XXL (club)

XXL is a gay nightclub in London which primarily caters to the bear sub-group.[1][2][3] The club was founded by Mark Ames and his then partner David Dindol in 2000. They split as a couple in 2005, and soon after Mark purchased his ex partner's share of the club. It is the largest dedicated "bear" venue in the United Kingdom and the world. It is not just the bear scene's longest-running weekly disco but London's too, having not missed a night in over 14 years.

Venue

XXL is based in Southwark, on Southwark Street. The present host venue is known as Pulse while the previous venue (on the same street) was known as Arcadia. Both consist of a number of railway arches.

After the previous venue became unsafe due to a structural fault in the railway arches, XXL moved to a new venue, Pulse, in March 2012, one of the capital's largest entertainment venues that was developed and converted by Ames and his team[4]

History

The XXL website details the history of the club since launching in 2000. Mark Ames felt disillusioned with how little there was for the London Bear Community outside of one bar in Soho.

In 2003, XXL in London created Bear Necessities, now called XXL London Bear Pride, a weekend-long celebration of everything "big, gay and hairy" with events around the country. A year later this turned into London Bear Pride. In 2004 this was expanded to include the leather community in Bear and Leather Pride in 2006. The two subcultures do have a large overlap and a number of leather fetishists patronize XXL.

XXL also operates internationally both in Europe and the USA as well as a monthly night in the UK's third city Birmingham and has other events too. In 2014, XXL launched a monthly event in Glasgow.

Opinion polls in magazines such as Gay Times, the Pink Paper and Boyz regularly put XXL in the top two night clubs in London. XXL was also the title sponsor of the 2006 Bingham Cup in New York. In 2007 the club expanded and also diversified the brand by launching new nights, extending its appeal far beyond the core audience. In 2009 Ames became the gay promoter of the year according to the London Boyz Magazine readers' poll and was named as a gay icon in London's QX magazine.

There are four resident DJ's at XXL; ChristianM, Alex Logan, Joe Egg and David Robson. ChristianM has been the main resident DJ since the club opened, Alex joined shortly after. ChristianM and Alex Logan play commercial, euphoric contemporary house and dance mixes in the main room; occasionally joined by Mark Ames himself. Egg and Robson play an eclectic set of pop, rock, indie, soul, R&B and disco from the 1960s to the 2000s in the smaller room.

Previous resident DJs are Andy Almighty, Leonardo Glovibes, Jon Byrne, Stuart Style and Kamishake and others. Guest DJ's have included Phil Marriott, Cahill, Mark Loverush, The Freemasons, The Hoxton Whores, Paul Scott and many more.

In 2015 it was announced that 4 new resident DJ's would play in the main room rotating once a month in-between the weekly residents' sessions. These DJs are in starting order, American and European bear circuit DJ "FunkyBear Martin" aka. Martin Petersen (began residency Pride weekend, June 27, 2015), returning-guests-now-residents, Hoxton Whores (began residency July 11, 2015), Moto Blanco (beginning summer 2015), and circuit legend, WayneG, starting in the autumn.[5]

XXL has a sister club called Fusion that allows a mixed crowd of gay, straight and transgender that operates manly during the UK's bank holiday periods.

Mark Ames launched his XXLapp in early 2013 as a free dating app though Apple.com. The app has become a running success; later additions to the app will include live music downloads and club membership.

Criticisms

In June 2010 the UK gay press reported on comments written by Mark Ames on his Facebook page in which he stated that he would boycott Muslim businesses.[6] He issued an unreserved apology.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Jason Cochran (5 February 2009). Pauline Frommer's London: Spend Less, See More. John Wiley & Sons. p. 320. ISBN 978-0-470-46511-0.
  2. ↑ Editors of Time Out (2 January 2014). Time Out London. Time Out Guides Limited. p. 581. ISBN 978-1-84670-426-0.
  3. ↑ Lonely Planet; Emilie Filou; Steve Fallon; Damian Harper; Vesna Maric (1 October 2013). Lonely Planet London. Lonely Planet Publications. p. 285. ISBN 978-1-74321-833-4.
  4. ↑ "XXL club moves home". Out in the City. 9 March 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  5. ↑ "QX Gay London Issue 1059". Interview with Mark Ames. 9 June 2014.
  6. ↑ Lloyd, Peter; Reid-Smith, Tris (30 June 2010). "EXCLUSIVE: XXL owner Mark Ames slammed for Muslim boycott". PinkPaper.com. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011.
  7. ↑ Lloyd, Peter (1 July 2010). "YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: XXL's Mark Ames makes heartfelt apology". PinkPaper.com. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011.

External links

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