31/05/14: “And then I fell in a twink” is how we’d usually end a Ku Bar review. “Staggered to the night bus with fried chicken and a shag” is yet another classic.
Tonight’s excursion ended a little more respectably. No-one got kicked out (A tradition between gay bar owners and QX staff that goes back decades) and no-one got the bright idea to go for some drunken Chinese food around the corner – always a game of roulette, as everyone’s too plastered to remember which one is proper dodgy.
But we started the night in style, sashaying into Big Ku to Pussycat Dolls ‘When I Grow Up’ (Lawd, we waited round the corner aaaaages just so we could strut into that track) and witnessing those Gorgeous Bar Boys™ not frolicking in parks, hot tubs or perilously hanging out top floor windows as the Ku adverts depict, but in their natural habitat; handing out good value drinks, wearing a smile and little more.
Ku now enjoys iconic status on London’s glittering gay scene, having seen a number of queer-leaning watering holes rise and fall over the years, yet somehow maintaining its youthful visage.
While some of the bigger drags and characters may have shuffled off (probably to a chill out) there’s a plethora of freshly hatched twinks, lovely lads and lady lushes to ensure that Ku is the go-to bar for a whole new generation. And that makes us happier than any drinks deal. Ok, maybe a blow job shot for old times sake…
30 Lisle Street, Leicester Square, WC2H 7BA
Words by Lee Walker Texas Dalloway
Photos by Chris Jepson