LONDON WEEKEND BREAKS- London's Gay Scene

London has long been acknowledged as a city that caters for the gay community and indeed the city currently has the largest gay population in Europe.

London also hosts a number of significant gay events ranging from the Gay and Lesbian Film Festival to the massive annual London Pride Festival. All of this means that gay London weekend breaks are becoming more popular than ever, with lots to see and do, especially at night in the thriving gay pub and club scene.

All aspects of London's social and nightlife are open to those of any sexual persuasion, however there are some pubs, clubs and restaurants that have gained a following with the gay community both living in and visiting London. There are also a number of hotels that have oriented their service towards the gay community.

London's gay clubs

Soho and the areas around Covent Garden are seen very much as the centre of London's gay nightlife scene, but there are bars and clubs scattered across the city from the north to the south. Other acknowledged gay areas include, Vauxhall, Islington and Hoxton.

Old Compton Street in particular has developed a reputation as the “gayest street” in Britain, but there are many other Soho zones that radiate out from it that are also popular. It is in this district of London that most of the gay bars reside.

Trying to list all of the gay clubs and bars in the city is impossible, but some of the most popular central London haunts include, Bar Aqua, The Admiral Duncan, Comptons, Candy Bar, G-A-Y Bar, Halfway to Heaven and Rupert Street. All of these clubs and more help to make London weekend breaks the best inner city breaks in Europe for the gay community.

Gay friendly restaurants

There are almost as many restaurants associated with London's gay scene as there are bars, a reflection of the active social lifestyle and prosperity of many in the gay community. As with the bars, some of these restaurants are overtly gay, whilst others are far less obvious. Ultimately this allows you to select the kind of atmosphere and eating experience that you or the mood of the moment demand.

As with bars and pubs, listing every known “gay friendly” restaurant is a hapless task, however here are a few establishments for starters – Coffee, Cake and Kink, First Out Cafe and the famous Balans Cafe.

Gay friendly hotels

Along with the bars and restaurants, there is no shortage of gay friendly hotels and they are located all over the city. This means that finding the perfect location is never a problem. Some of these hotels are owned, run or designed (internally) by those in the gay community, so they cater for their clientele perfectly. The choice available means that you can choose a hotel in almost any style and with almost any atmosphere.

Examples of some popular gay friendly London hotels are, The Sanderson, Philbeach Hotel, Mandeville, Soho Hotel, Hazlitts, The Trafalgar and Apex City of London Hotel.

Finally, it is not only the clubs, bars, restaurants and hotels that cater for the gay London weekend breaker, you will also find gyms like the Paris Gym, Soho gyms and the Oasis and even companies who specialise in civil partnership ceremonies.