London’s alternative scene has got its knickers in another twist after The Black Cap pub in Camden closed its doors last night, before self-destructing its website and erratically leaving Twitter. The sudden and backhanded closure was kept under wraps, but you can’t hold a secret in London for long (can you Kevin Spacey?) and dozens flocked to Camden for the bitter-sweet finale.
As the evening unfolded and the endearingly poor selection of beer flowed, the severity of the situation revealed itself, climaxing dramatically with drag legend Holestar, dressed head to toe in jet sequins and looking like a Las Vegas reenactment of Queen Victoria’s funeral, as she came forwards and belted out Soft Cell’s anti-anthem Say Hello, Wave Goodbye, tears in her eyes.
Soon after Michelle Visage posted expostulations on her Twitter page, lashing out at the greedy property developers behind the scandal and stressing her concerns for Meth, the London drag queen and promoter who has held a residency at The Black Cap for the last year. Meth was instrumental in bringing the stars of RuPaul’s Drag Race to London – programming an impressive charm bracelet of sell-out parties for the venue.
But it’s not all gloom. WoW are delighted to announce that Meth has already been snapped up by another pub, The Eagle in Vauxhall, having been propositioned by several venues over the last few months. We spoke to Meth on Facebook this morning – “The Eagle have been super supportive and keen to work with us for a while. I was approached by a few venues, but they were mainly sniffing around because of the success of my shows involving the Ru girls, and just too obsessed with numbers basically. With The Eagle they cared more about us as artists and the bigger picture of The Familyyy Fierce [the circle of London artists and scenesters that Meth commands]”. They approached the situation with the right energy and enthusiasm that we were looking for”
Asked whether a relocation from Camden to south of the Thames will pose a problem Meth seemed confident that all will be fine for now – “There’s been some grumbles about going to Vauxhall of course, but mostly everyone is just happy that we have somewhere that cares about us”
But it’s never too hard setting up a new party when you are the party, and the next Meth adventure is just a few days away – “For party monsters in London wanting to check out our new venue, The Familyyy Fierce are actually throwing a party called PlayThing at The Eagle this Saturday – so come down! And then the next Ru Paul flavoured affair takes place on May 6th and 7th when the AAA Girls come to town [Willam, Alaska Thunderfuck and Courtney Act]”
The gold nails rush is on now to snap up other talent that The Black Cap‘s closure has freed up. Tasty Tim and Lady Lloyd‘s night “TLC” will have to move, as will Sadie Sinner and Dylan B Jones‘s quasi-gothic dance extravaganza “CAKE” – which has been building up a buzz and was due to take place at The Black Cap on Friday. Who knows what exciting guerilla spaces may pop up!
In the meantime, North London is left lacking in gay venues. Perhaps as a temporary measure George Michael could hire a bouncy castle for his Highgate garden? North London drag performer Karina Totti commented saying – “We’ll just have to get high on Hampstead Heath like the good old days, and then hitch hike to Jonny Woo’s pub The Glory.”
Words: @jackcullenuk
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