Gay Camberwell

by Layla

Sometimes, in the quest for glamour,one is lured beyond the bounds of SE5. We at Gay Camberwell have often been intrigued by Dulwich's Beauberry House, and since they are running 'South London's First Gay Wedding Fair' in March, we thought we ought to check it out. A nice Top Table offer of 3 courses and champagne sealed the deal (though frankly it's still expensive!) and so last night, we cycled up and down hills and along a very dark road until we came across the venue. 

We felt rather incongruous, tying up our bikes in a driveway clearly meant for Rolls Royce cars, and as we ascended the steps to the front door, I whipped off my cycling anorak and tried to look posh... On entering, it became less clear whether posh was the order of the day or not. It's a funny venue. It gives off an air of modern country house glamour, yet doesn't quite pull it off: inappropriate clubby style music and  tacky vases that light up in different colours, and clearly some kind of 18th birthday party esque event upstairs. 

Onto the meal. The champagne was nice, but the food unremarkable. The atmosphere was quite odd. We spent much of the meal giggling, and frankly, we didn't know what to make of it.  Fortunately the Beauberry House food powered us up Herne Hill Road and home to SE5 in a speedy 15 minutes. Phew. Is it just me, or is Dulwich creepy? Maybe it's all those white arrows with pointing fingers. Or the pseudo-posh, overpriced establishments. Or sour grapes... 

Later, we received an e-mail from Camberwell Library telling us that tomorrow (Monday) they are having a LGBT quiz. It's at 6-8pm in the library, and there are sweeties for prizes. Intriguing. I am busy but Roz is hoping to go along, so do join her!