Gay Camberwell

A brief word... as we have just staggered in from the Gay Camberwell Launch Month closing party at the Cambria (while everyone else was just settling down to a night of drinks, dance and Gay Camberwell fun), because we are flying off to Eritrea on holiday in a couple of hours. But how could we leave you without a little mention of how it all went? We were nervous at first: the sound system kept failing, and we weren't sure if the clientele was actually gay... then we remembered that most people don't start their Friday nights out at 7pm on the dot, and before long I was sipping my second free pink drink, the sound system was working, and the pub was absolutely crammed with gay folk. Our acts were great: Yeah Sparrow from Brixton started us off with some folk music, then on to Marcus Reeves with some songs from his new musical. A short break before the really quite spectacular Aliens Ate My Schnitzel rather unexpectedly burst into a Eurovision version of YMCA and It's Raining Men, with handlebar moustache, sequins galore, and sordidly slapstick use of props... The grand finale was the brilliant and beautiful Michael Twaits with his "post-drag drag" performance art. By the end of the night, with DJ Sina on the decks, the place was jumping, and it felt like a particularly popular Soho gay bar. Except without the attitude, without the gender segregation, and without the 45 minute bus journey home afterwards. Thanks to Steve at the Cambria for hosting this amazing night.

Other news is that the Royal Vauxhall Tavern is currently offering Gay Camberwell people a 2-for-1 price for lots of their December events. Just quote "Gay Camberwell" for the discount: Topping and Butch (4th), Glitterous Noel Noir Christmas Cabaret (15th and 22nd), Christmas Divas Sing (16th), Brou-ha-ha Christmas Comedy Show (17th), Timberlina's Christmas Bingo (18th), Kunst (23rd), RVT Christmas Orphanage (24th) and RVT Christmas Panto (2

Upon arrival at the lovely Seymour's for brunch on Saturday, we were met with a newly-painted olive-green facade headed by a slightly tacky "Johansen's" sign in place of our beloved Seymour's black and white paint. Horrified, we hurried inside to find that apart from some slightly posher tables and chairs, all was as it always has been. But not for long! The waitress told us that from January, it will be all change and Seymour's will be transformed into Johansen's cafe/deli/bistro/winebar. Well! Apparently it's a franchise, and it'll probably be good for the area. Seymour's is moving to Peckham High Street, but I do feel Camberwell is losing out on a great venue. Did the new place really have to replace what is probably one of Camberwell's most popular cafes and restaurants? We loved the Thai restaurant: the atmosphere, the roaring fire, the friendly staff, the BYOB. We remain cautious: can Johansen's live up to Seymour's? We fear not but shall remain open-minded.

With sadness in our hearts, we headed off to Club Wotever, relocated due to the sudden and unexpected closure of Redstar. Quite a loss, as it was the main venue in the area actively putting on gay events. Fortunately the Sun and Doves came to Wotever's assistance and any concern I had about the S&D being a good club venue was immediately relieved: what a fantastic night! The place was packed (and we were delighted to see many people ordering the Gay Camberwell cocktails!) for this club, which is internationally renowned and made its first ever trip south of the river this weekend. Judging from the turnout, I suspect we can look forward to further events, and what an event it was. Fantastic cabaret ensued, with a friendly, cheery, party atmosphere, and a proud tale from cabaret star Michael Twaits about how he'd walked from Denmark Hill station in full drag without being killed. Hooray for Camberwell.

The next event in the Gay Camberwell launch month is the final Pink November film screening, My Summer of Love, tomorrow (8pm), and then the grand closing night party at the Cambria on Friday (7pm). After the success of the launch party, performers have been lining up to get involved, which is why we now have, in addition to the fantastic Marcus Reeves who will be giving us an acoustic set, the rather popular and famous performers Claire Benjamin (cabaret and comedy), Michael Twaits (performance and cabaret), and Yeah Sparrow (acoustic folk/jazz). With free pink martinis, and a special Gay Camberwell food menu, we're going to toast the launch of Gay Camberwell in style.

by Layla

I must admit that following the launch party's success, I had rather a sore head yesterday... I blame the champagne. However, much as I felt like curling up with a book when I got home from work last night, the Oval House Theatre's Gay Camberwell night was calling. Having never been to the Oval House before, I was rather excited, if slightly peeved that having negotiated a 2-for-1 ticket discount for Gay Camberwell, I ended up having to see it by myself and thus paying full price anyway!

The Oval House Theatre is lovely and I was quite surprised to find out how popular it is, and the ethnic diversity of the audience. The cafe bar was packed with people eating jerk chicken and sipping beers. There were Stonewall posters everywhere and some nice community touches such as a book exchange. There are two theatres and Muhammad Ali and Me was in the downstairs one, a theatre-in-the-round type affair seating about 100 at a squeeze, I'd guess. The set was interesting: half boxing ring, half living room, and this versatility was very much a warning of what was to come. The play was energetic and original, with Moj (last seen by me at Queer Up North) played both a black lesbian foster child and Muhammad Ali himself. She was supported by an impressive and equally versatile cast. The first act was really excellent. The second descended into a bit of preachiness and suffered from being slightly over-long, but this was an excellent play, with a (vague) gay theme, and on our very doorsteps. What more could you want?!

I'm not sure how many of the audience were gay, but the theatre was almost full and the audience erupted into rapturous applause at the end. As I lazily shivered at the bus stop, waiting for a 36 bus, I felt that my failure to attend any previous Oval House productions was a major missed opportunity: this is quality theatre, with a community focus, and I'll be watching their programme from now on.

by Roz

Oh my goodness, what a glorious couple of days Camberwell has had! 

Tuesday was the third night in the Pink November season at the Sun and Doves – Prick Up Your Ears.  I’d failed to persuade the friend who recommended it to come along (to be fair, he does live in Kent, poor soul) and nor had I managed to rustle up any of our other friends to join us.  But frankly, that was just as well since this turned out to be our best attended film yet (standing room only, in fact). It’s a biopic of Joe Orton, directed by Stephen Frears and with a script by Alan Bennett. It was good to see it and it was an interesting film (though maybe feeling a little more like a stage play than a film?)  And the two bags of free popcorn that Layla and I consumed (each) were very pleasant too…

We wandered home, hand in hand, with an entirely unnecessary detour past the Castle, to gaze again at their beautiful blackboard advertising Gay Camberwell’s launch party. And then did a little jig in glee!  





And then, of course, it was the launch party yesterday evening.  With no modesty at all, I have to say that it was a fabulous event.  Free wine and amazing performances, and absolutely full.  But I think the nicest thing was the atmosphere: everyone was just so happy that Gay Camberwell has been set up (and it turns out that people do even read this blog!).  Michael Twaits – our lovely lovely compere, was entertainingly surprised at how many gays there are south of the river.  (And if you missed him – or want to see him again - he’s one of the people performing at Club Wotever at the Sun and Doves on Saturday.) 

Which leads nicely on to reminding you that Gay Camberwell’s launch month is not over!  We have the theatre night at the Oval House tonight, and the Closing Night party on the 28th – as well as the final film in the Pink November season (My Summer of Love – critics choice for the week in the film section of Time Out).  

Oh, this is turning out to be so much fun! 

PS We've just set up a mailing list - if you want to join, click here

by Layla

Dining in Clerkenwell on Wednesday, I met someone from Camberwell. Not gay, he told me he jumps on the tube at Oval every time he wants to go out. Having lived in SE5 for two years, he claims to have tried but has yet to discover the delights of Camberwell. He became quite excited by the prospect of Gay Camberwell’s bar and restaurant reviews. Having seen them, he is even considering venturing out in his own neighbourhood. That is one of the fun things about Camberwell: it’s not always obvious where the best places are to be found, so you have to explore a little, and when you do find them, you feel extra smug. 

That was how we felt last night at JJ Caterers. This Indian restaurant on Southampton Way was previously just a takeaway but due to popular demand has added a few tables so you can dine there too. Somewhat off the beaten restaurant track in SE5, but with a growing reputation, JJ’s food is so excellent that upon tasting it, you have to scoff at those Clerkenwell suckers paying four times the price for food a quarter as good. 

On the other hand, JJ's did lose points on ambience. Fortunately other Camberwell restaurants excel on this front. I won’t go on again about the delights of the Wishing Well aka Thai @ Seymour’s, where I went yet again for dinner on Friday night, but I must highlight (in anticipation of a new website section reviewing Camberwell’s cafes), two excellent coffee/lunch options we sampled this weekend on Camberwell Church Street. House feels as though it has been transplanted from a posher neighbourhood. With its art gallery below, and bright, stylish cafe above, not to mention its free Wifi and board games, it’s a fantastic place to while away an afternoon. The tea, coffee and cakes are amazing, the breakfasts are delicious and the sandwiches at lunch are to die for. Roz and I went there on Saturday to play dominoes and meet with a comedienne with a view to starting up regular Camberwell comedy nights in SE5.
 
When it comes to lunch in this part of town, another worthy contender is Caravaggio. You might think of it as a restaurant, but the front part is a cafe by day and makes some of the finest, best-value sandwiches and baked potatoes in Camberwell. Also a fine place for a cup of tea or Italian coffee... 

And so we take a deep breath, having consumed enough food to give us the necessary energy, and brace ourselves for what will be the busiest week in Gay Camberwell launch month: gay book group tonight, Prick Up Your Ears screening at the Sun and Doves tomorrow, the grand Launch Party on Wednesday at 7pm (now, thanks to the lovely Winston at the Castle, featuring some free drinks and nibbles... not to mention a guest list of all the gays in London), Gay Camberwell theatre night at the Oval House Theatre on Thursday, and Club Wotever at Redstar on Saturday. We may need more of JJ’s amazing Indian food to sustain us...

by Layla

I write this blog entry in a whirl of cheerfulness, having just returned from the second film in the Sun and Doves’ Pink November season: But I’m a Cheerleader. Rarely do you find such a very happy gay film, and we were quite delighted (and relieved!) to find that we were not alone in the anticipation of gayness in all senses of the word: the place was mobbed! Settling down with our free popcorn, we bumped into several  Camberwell friends who were rather pleased that their neighborhood has turned so very gay. Looking around, we were impressed to find at least 35 audience members watching the film, and very gleeful indeed when the main character’s proclamation of love caused the audience to burst into spontaneous applause. Chatting to our friends, we realised that our dream had come true: here were boys who might be tempted into attending the Friday night gay naturist swimming evening at Camberwell Leisure Centre. Dear reader, watch this space for a review...

by Layla

It is testament to the draw of Camberwell that after seeing The Lady Vanishes at the NFT on Friday night, (very enjoyable, but not quite as thought provoking as the short films we saw at the Transgender Film Festival at the Ritzy the following evening - great atmosphere too!) we stood on the South Bank contemplating dinner options for two minutes before a unanimous decision to return to the gastronomic wonderland that is SE5. 


We had fancied the excellent pizza of Mozzarella Pomodoro, but upon sitting down, found that there were a couple of large groups with vast numbers of wailing toddlers crawling around the floor. Odd for this restaurant, which usually has quite a serene atmosphere, but serene it was not, and so in the quest for a more romantic dining experience, we moved on. We contemplated Caravaggio, but as usual, their minimal vegetarian options put us off. To the Dark Horse then, but we were surprised to see there was nobody at all in the dining area (due to our highly influential bad review about their service, maybe?) so we bought a bottle of fizz in our favourite grocer/off license/hardware shop on Camberwell Church Street and retired with some relief to the very lovely Wishing Well (which actually seems to be called “Thai at Seymour’s”) and settled down in the warm and romantic atmosphere, in front of an open fire, to drink our wine, enjoy the food and count the number of likely gay people in the restaurant besides us (we estimated eleven). 


We moved to the Dark Horse next door for a post-prandial cocktail (or two) - the dinner service may be slow, but the atmosphere, decor and cocktails in the bar are great. However, why drink cocktails when one can drink Gay Camberwell cocktails? We walked over to the Sun and Doves in pursuit of the elusive Gay Camberwell cocktail, only to find it wasn’t yet on the menu. A rather apologetic barman offered “well, I don’t have the recipe for them, but I am gay and I can make cocktails...” Sorrow turned to joy, however, when I popped into the Sun and Doves today for a mid-exam-study snack, only to find a lovely Pink November cocktail list featuring the Rude Cosmopolitan (tequila, cointreau and cranberry), the Dorian Gray (cherry brandy, creme de fraise, pineapple and cranberry), the Knicker Dropper Glory (vodka, tequila, triple sec, creme de banane, and orange juice), and finally the Pierced Nipple (shot of Bailey’s floated on top of black sambucca). Alas mid-studying, mid-afternoon seemed an inappropriate time to sample them all, but check back for our verdict... or better, try one yourself! 

By Roz

And so Gay Camberwell’s launch month is in full swing.  Did you see us in this week’s Time Out? And indeed if you buy next week’s issue, you’ll discover what my gay shame is…

So Tuesday was the opening night of the Pink November Film Season at the Sun and Doves.  We picked Brokeback Mountain – a rather obvious choice, perhaps, but there’s something reassuring about opening with the obvious when you are programming a gay arts month in south-east London…  In any event, it was a groundbreaking film, I think – not least because you have two (as Simon Callow put it) “highly bankable and impeccably butch actors” making love.

And of course not only was Tuesday the start of Pink November, it was also election day – meaning that the Sun and Doves was packed (in anticipation of election coverage).  This meant the noise levels weren’t ideal – which has not at all been the case at previous films I’ve seen.  But the general sense of anticipation and jubilation (at the prospect of Bush’s departure in January) meant it was all very exciting.  And certainly worth rushing back from Prague for! 

But that’s not all we’ve been up to this week.  One night we bumped into Karen Mcleod (author of the very lovely “In Search of a Missing Eyelash”) at the Castle.  She was – naturally – full of the glories of Gay Camberwell. There’s nothing quite like bumping into someone you know to make you feel like you are part of a community. 

Well, when I say nothing, I should say that joining Camberwell's public library has made me feel pretty local. I don’t know why I hadn’t joined before – perhaps it was because I didn’t realise how late they are open in the evenings (till 8 on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday), or perhaps it was just that I needed the Gay Camberwell display of books to spur me on! 

This weekend is the Trans Film Festival at the Ritzy, which is held in conjunction with Gay Camberwell (we magnanimously decided to forgive the Ritzy for being in Brixton, which I’m sure you’ll agree is jolly kind of us).  It looks like there will be some really good films – we’ll be along tomorrow night to see some of the shorts, and we may not be able to resist going along to the party tonight.  Hope some of you make it too – if you do, let us know by posting a comment!

by Roz

When we first described Camberwell as a “secret gay neighbourhood” to the South London Press, we were thinking about the fact that there seem to be a lot of gay people in Camberwell, but it wasn’t particularly known a gay-friendly place to live and go out.  And yet it seems we were wrong.  Talking to people as we’ve been putting together the launch month programme, we found that pretty much everyone we talked to lives in or around Camberwell, to the extent that a cabaret performer sounded surprised when I asked where he lived and responded: “Camberwell, of course”.  Who knew there was any “of course” about it…

But then it seems that we didn’t know half the stuff that goes on in Camberwell: a post on the message board yesterday excitingly informed us that the Gay London Swimmers take over Camberwell’s public baths every Friday night.  At first we wondered if it was a joke because it seemed so unlikely (gay male nudist swimming surely being something that would have been mentioned to me during my last five years living here).  But apparently not.  I’m keen to know more, and so spent a considerable amount of time at a dinner party we had last night trying to persuade one of the designer neighbours from upstairs to go.  Sadly, it seems I am unlucky enough to have hit upon one of the few shy gay men in the world… 

Still, dinner was lovely (though perhaps I shouldn’t say that, since I’m cooking wife) and I now have a number of incriminating photographs of guests wearing a wig of Layla’s from her days playing Magenta in shadowcast performances of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.  Indeed, this blackmail opportunity may be my best method for “persuading” my neighbour to review gay swimming for me…

After dinner, in a twist on past social norms, we ladies retired to the Red Star for the first gay Camberwell event: Soul Naturelle.  Not having been clubbing for ten years (though that phrase makes me sound terrifyingly old), I must admit to a certain degree of fear.  But completely wrongly: what a lovely event it was.  So friendly and so much fun.  I was also intrigued at the number of lesbians out and about.  Gay press coverage lately has been all about women-only venues (like the Candy Bar) closing – quite apart from stereotypes about lesbian nesting.  When we left at 2 (I know I said I wasn’t old, but that unfortunately I don’t tolerate late nights very well) the room – which holds 150 people, I’m told – the party was still in full swing.  Since this is to be a regular event, it seems it is very much the case that Camberwell is of course the destination for committed lesbian clubbers. 

But you shouldn’t think I never leave Camberwell. 

Only yesterday we had  a very jolly brunch at the café in Dulwich park.  I was particularly enthralled to learn that Bellenden Road (the Camberwell side of Peckham) has a very chic dog-grooming parlour.  I don’t think I’d have guessed that there would be enough demand for that particular service.  But I was told that this is because I’m a lesbian: any self-respecting gay boy would absolutely require his dog to have a good haircut.  They may have a point.  So Camberwell is of course the appropriate home for those dogs with gay owners…
 
And today I headed over to the Ritzy to see Burn After Reading.  I am probably the only person in the world to have liked it more than No Country For Old Men (but then this is largely because I am a wuss and the relentless violence of the latter film did rather get me down).  Burn After Reading is not a great film, but redeemed in my eyes by one joke (which most people won’t notice, I suspect, so this isn’t really a spoiler).  One character is doing online dating and looks at a list of things he doesn’t like, which includes politics.  We then find out he works out at the State Department…  This probably appealed to me out of a sense of fellow-feeling.  As someone whose whole job is about international relations, it is rather unfortunate that I dislike travelling for work. 

Speaking of which, I’m off to Prague for a meeting tomorrow, returning on Tuesday.  In time for the first film to be screened as part of the Sun and Doves Pink November season.  Of course.