Queer Spaces of Newham
Queer Newham didn’t happen in the abstract. It happened in a pub on Romford Road, a bookshop on West Ham Lane, a helpline run from a front room in Stratford Village.
These are the places – and the people who still remember them. Take your time.
The Pigeons – 120 Romford Road
There’s been a pub on this corner since at least 1776. For two decades from the 1970s, its upstairs ran a gay club every Saturday – “Tricky Dickies” – and people travelled in from across East London, from Southend and Chelmsford, for one of the only nights of its kind. The pub closed in 2009; the building is a Tesco now. The Saturday nights are remembered better than the windmill that once stood behind it.
The Whole Thing – 51–53 West Ham Lane
Through the 1970s, 80s and 90s this was a community bookshop and café, woven into the area’s co-operative movement and the East London Gay Liberation Front. A young Benjamin Zephaniah passed through more than once early in his career. It was the kind of place where a political meeting and a cup of tea shared a table.
The Tom Allen Centre – Grove Crescent Road
Through the early 1980s and 90s this was a community arts space in Stratford – theatre, concerts, exhibitions, a stage for local artists and groups who rarely got one elsewhere. Deni Francis, a local actor and queer artist, performed here many times in their youth. For someone finding their feet, it was somewhere to be seen.
Vicarage Lane Community Centre – Vicarage Lane
Built and run by volunteers, this wasn’t only a queer space – but it was run by queer people, and it held many LGBTQIA+ events. Among its founders was Miqx Kannemeyer, an activist since the Gay Liberation Front days of 1970s East London, who remembers how it began.
The East London Gay Community & Helpline – Maiden Road
The ELGC was a social group with a strong women’s membership, and its Helpline ran from Maiden Road, in the heart of Stratford Village. Founded in 1978, it kept going until 2015 – weekly socials, theme nights, parties and barbecues, almost always held in members’ own homes. Some ran coffee evenings for Octopus, a gay social group reaching out toward the Essex borders. For decades, it was a number you could phone and a front room you could turn up to.
Stratford Village
Martin P.J. Edwardes has lived in Stratford Village since 1976 and calls it, simply, home. He introduces the village as it was and as it’s become – the feeling of community, the speed of the change, and the people who held it together who are no longer here.
The walking tours
It started with one walk through queer Stratford, led by Philip Rescorla and locals who’d lived the history themselves. We’re making more – routes through other corners of the borough, told by the people who remember them. The routes stay ours for now, but here’s a taste.
Want us to lead a walk for your group or organisation? Get in touch: people@cameyearts.org