It’s the great London clean up.
One by one, fetish clubs for gay men are closing across London.
Places where men who like leather and other fetish gear can meet and – play.
In the 1980s there were more than a dozen fetish clubs in London.
Now there are fewer than five.
The latest to close was XXL Club on the south bank of the Thames. It had some of the best music. And on a Saturday night it would be packed with beefy bears in leather harnesses.
No more.
Before XXL closed, Bloc South in Vauxhall became victim to the relentless ‘progress’ of building development.
And before that, a very cruisy club called The Hoist closed its doors after over twenty years of providing a steamy, sexy space for gay men to enjoy themselves.
So where’s left to go?
Well there’s always Backstreet in east London. And the wonderful Suzy Kruger will once again be hosting her packed, pulsating party of fetish fun over the holiday period in Vauxhall.
But there are not many safe places left for men into fetish to go.
At least there’s still Sitges in Spain. You can read all about the clubs and bars to be found there in my book The Deadly Lies.
Such exhaustive research we authors do…
David C Dawson writes contemporary thrillers featuring gay heroes in love.
He lives in London with his boyfriend, and in Oxfordshire with two cats.
