the backstreet OBITUARY: The Backstreet, London

[Monorchid]

The Backstreet, London’s last remaining gay fetish club worth the name, closed its doors for the last time in the early hours of Sunday 17th July 2022.

I first went in 1998 when I came to London as a mature student. It was a regular Friday night with my new friends, and I was enjoying exploring the kinkier side of my nature. I’d come from a Conservative (Big-C) city where the scene, such as it was, was pedestrian at best. We sat by the DJ console, chatting with the other guys in the club. It was always social, much more so than other similar London clubs. Yes, you could suck cock at the bar – get fucked there, even – but that was never the prime focus of The Backstreet. The venue had an identity beyond its existence as a fetish club – it had a personality of its own and gave a place for communities to develop.

That friends group drifted apart and I got involved with SM-Gays, so I started going to the more heavily fetish oriented clubs in Vauxhall and Bow for a few years, then dropped out of the scene completely for a while. I’d started preferring saunas – the same social atmosphere in the small independent places, and I found I liked being naked. I met a new group of friends – a gay nudist group who met at a sauna on Fridays and went to the Wednesday night Boots Only sessions at The Backstreet. This was yet another community The Backstreet was supporting – a diverse group of guys, all shapes, sizes, ages, disabilities and social positions. It could only exist in such a non-judgemental place.

The owner and staff always supported and looked after their customers, and their regular customers were (still are) fiercely loyal. I went to the closing sale – I’ve got a boot fetish, and anyone who knows the place will understand I had to have a pair of boots from The Backstreet (the ceiling was hung with boots of all types.) I had hoped I’d find a pair (or even one) I could make into something suitable – a doorstop, maybe – but I found a pair which fit me and I’ve started restoring them. Every time I wear them, I’ll remember that time I got fucked over the bar while ordering a drink, or the discussion of jam making while sitting naked out the back smoking cigars, or any of countless other memories. I was so glad to be able to personally thank the owner and manager.

The Backstreet will be missed.

[ErosWired]

What was the reason for the closure?

[Monorchid]

These are the boots I bought from the sale (one as is, the other after one polish) - they're going to have been hanging from the ceiling for 20+ years...

Edited July 20, 2022 by Monorchid

[Monorchid]

1 minute ago, ErosWired said:

What was the reason for the closure?

Not viable as a business any more...

[pervinmt]

Sad when a city like London can't support a fetish bar. 

[Sturm611]

I was only there once - an extended business trip to London several years ago - but it was a great place.   Sorry to hear that it's gone.

[onlyraw]

10 hours ago, Monorchid said:

The Backstreet, London’s last remaining gay fetish club worth the name, closed its doors for the last time in the early hours of Sunday 17th July 2022.

The Backstreet will be missed.

Monorchild- thanks for writing a wonderful obit

I never went there - but you nicely capture what we are loosing as a community- not just the fetish bars - but all of them 

we only have 3 gay bars of any sort left here in Boston- and none of them a fetish bar - but at least a place to gather 

the two I miss the most are the Ramrod (our leather bar - at least three pieces of leather required to get into the back room) and at the other end of the spectrum- the Napoleon Club ( the piano bar - jacket and tie required)

both wonderful in their own way - both greatly missed