Lesbian and Gay Venues in Nottingham - 2
MARIO'S (Stanford Street)
| The first gay club in Nottingham was Mario's, on Stanford Street near what is now the Broadmarsh Centre. It converted from a teeny-bopper's club to a gay club in 1972.
Though often a bit tatty around the edges, it had a good and friendly atmosphere and continued successfully for over 10 years, changing its name to Shades and then to Whispers.
Its building is now called Stanford House.
|
1973 saw the opening of La Chic in what is now Albion House on Canal Street.
La Chic was ground breaking in being the first club in the UK to have a licence which stated that it was specifically for use by gay men and lesbians - a situation which made headlines in the Nottingham Evening Post. It closed in 1977 and re-opened in 1981-5 as Part II.
Having two major gay clubs confirmed Nottingham as the gay centre of the East Midlands and made it the weekend destination of many from neighbouring counties.
The building is likely to be demolished during the expansion of the Broadmarsh Centre. In the future, people perhaps standing in a branch of Superdrug will be unaware of the gay ghosts flitting along the shelves.
THE OLD DOG AND PARTRIDGE (Lower Parliament Street)
|
LA CHIC .... and then PART II (Canal Street)
The Old Dog and Partridge was probably the most popular gay bar in the 1970s. Its rival (take your own flea spray) was The Roebuck - long demolished.
Like many gay bars of its time, the bar was a separate bar (here it was the back bar) in a straight pub.
Sometimes such bars had signs like "Private Party" to attempt to keep the straights out. It was one of the early manifestations of the Bradley family's involvement in gay Nottingham.
|
