Jonny Woo explained to Queerguru :
‘I moved to East London in ‘95 – it was a real mix of people. A lot of St Martins people and young designers. I worked behind the bar in the Bricklayers Arms, but only for about three or four months. We were doing a lot of drugs and it was very difficult to hold down any kind of job. ’‘At The Glory, we’re inspired by the crazy parties they used to throw at the Bricklayers – they put turf down in the pub, and we’ve done that twice here and had a weekend festival. We should do that again actually… ‘Some strange, very scandalous things have happened downstairs. Someone was demonstrating pegging and using a watermelon. A pretty risque show.’
‘The Glory house rules are just ‘be a decent human being’. Not indecent, we don’t mind that. But if you are not decent to an extent where it interferes with another person’s night, you’re at a very high risk of being asked to leave.’
‘Chelsea Clinton was probably the most random person we’ve had here. It was New Year’s Eve and she came down with Keira Knightley. But we’ve had all the local gay celebs; Olly Alexander from Years and Years, Christine and the Queens and Russell Tovey.’
John Sizzle added : ‘I’d only ever worked in a pub once before this, when I gave up my job in advertising to become a drag queen. That was the Edward IV in Islington, which was a lovely gay bar.’
‘We sell a lot of White Claw – it’s huge. This mysterious alcohol came from nowhere, but it keeps you thin and gets you pissed. I’m a lager lout, but the biggest seller is always vodka diet cokes – the classic – and a queer bar loves a cocktail; a margarita is a go-to and we also love the occasional penis-shaped vodka luge.’
‘The place was a shithole when we first saw it – there were pianos everywhere, which we turned into the bar. But we could see the stage and got excited by it and knew it would be all about performance – the space informed how it could be used.’
‘Our crowd is people who have moved to London, who probably are a bit weird and alternative, who have come to discover their gender and sexuality. They come here quite naive and leave as fully fledged queer-dos. A lot of them use drag as a vessel for performance and end up with shows at the Soho Theatre, and that makes me really proud.’
The Glory has glitteringly festive shows every night of the week through December and into 2024. Some shows are free & some are ticketed, just be quick to nab the best seats and treat yourself to some yuletide cabaret and clubby queerness.
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Labels: 2023, drag, East London, John Sizzle, Jonny Woo, queer perfomance space, The Glory
