It has long been established that Broad Street is Nottingham’s official queer area complete with the rainbow crossings to prove it. Home to Lord Roberts, Rough Trade, Broadway, the Transgender clinic and health shop, it has the highest number of queer and queer adjacent businesses and support services. It hasn’t always been the only queer area of Nottingham throughout the decades… Here’s a brief history of queer spots in Notts.
Broadmarsh area
Heading down Broadmarsh direction may not conjure up the image of queer nightlife but in the 1970s it was a different story. The shopping centre built in 1975 separated two nightclubs, Marios on Stanford Street and La Chic on Canal Street on the other.
La Chic opened in 1973 offering a glitzy, sophisticated two-storey disco complete with restaurant upstairs. Part owner, John Glover, a builder, even added a sauna to the upper floors. The nightclub had the distinction of being the first club in the UK with a licence solely for gay and lesbian people. Glover’s family also ran the Newshouse on Canal Street which became an unofficial queer drinking spot before the club opened.
Mario’s outlasted La Chic which closed in 1977. As clubbers entered, they were greeted by drag queen Vicki La Plume, and would need to have a meal before they could go into the club. Marios played a mix of disco, and Motown with regular performers.
In more recent times, Canal House held a lesbian disco in the upstairs room called ‘Fannies’ in the noughties. The last queer club in the Canal/Broadmarsh area was Downtown 64 which opened in 2016 in the Irish centre before moving to Saltbox.
Lace Market gay quarter
As La Chic closed, another club owner saw a gap in the market for a new queer venue. The Sandpiper, better known as a live music or punk venue, had a brief stint as an LGBT+ club which proved to be unprofitable. When it became a live music venue, the transgender musician Jayne County played there twice commanding one of the highest fees the Sandpiper had ever paid.
In the late 80s and early 90s, Mick’s bar (later Steve’s bar) became a lesbian hang-out. A small dive bar, it had an unlicensed jukebox that would need to be switched off at certain times to avoid detection. It was well known for its pool tables and was also a spot to pick up a copy of the free newspaper, Pink Paper. Steve was eventually caught for not having a music licence and brought to court, which may have been the end of the bar.
Propaganda opened its doors in the famous Birkin building in 2009. A chain nightclub, it instantly rivalled NG1 as the place to be. Later, the club opened Fuel and Foundation at the side of the building with all three places connected by doors and hallways. The team were savvy enough to lean on locals drag acts to work at the club, including as shot girls.
Fuel and Foundation did not work out in the long run, closing less than a year later. However, there were other nightclubs attempting to make a go of it. F.A.G, Club Unique and Broadway (different from the cinema) all opened in the 2010s. The allure of the clubs and bars in close proximity gave established venues such as @AD2, NG1 and Central a run for their money. After all, you could fall out of one bar into Propaganda where, on a Wednesday, drinks could be as cheap as £1. Propaganda became the last club standing amid a sea of apartments and offices, eventually closing in 2020.
The Bamboo Coffee Shop opened amid a craze for espresso as the new machines made their way to Britain. After the pubs closed, the coffee bars absorbed those looking to continue the night, including a queer clientele
Mansfield Road
Mansfield Road has one of the strongest, and longest-running, queer histories. It starts with early drag performers at the Forest Tavern in the 1880s. Lola and Francis were described as ‘female impersonators.’
Fast forwarding to the 1960s, the Bamboo Coffee Shop opened amid a craze for espresso as the new machines made their way to Britain. After the pubs closed, the coffee bars absorbed those looking to continue the night, including a queer clientele. The Bamboo was a favourite often with a long queue outside once people made their way up the hill from The Flying Horse Inn on Cheapside. It wasn’t unusual to see a drag queen or two smoking outside or hanging out near the jukebox.
Into the seventies, the Lesbian and Gay Switchboard operated out of a room in the NCVS building. It provided a drop-in space and a phone line where volunteers could offer advice. If you made it up the flights of stairs, you could also pick up a copy of Gay News. Volunteers would often pop over to The Roebuck for a drink after a shift. The Roebuck was a rough and ready pub run by lesbian landlady, Maxi. Maxi would take out adverts in Gay News asking customers to let her know if they were gay, as she was too.
In the late 80s/90s, The Forest Tavern regained its queer clientele as it was taken over by lesbian couple, Mary and Vickie. It became THE place to go, possibly because it had pool tables which encouraged competitive games among the women. Not only that but it held meetings from queer groups such as the writing group, Pink Ink. The pub changed ownership in the late 90s eventually becoming The Maze. Notts Activist Wellness and 15:25 Collective would later host an alternative queer Pride party called ‘Happy Birthday Mamma Marsha’ in honour of Marsha P. Johnson, who is believed to have started the Stonewall riots.
Further up the road, The New Carrington Inn also became a queer pub for a brief period in 2010. Despite advertising in the Pride and Gai Guide booklets, it failed to work out. Although some Pride committee meetings were held there.
Huntingdon Street
Huntington Street was home to Love Zoo/Lost Weekend in the late 90s and early 00s. This mixed club welcomed everyone queer or straight as long as they loved dance music. The ‘anything goes’ club had a lot of queer staff, from bouncers to DJs to those working the door. It often had a long queue of clubbers desperate to get in. Although not a dedicated queer venue, it was gay-friendly and had several transgender regulars.
Next door, The Foresters Inn also had a brief period as a queer space in the 1990s. It’s not known how far back the queer history goes with this venue. It was a short walk from Gatsby’s which was run by Hilda Bradley from 1983 until 2001. Although it had several name changes, Central, Niche… the pub remained a queer space. It was also a valuable pre-drinking spot for NG1 in its later years.
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