Event review: Don't Miss MissFit

Venue: Stokey Stop, Stoke Newington High Street
When: Saturday Nights, 9pm onwards
Entry: Free for now, max £3
Offers: 2 tequila shots for £6; 2 cocktails for £10; 4 beers £10

This new weekly night from the women behind TLC, Unicorn and the upcoming Lesbian Prom offers a local, fun night for all women who want to dance the night away.

Bang in the middle of Stoke Newington High Street, the venue is ground floor and basement based, with a cool, modern urban feel to it. 

With toe-tapping, floor filling music, this event really starts to kick off at 11 as the women pour in. 

The music, supplied by DJ Sandra D and guests, was a lively, eclectic mix reminiscent of Popstarz in its old school days, guaranteed to fill the floor. 

Mostly under 25s, but a few of us in the older brackets too, there was a mix of women at the event and it definitely had a local feel to it, no wonder with the amount of LBQ women who live in the popular N16 locale. With no attitude or pretension present, it was easy to feel comfortable in the space and on the dance floor.

Hosts, Effi-Mai and Sandra chatted and mingled making everyone feel welcome. 

All in all, a great event that deserves to become established as a regular fixture on the calendar.

By Katie 

Event: The Most Cake Salon

Date: Tuesday 24 September

Time: 7.30pm

Talk Subject: Small Town Gay Scenes

Cost: £2

Location: Vogue Fabrics, 66 Stoke Newington High Street, N16 7XB
Hosted by: Anna from The Most Cake

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Billed as an alternative TED talk (like TED Talks but with more lesbians) we were quite intrigued to see what The Most Cake had to offer. In addition, the subject was quite interesting as we feature London but have recently been looking to see how we can support the outskirts of London as well as London itself.

So we clicked join on Facebook, put it in the diary and looked up the venue. On the surface, Vogue Fabrics seemed a strange location for a talk, however the venue had arranged a good set up with a mic at the front and bench style seating. And to be honest, however much we hate it, as lesbians in London we're quite used to being in the basement!

Anna introduced the event and each of the speakers in turn.

It wasn't quite what we were expecting, I had expected because in my head I had thought it would be people who were currently outside of London speaking about their experiences recently, when in reality it was experiences growing up anywhere from 2 to 20 years ago. I guess that wasn't a surprise given that if you still lived outside of the M25 it would be quite difficult to get to Stoke Newington after work on a weekday and to get home after would take hours. More thought on my part would have prepared me more.

We heard from a great variety of speakers from a number of locations both in the UK and further afield:

• A circus like Great Yarmouth in 1994 featuring lesbian scene mullets in a pretty tolerant town of misfits.
• Niagara Falls, New York in 1992 when the Internet was something you queued an hour for and was still green writing on a black screen.
• St Louis in the mid west where gay men and women didn't mix yet they all had the same haircut and the no.1 sports bar was also the no.1 lesbian bar.
• Brisbane, Australia where the young lesbians went clubbing and the older lesbians lived in the west end.
• Hull was an interesting subject, more so because the speaker was extremely funny in her delivery. With stories of guys who were not friends of Dorothy gay but more the turned gay in prison and being set up with a policewoman without knowing and ending the date being threatened with arrest had us all laughing and picturing quite a scene.
• Tamworth was another interesting talk, explaining more how the scene was hidden within a different group and where people supported each other in becoming themselves. At the time each thinking that they were being supported by a friend but years later realising it was more of a scrum with everyone supporting each other.
• Coventry in 2008 was a quiet lesbian scene that consisted of the bus from the uni campus to Rainbows.
• Bournemouth in 2012 talked of angry, drunk straight people combining St Patricks Day with the usual hen and stag dos and lesbians in head to toe denim.
• Denver told a tale of cowboy hats and check shirts dancing the two step and squashing a motorbike into a four by four in order to impress a girl.
• County Durham talked not only of the scene for gay and lesbians, but also for growing up trans and experiences of being banned from seeing a girl and lingerie shopping in Newcastle
• Colchester told a story of a week in Brighton for Pride where a friend went missing and eventually turned up with 'a magical goblin' under the stairs who turned out to be a small person he had kidnapped whilst hight. The guy was arrested and sent to Pentonville Prison. Whether it was true or not, it was a fantastic end talk and a stark reminder that drugs can be a dark passenger, and that the challenges of living in a small gay scene creates a 'kid in a candystore' scenario when visiting gay hubs.

Throughout all of the talks, however different the scene, and the year, and the country there were however some common themes. Whilst each experience was only one individual's experience, the overall talk was interesting to hear how those experiences shaped the individual. 

Many scenes in smaller towns experienced joining another friendship group in which to blossom. Somewhere accepting of many walks of lives. Be it a book group at school, the local goth group or a group who hang around at the band stand. Young gay people in small towns with little or no gay scene find ways to survive and grow. Ultimately however they leave those towns and seek solace in a larger scene where they can be openly themselves.

The Coventry talk was particularly interesting because Katie had her own experiences of Rainbows having also gone to uni there some 6 years earlier. The contrast in experiences showed that town scenes can change year on year and that whilst these experiences were interesting to hear, they are only a snapshot of an ever changing and morphing environment, like seasons. The only way to truly understand how a scene is now is to be in it, and personally I'm kind of glad to be in the big City where I can be myself and would rather not return to the small town where I would once again be a minority.

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This was the first salon that The Most Cake has held, however indications are that more will follow. Anna closed by asking for suggestions for future talks. Suggestions can be emailed to contact@themostcake.co.uk.

Event Link: https://www.facebook.com/events/532651066823300/
The Most Cake website: www.themostcake.co.uk

Cocktails that won't make you blush - Blush Bar cocktail night

Venue: Blush Bar

Day: Thursdays

Naomi popped along to check out Blush Bar's Pop Up cocktail night. Blush Bar transforms on a Thursday night and becomes Lez Lounge with the Cocktail Gardener. First impressions are a luxurious evening, and more than your average cocktail on offer.

All the cocktails are designed and made to order by Lotty. With ingredients derived from her garden, these are exotic cocktails. Expect natural plant infusions, sumptuous flavours and a drinking experience unlike many others.

Three cocktails recipes were on offer, based on available ingredients, and all had something unique to offer the pallete. Prices were very reasonable, given the fresh, local ingredients used.

Additionally, classic lounge tracks help to transform the ambiance of this night to a class all of its own.

 

As spring was budding on this not-so-cold May evening, it was nice to be able to check out the beer garden. And while it isn't warm enough yet, it will be soon, and good outdoor space is hard to come by.

 

 

A Roasting at Blush Bar

Venue: Blush Bar, 8 Cazenove Rd  London, Greater London N16 6BD. Sundays 2pm - 6pm.
Food: Sunday Roast, £8.50/£9.50
Verdict: Home-cooked deliciousness
More info: https://www.facebook.com/groups/40130154465/?ref=ts&fref=ts

On a wet Winter's Sunday we made our way with empty tummies to Blush Bar. It appeared like a ray of sunshine, and ask we walked in damp and cold, we were given a very warm welcome, in a lovely warm space and the smell of our delicious roast cooking wafted through the air.

Blush Bar is family friendly and doggie friendly, which added to the wet sunday cost atmosphere. Chilled out juke box tunes played, board games were waiting to be played, and three choices for roast on the board - lamb, chicken and quorn (the meats change each week so check on the day). Excellent value for £8.50 or £9.50 (lamb). Where else can you get a home cooked (not boil in the microwave roast) for less than a tenner. (NB it's cash at the bar, so get yourself to a cash point and don't miss out!)

The bar also has a fabulous range of drinks - plenty of spirits and specialist beers to try out, as well as a good old glass of wine of course.

We arrived early as we'd heard it gets busy and by 2pm (the official start time for food) there was a fair number of other patrons with drooling mouths. 

The little touches, as well as the food itself make this a special Sunday treat. Sauces, condiments and gravy are brought to the table. It's home made mint sauce (always available, whether lamb is on the menu or not and which I was told by my eating companion was the best she'd ever had), cranberry sauce, and home made onion gravy served in an individual jug - to serve both the lamb and the chicken. 

The portion sizes were perfect, on large plates. The generous meat came with three fresh seasonal veg as well as home made roast potatoes and my favourite part, 2 yorkshire puddings (both of which are available for seconds). The veg was cooked exactly to our taste, the meat tender and all served speedily despite much of it being cooked fresh to order.

It's a lovely way to enjoy a roast - a friendly environment, good music and even the Rugby showing silently on the TV.

We will definitely be going back, and saving room for the home made dessert next time, too!

By Katie
 

Blush Bar customers like it hard!

We popped along to one of the longest running lesbian bars in London, Blush Bar for their weekly quiz night.

It is quite a trek for us, being from South London, but as an after work trip it is reachable from the City on just one bus (76).

Blush Bar is a very relaxed bar with friendly staff and customers. Siobhan runs the quiz on Wednesdays, which was heavily attended tonight and the bar feeling pretty full, although we all certainly could have cosied up to make more space for additional quizzers.

By Siobhan's own admission, geography isn't her strong point, but that didn't stop her slipping in a couple of questions on the subject. Thankfully spelling is her forte as a couple of teams (ours included) fell for that old chestnut where you can't see a letter that is staring you in the face!

The quiz itself is very fun and unpretentious. At half time you can top up your drinks and freshen up whilst quizmaster provides the odd clue if perhaps you've gone off piste with an answer (but only if you don't talk over her during the quiz!). There was even a more 'highbrow' picture round this time, by popular demand (apparently).

The end result was close with most teams scoring between 44 and 51.

The night was for us very enjoyable, and worth the 3 buses it takes to get home! We're really proud to have such a friendly, clean, well looked after bar and encourage you all to support it by going once in a while. We'll be going back to try their infamous sell-out Sunday lunches. At just £8.50 we're already sold and we hear the homemade desserts are equally as yummy!

The Oak Bar - seeking your feedback and input into the bar

Tonight and last night The Oak Bar in Stoke Newington is having open evenings. The idea is that you pop in, have a drink and whilst you're there leave some feedback and what you would want from The Oak Bar.

This is a great opportunity to speak up - imagine if you will a blank canvas - what would you like?

Having myself not been to The Oak Bar for several years because of living West or South East, I have to go out of my way and make an effort to go to The Oak Bar. I haven't really heard of a particular night that grabbed my attention enough to get me there. However when I received the invitation to the open evening I knew this was my moment to travel!

Having said that, although not on the 21 route per se, it starts just one bus stop down the road, and the 21 goes pretty far south, we can also get the 141 and change at Monument or London Bridge for a variety of onward routes. I'd suggest if looking to travel to The Oak Bar that you use Google maps to check out the area and what routes are nearby as TFL just isn't intelligent enough to tell you that by walking 30 metres your journey gets easier!

Mondays at The Oak Bar is free pool night, so Katie and I practicing for a few hours didn't break the bank! Drinks are extremely reasonable and there is a happy hour 5-8pm offering a house bottle of wine for £9, 2-4-w cocktails and selected beer for £2.50. Outside Happy Hour you can still grab a bargain with prosecco just £20 a bottle or two for £35! The Oak Bar has a good range of beers and drinks, a pool table and a variety of games.

There is a new website launching soon, a number of new events including a cabaret night and most importantly they're seeking feedback on what other changes would improve the bar.

If you haven't been to The Oak Bar for a while but would consider it in the future, particularly if you live locally, why not take a moment to send them some feedback as to what you would want from your local pub. They're seeking comments on everything from decor to environment, drinks and deals, private hire and more!

I'm looking forward to the refreshed events to see if there is something to suit me that is worth travelling to!!!

Follow The Oak Bar
Oak Bar website: http://oak-bar.co.uk
Oak Bar on Facebook: http://www.fb.com/oakbar
Oak Bar on Twitter: theoakbar_79

Review by Naomi Bennett-Hall