th August
With Allegro, the charming space at Southwark Playhouse sees the UK premiere of a dusty old 1947 musical. Thanks to the partnership of Thom Southerland and Danielle Tarento (Titanic, Grey Gardens, Dogfight and Parade) this forgotten piece has had the cobwebs blown off it, regained its sparkle and is a welcome find rather than a lacklustre piece of tat from the store cupboard of musicals that should stay dormant.
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musicals have been entertaining theatre audiences since the early 1940s when they hit the scene with Oklahoma. The pair went on to score a string of hits with The Sound of Music, The King and I and South Pacific among many others. Given their continued critical and commercial success it was a surprise when Allegro floundered and failed to win over American audiences when it premiered. Theories abound as to why this was: a misguided choreographer/director, a storyline ahead of its time or too radical a departure from accepted musical theatre form. Whatever the reasons, it’s resulted in something quite extraordinary for us in that we now have a ‘new’ musical from an iconic writing duo to enjoy.
The storyline isn’t the strongest around, the intention of the show being to tell a simple tale of an all American everyman. It’s a little flawed, has the odd flabby moment in Act One and is occasionally too sentimental for modern tastes but has an endearing core message. None of that matters though and it’s easy to overlook the cracks in the core material. The genius of the show lies with the team behind it. Southerland has stripped back the show and presents it on a pared down set of almost perpetually moving ladders and platforms with a cast of sixteen and an eight-piece band. The cast form the musical equivalent of a Greek chorus, commenting on the life of small town doctor Joseph Taylor Jr. as he moves from birth through to an early mid-life crisis at 35 with individual members stepping forward and taking on the roles of significant people.
Unlike the ill fated first run where a reputedly Gorgon like choreographer reigned havoc, the choreography is one of the key factors that makes this performance work. Lee Proud makes use of the limited space and the company move with panache, seamlessly augmenting the narrative. The ensemble singing is as strong as the individual numbers and really packs a punch. Some killer numbers and an accomplished cast combine to make this a winning show. Gary Tushaw as Joseph is handsomely wholesome without being nauseating and Kate Bernstein is particularly enlivening as his waspish nurse, Miss Lipscombe. Her take on “The Gentleman is a Dope” is a sight and sound to behold.
Forget Jesus Christ Superstar. If this team continue to breathe life into shows that are as dead as Lazarus then we’ll definitely be hailing them as a the new Messiahs of musical theatre.
JASON BOURNE – The 5th film in the saga of the memory loss super-spy and former FBI agent. Matt Damon is back after the Jeremy Renner misfire
CREDIT: universal pictures
Nutshell – Picking up where the third movie left off and completely passing over number four this time coming staight out of the headlines with a massive wikileaks style hack story. Our hero gets dragged back out of hiding (again) to defeat those nasty plotting American war mongerers. This time he heads to Athens, Berlin, London Paddington and Las Vegas and the action is pretty non-stop with superstar Brit director Paul Greengrass back in charge of the mayhem (The only reason for Damon’s return)
Time – 123 mins; Certificate – 12A.
Tagline – ‘You Know His Name’ a play on the James Bond Casino Royale ‘You Know My Name’ tag.
The Gay UK Factor – Don’t be late arriving as the hottest scene is right at the start when we get Matt Damon in a shirtless illegal underground fight club with plenty of sweat, muscle and blood for your right wrists attention.
Cast – Matt Damon. Tommy Lee Jones, Alicia Vikander, Scott Sheperd, Vincent Cassel and franchise regular the truly gorgeous Julia Styles.
Key Player – The British Superstar director Paul Greengrass who is unbeaten in making great exciting hit blockbuster movies straight out of the headlines. From Bloody Sunday to United 93, from Green Zone to Captain Phillips plus two pevious Bourne movies he is able to make the Stephen Lawrence case, 9/11, The Irish Troubles, The Somali Pirates etc into pure thought provoking entertainment and here he does it again with whistleblower Julian Assange – this movie might not be shown in the Ecuadorian Embassy!
Budget – $120 Million but it’s already made $160 Million with a lot of legs left in it yet – a bona fide deserved hit where Hollywood does what it is best at and that is simply repeat what has worked before ad-infintum. Matt Damon is awaiting the phone to ring for number six surely.
Best Bit – 0.36mins; There is a stunt in the final sequence which could go straight up against the opening chase in TMNTurtles as the best action clip of the year. As we are not into spoilers then the second best bit is a very tense possible death scene of a major character at the end of the Athens chase.
Worst Bit – 1.02 mins; The upside of Bourne films is their realism but the problem with this is that we often expect a lot more than real life from our Hollywood entertainment. The bad guy here and the threat factor is not that huge in an era where we are used to world threatening bond villains or nasty geezers out to blow up the world – computer threat of secrets from a guy in a suit is a bit passe.
Little Secret – The Las Vegas car chase sequence took five weeks to shoot and at the end the sequence wrecked 170 cars – They were only allowed to film on the strip between midnight and 5AM. They could not film the Greek scenes there as the taxes were too high due to that country’s financial woes so they mocked up Tenerife to look like Athens instead.
Movie Mistake – A lot of car trouble, a number of times in the Las Vegas car chase you can see no driver in the vehicles, during a huge crash no airbags are deployed and four times the vehicles pass Bally’s and Paris Casinos on the strip which probably shows us how little access they actually had over the busy Vegas streets. Also why no-one noticed that the Audi Bourne hires in London has the steering wheel on the left side we will never know.
Further Viewing – Four Bourne films and 25 Bond movies to begin with. Also Kingsman, The Ipcress File, Bridge Of Spies, Mission Impossible, Spy Game, The Third Man, 24 and Spooks.
Any Good – Yes this is ace and worthy of the original trio that went before it. The action is spot on and the directing is out of this world. Matt Damon looks great and has this character locked down now. The others have great sequences but this is probably the best all round movie of the franchise.
What’s your deepest impression of Barry Humphries? The tacky, kitsch-bitch supreme Dame Edna Everage, all ghastly, C&A drag and granny glasses, or worse, the snot-and dandruff spattered Sir Les Patterson?
CREDIT: Helen White – PR Supplied
Hopefully, it’s neither. See, the true Barry Humphries is a deeply cultured graduate of the fine arts, and has written definitive articles on eccentric, human sexuality. He’s also a superb character actor, to the extent audiences mistake his Sir Les Patterson creation for a genuine Ambassador of Australian culture! And if Brits, unfairly, accuse Americans of misunderstanding irony, it’s sheer, poetic justice that they’re completely insensitive to Barry Humphries’ deathly dry, Australian wit.
There’s a reason for that, of course – what ex-colonial, reactionary, right-wing regime can bear ridicule?
Not Little Britain, that’s for sure, and Humphries, initially, works hard to win over a cold, deeply monied and highly privileged Chelsea audience. Still, he’s a charming and infectiously erudite bon vivant, all barrel-chest, squat neck and deliberately ironic, his physicality eluding rigid, anal-retentive analysis. Quite simply, the audience – many of whom have never seen the real Humphries – don’t know what to make of him, suspending their typical, pack-mentality persecution prejudices. Oh, don’t get me wrong, many hardcore Conservatives adore the arts – remember David Mellor, anyone? – but often, they view culture as shockingly disposable.
Not tonight, perhaps. ‘I’m doing my hardest impersonation ever tonight’ Humphries quips, ‘myself’.
Too true, and Humphries’ actual, authoritative, deeply knowledgeable self is instantly seductive company. Always ferociously anti-fascist and bitterly opposed to any suppression of human diversity, he’s a tireless champion of Berlin’s Weimar Republic, immortalised by Christopher Isherwood’s Cabaret.
Never heard of the Weimar Republic? Google it ASAP – it’s essential queer history. An inter-wars, sexually diverse paradise, the Republic briefly flourished from 1919-1933, an intense island of queer resistance against crushing, hetero-normative banality. And Humphries, obviously, is in his element, showcasing the cream of Weimar musicality – his entire career has hilariously skewered homophobia on the spot.
So naturally, his Weimar night shares a treasure-chest of subversive memories. Discovering stacks of obscure, German sheet-music in late 1940s Melbourne, Humphries, enthralled, tracked down any possible recordings and information on the Weimar Republic. Many otherwise utterly obscure composers – Krenek, Spoliansky, Schulhoff and Hollaender – set cynical, Weill and Brechtian lyrics into thrillingly mutated music fusing American jazz and indigenous folk motifs.
And that music, of course – soon becoming the vital staples of furiously transgessive cabaret throughout Berlin – was pure poison to Germany’s ultra-reactionary, proto-Nazis. Physical, sexual and emotional spontaneity – all encouraged and cemented by Weimar’s signature, polyrhythmic musical delights – was seen as instantly inflammatory, undermining every fascist orthodoxy.
Tragically, with the brutal rise of Nazi supremacy in 1933, Weimar was immediately suppressed, but Humphries’ gorgeously provocative time-capsule of the era suggests what we’ve lost. Appropriately, he’s accompanied by mischievous, multi-talented diva Meow-meow, channelling as always the spirit, attitude and killer glamour of every possible living drag queen! Yes, Meow-meow is a biological female, but far more than fellow, drag manqué Holestar, Meow-meow performs her femininity as an intoxicating artificiality she’s just discovered. Does it work? Oh god, yes – as sublimely as Ru Paul in full, killer-queen mode, and visiting and inhabiting Weimar’s music simply demands a hugely exaggerated reality!
CREDIT: Harmony Nicolas PR SUPPLIED
It’s a theme that extends, even, to Humphries’ backing chamber orchestra, all uniformly dressed in sharp, Bohemian black, all Joel Grey trilbies for men and women. And the music’s a revelation, all instantly contagious, colloquial melodies grafted to the spare bones of classicism and non-European, imported tonalities. Yes, there’s some expected, Weimar favourites – ‘Pirate Jenny’ and ‘Surabaya Johhny’ – but the stand-out is Erwin Schulhoff’s ‘Dada masterpiece’, the Sonata Erotica.
Bearing radical, avant-garde comparison to John Cage’s 4.33’ – four minutes of silence with the score considered any random sounds within that time – Sonata Erotica still startles. Exuberantly performed by Meow-meow, it’s orgasmic moaning, pants and screeching delivered as fine, operatic art, the most joyous, unrestrained expression of subversive sexuality possible!
No wonder Humphries, after an awkward but endearing dance with Meow-meow, finally exits with an ecstatic grin- he’s just mentally liberated yet another slice of Little Britain!
Something quite extraordinary is happening in Wandsworth, the mid 90’s gay scene has come back to life and it’s hilarious as it is heartbreaking.
CREDIT: PND Photography
Based on a true story, Do You Have A Secret Crush (sleeping with straight men) transports you back to mid-90s-America, where a gay man, Stanley (Chris Britton), working in the city’s only gay bar Flamingos, is eager to spread his wings and escape Pontiac in Michigan. He falls head over heels with a straight waiter, Lee (Rich Watkins) whilst out to lunch with his drag queen friend Sally (Dave Lynn).
He devises a plan to tell Lee that he has fallen for him, live in front of a television audience, to be broadcast nationally on the daily chat show The Jill Johnson show.
Flown first class, limo drop offs, all expenses paid trip to New York, both Stan and Lee make their way to the studio separately for the big reveal. What could possibly go wrong?
The small but perfectly formed company fits in the cosy space of the Lost Theatre in the heart of Wandsworth.
You’re immediately transported back to the 90s thanks to a rather fabulous soundtrack and costumes. Britton plays Stanley confidently and cheekily, filled with life. Watkins plays straight man Lee safe, curious and slightly unnerving. Ruth Petersen’s mid-morning Talk Show host is perfectly fake, disingenuous and veneered. Drag icon Dave Lynn smoulders as Sally and belts out some glorious numbers. It is however Louie Westwood who manages to steal the show, with his shrieks and trills, hair tszujing and high-campery.
CREDIT: PND PhotographyCREDIT: PND Photography
If your in the mood this summer for some gay history, a slice of campery, a belly of laughs, a hint of longing and a tragic reminder of period less accepting, this glorious time capsule of a play is a must see.
