Drag, dancing, queer books and a pub with a personality, east London has more than one idea of a good time. Dalston’s basements and bars are an obvious starting point, but there’s plenty going on from Bethnal Green and Hackney to Limehouse and Walthamstow. Pick a neighbourhood and have a look around. Your next favourite place might be a bookshop rather than a dancefloor, or both in the same afternoon.
Dalston and Stoke Newington Road
Dalston Superstore
Website dalstonsuperstore.com
Address 117 Kingsland High Street, London E8 2PB
Nearest station Dalston Kingsland
Coffee, cabaret, art and a dancefloor, Dalston Superstore is impressively versatile for somewhere that won’t sell you a pint of milk. The upstairs bar and downstairs club give this queer favourite plenty of room to change mood, with drag and creative events adding to the fun. You might arrive for a daytime catch-up or a night of dancing, and the programme is full of reasons to do both. It’s a meeting place for different corners of queer east London, with rather more going on than a supermarket loyalty card could cover.
The Divine
Website thedivine.co.uk
Address 33 Stoke Newington Road, London N16 8BJ
Nearest station Dalston Kingsland
The Divine gives Dalston a generous helping of drag, cabaret, theatre and club nights, with a bar to keep the conversation flowing between them. The team’s links to The Glory will be familiar to plenty of east London regulars, but this Stoke Newington Road home has an identity of its own. Come for a performer you love or take a chance on something that sounds gloriously odd. There’s room for both. A ticket to a show can be the start of a night here, rather than your cue to head home.
VFDalston
Website www.vfdalston.com
Address 66 Stoke Newington Road, London N16 7XB
Nearest station Dalston Kingsland
A Dalston basement with queer art and nightlife sharing the floor, VFD has never needed a grand room to have big ideas. Performance, live art, film and club nights make up a programme with a definite point of view. You’re close to what’s happening, with the fun of seeing artists try something outside the usual mould. Come for the act, the music or the promise of a night that sounds a little strange. The space is downstairs, with access information worth checking when booking. There’s plenty of imagination waiting below street level.
The Common Press, Dalston
Website www.commonpress.co.uk
Address 97 Stoke Newington Road, London N16 8BX
Nearest station Dalston Kingsland
Dalston’s literary appetites are well catered for at this branch of The Common Press, where queer books and coffee make a tempting double act. The shelves put intersectional voices front and centre, with fiction, ideas and plenty of discoveries for readers who like to wander beyond the obvious. Author events and community gatherings give you another excuse to linger. A thoughtful present, your next obsession or just an afternoon in good company, take your pick. Do keep an eye on the branch when booking an event, as Shoreditch has its own programme.
Shoreditch, Bethnal Green and Hackney
The Common Press, Shoreditch
Website www.commonpress.co.uk
Address 118 Bethnal Green Road, London E2 6DG
Nearest station Shoreditch High Street
Books, coffee and a good conversation. The Common Press has the ingredients for a very agreeable afternoon, with queer and intersectional writing at the heart of its shelves. Fiction sits alongside politics and poetry, while author events and community gatherings bring the words off the page. There’s plenty here to get your brain going before you get anywhere near the caffeine. Come for a particular title or surrender to a proper browse. This Bethnal Green Road branch is the Shoreditch sibling of the bookshop’s Dalston home.
Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club
Website www.workersplaytime.net
Address 42–46 Pollard Row, London E2 6NB
Nearest station Bethnal Green
Social-club surroundings and a thoroughly alternative night out, Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club is an appealing contradiction. Drag, cabaret, live music and parties bring their own crowd into the Pollard Row venue, with promoters free to give the evening a personality. That might mean a show, a dance or something a little harder to sum up in the group chat. Have a rummage through the programme and find your kind of mischief. The name sounds respectable enough, but it leaves plenty of room for a much more interesting evening.
Blondies
Website blondiesbar.co.uk
Address 205A Lower Clapton Road, London E5 8EG
Nearest station Clapton
Blondies is a queer women-owned rock bar and live music venue with guitars turned up and pretension turned down. The independent Clapton spot welcomes a mixed crowd, with bands, DJs and alternative events giving the place its own rhythm. It is not an exclusively LGBTQ+ bar, but queer audiences are very much part of the family. Come for a gig, a drink or the sort of night where one song becomes several. East London has plenty of polished cocktails, but sometimes what you really want is a dive bar with a very good soundtrack.
The Joiners Heart
Website www.joinersheart.com
Address Arch 18, Bohemia Place, Hackney, London E8 1DU
Nearest station Hackney Central
The spirit of the much-missed Joiners Arms has found a new home in Hackney. The Joiners Heart is a community-run, not-for-profit LGBTQIA+ pub and performance space owned by more than 2,000 community shareholders. The bar is made for meeting, while workshops, open mics, live performance and queer nights give the programme plenty of range. It is wheelchair accessible and here for the long haul, with a 15-year lease rather than pop-up ambitions. Come for a drink, stay for what’s on and enjoy a queer local built by the people who wanted it back.
The Queen Adelaide
Website www.thequeenadelaide.com
Address 483 Hackney Road, London E2 9ED
Nearest station Cambridge Heath
The Queen Adelaide has a fondness for music, queer company and decor that gives your eyes something to do. This Hackney Road pub has connections to the much-missed George & Dragon in Shoreditch, and carries a similarly individual streak. The bar and basement leave room for different kinds of night, from a drink with friends to something with more dancing involved. It’s a pub with character, rather than an identikit backdrop for your first round. Come for the company and see which bit of the room gets you talking first.
Love Affair Basement
Website www.loveaffairbasement.co.uk
Address Basement, 324 Hackney Road, London E2 7AX
Nearest station Hoxton
Cocktails and cabaret make a persuasive couple at Love Affair Basement. Tucked beneath Hackney Road, this intimate venue brings live music and performance into a room with queer creativity at its heart. There’s something appealing about being close enough to a show to feel the room respond, rather than watching a distant figure across a crowd. The programme shapes the evening here, so pick a performance that catches your eye. A basement, a drink and somebody with something to show you, that’s a fairly promising start to a night out.
La Camionera
Website www.lacamionera.com
Address 243 Well Street, London E9 6RG
Nearest station Homerton
A lesbian bar, a garden and somewhere to get properly stuck into a conversation, La Camionera has a lot to recommend it. Its Well Street home brings queer women’s social life into the Hackney neighbourhood, with events adding to the everyday appeal of meeting for a drink. Come with friends, bring a date or make it the place where the group chat finally meets in person. The garden adds another spot to gather, although access differs across the venue. A welcome address for an evening with lesbian life at its heart.
The Star of Bethnal Green
Website www.starofbethnalgreen.com
Address 359 Bethnal Green Road, London E2 6LG
Nearest station Bethnal Green
Music gives The Star of Bethnal Green plenty of personality, with quizzes and karaoke adding other ways to entertain yourself. This mixed neighbourhood pub is a handy place for gathering friends before exploring the area, but you can quite happily let it occupy the evening itself. There’s food as well as drinks, and enough on the programme to tempt anybody who gets restless after a quiet pint. It isn’t an exclusively LGBTQ+ space, so follow the event if you’re after a queer night. Otherwise, a local pub with tunes is an agreeable proposition.
Limehouse
The Old Ship
Website www.oldship.net
Address 17 Barnes Street, Limehouse, London E14 7NW
Nearest station Limehouse
Real ale and cabaret make very good shipmates at this old-school Limehouse gay pub. The Old Ship has the comforts of a proper local, with performers adding the sparkle and regulars giving the place its character. It’s a good shout for anyone who likes their queer nightlife with a pint and a conversation, as well as a turn on stage. Tucked away on Barnes Street, it’s outside the busiest east London circuit. Worth seeking out, especially when your idea of a fine evening involves a pub that knows itself.
The White Swan
Website www.thewhiteswan.bar
Address 556 Commercial Road, London E14 7JD
Nearest station Limehouse
The White Swan gives Limehouse a gay night out with a bit of everything: a bar for drinks, cabaret for the show lovers and club events for those with energy left to spend. Different performers and promoters bring their own crowd, keeping this east London name from being just one sort of evening. You can make it a date with the stage or a night with the dancefloor. Either way, there’s more to do here than admire the name from Commercial Road. See what’s on and take your pick.
Hackney Wick and Walthamstow
Rhizomatic
Website www.outsavvy.com/organiser/rhizomatic-cic
Address First floor, Algha Works, 83 Smeed Road, London E3 2NR
Nearest station Hackney Wick
Wine, crafts and queer company, Rhizomatic offers an appealing change of pace in Hackney Wick. Its Algha Works space brings a craft café, workshops and a wine bar together, with textiles, art and technology among the interests. Queer and FLINTA-focused gatherings give the programme its community character. Pick an advertised session and come to make something, learn something or get happily absorbed in an activity with other people. The first-floor space is reached by stairs. Your phone can have a rest while your hands find something more interesting to do.
Soho Theatre Walthamstow
Website sohotheatre.com/walthamstow
Address 186 Hoe Street, London E17 4QH
Nearest station Walthamstow Central
Soho Theatre has spread its wings to Walthamstow, bringing comedy, cabaret and live performance to Hoe Street. The larger east London home gives touring and visiting acts room to play, with LGBTQ+ performers among a broad programme. There’s plenty to browse if your usual theatre routine has become a little too familiar. Pick a favourite or take a punt on somebody you’ve only seen in a clip online. This is very much the Walthamstow venue, so save the trip to Dean Street for another evening.
Keep exploring east London
For a night with underground electronic music, find FOLD in our London LGBTQ+ clubs guide. If a sauna is more your speed, Sailors in Limehouse and E15 Club near Maryland are in our London saunas directory.
Explore more of LGBTQ+ London
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