Top gay bars in soho london

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Our newsletter hand-delivers the best bits to your inbox. Sign up to unlock our digital magazines and also receive the latest news, events, offers and partner promotions. For hundreds of years, Soho has been a haven for gay Londoners, full of packed pubs and late night drinking dens even before the decriminalisation of homosexuality.

But gay old Soho still holds a special place in London's LGBTQ scene and remains most visitors' first port of call, whether for drag nights or mingling. It's centred around Old Compton Street, where you can spend a raucous night at the enduringly popular G-A-Y bar or down unpretentious drinks at pubs like The Admiral Duncan.

Here's our pick of the best gay bars and clubs in Soho. Been there, done that? Think again, my friend. Ku is a little classier than local rival G-A-Y, but it attracts a broadly similar crowd and the young, up-for-it vibe is just as fun. The ground floor offers a bright and modern bar space with video screens playing chart hits; downstairs is a clubbier room where fresh-faced types of all genders dance to pop and dance remixes.

Although the short cocktail menu has been the same for ever, the staff always seem perplexed when you order one this is definitely part of the charm. The crowd here is gay in the broadest sense: anyone with a sense of fun will feel at home, whatever their gender and sexuality.

Soho’s most unique gay venue

If you fancy dancing to Donna Summer while sipping relatively inexpensive prosecco, this place is an essential pitstop. The downstairs alfresco area boasts sedate lighting, wooden banquettes and a fair bit of flora, giving things an almost bucolic feel. The Yard gets especially busy during warm summer evenings, when its airy ambience makes it a queer space you could bring your mum to.

Once an old-fashioned gay club with blacked-out windows and sawdust on the floor, the venue has changed with the times and now has two floors, clear-glass windows and far nicer toilets. The upstairs lounge is a good place for a date or conversation, and the ground floor is a surprisingly inviting bar space.

This traditional two-floor pub attracts a similar though less cruisey crowd to Comptons. Downstairs is a decent-sized drinking space with more standing room than seats; upstairs is a cosier lounge bar that can be hired for private events. The ambience is more chilled than many Soho venues, but it fills up quickly on Friday nights and weekends.

This old-school gay pub is situated halfway between Soho and Heaven, hence the name. It tends to attract a more mature crowd, and the drag performers will be doing Olivia, not Ariana. The ground floor is a laidback bar space, but the basement gets much clubbier and cruisier on Friday and Saturday nights.