London Pride

[muppet]

World PRIDE - what a palaver. Plagued by lack of funds, incredible disorganisation and bad weather, at the last minute the parade was cancelled and replaced with a march (read: all the floats left out) and held at a later time, while the sound stages in the backstreets were disbanded. It all played out like a Brazilian soap, but with bigger nails and hair. Facing protests and community uproar the head of Pride subsequently issued an apology and stepped down. Citing wrangling with the local authorities it emerged they'd applied for all the wrong licenses, and had run out of money for security, hence why the floats and stages could not take part this year.

The disorganisation and intermittent rain in the morning saw what was meant to be a global event with the usual 1 million strong crowd halved, with many staying home or decamping to the peripheral gay villages of Vauxhall, Shoreditch and Earls Court. The coolness meant an unusual lack of nudity, but out came the feather boas instead. The result - a photographer's dream in central Soho. Instead of streets jammed with crowds and queues there was actual SPACE to turn a lens - the party simply must go on...

• Video Link
www.fullers.co.uk

These are pics of the after-parties in the backstreets, didn't make it in time for the march through Central London or the main festivities in Trafalgar Square I'm afraid - but it was a damn lot more fun this side of town.

























Even the Queen pops in to say hi

[muppet]

yes it is RAINING on the parade

[muppet]

N entirely SFW!!





Soho infamously has outdoor urinals - it saves the streets as half a million pass through this nightlife district on any given night, and doubling on weekends

[muppet]

more urban porn here:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=199494

and hipstamatico

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=182135

[tdawg]

cool. still looks like a good time despite the missteps. I could not, however, take a leak out in the open like that. I have never seen portable urinals like those. Ick!

[muppet]

haha, yep the local councils have tried EVERYTHING from fining to poster campaigns to actually creating public loos, but still the streets run with rivers of piss every Saturday night. This was the last ditch attempt - these things now either come out of the ground James Bond style or get dropped off by big lorries every night. They've been part of the scenery in every entertainment district for about a decade. All I can say is, you get used to it, and at the time, you are thankful for it.

All they need to do now is bring back vomitoriums.

[ana]

Brazilian soaps are actually very well-organized.

Wonderful shots!!

[muppet]

hah thanks! I meant what happened within the planning committee was there were more revelations, bitching, backbiting and political intrigue than a soap opera. It would've made a fascinating documentary Im sure

[ColDayMan]

Great photos!

[seaskyfan]

It wouldn't be Pride without drama.

Thanks for the photo tour!

[fern]

Great photos as always

[SHiRO]

Originally Posted by tdawg

cool. still looks like a good time despite the missteps. I could not, however, take a leak out in the open like that. I have never seen portable urinals like those. Ick!

LOL...Americans...

[Minato Ku]

In Paris, people don't need those things to piss in the street !

[halifaxboyns]

That's sad to hear that it was a total disorganized mess. Toronto is getting world pride soon (2013 or 2014 - I can't remember). My hope is that they are much better organized; but I have no doubt of that having seen Toronto pride's parade countless times.

Where is the gay district in London?

[muppet]

yep London's Pride normally goes off without a glitch and attracts crowds of a million strong (the floats or events are never much to write home about, but the parties and atmosphere are great). However this year was a perfect storm - Westminster Council (notorious for its conservative stances despite being inundated by nightlife) insisted on getting all the sponsorship deals before the applications. Also, have to say, this year's Pride Council was electrifyingly incompetent, applying for the wrong licenses for starters and failing to secure much of the funding.

London has one central gay district, pictured here - Soho, but a newer 24hr district has opened up south of the river, Vauxhall that is now considered the premier area. It's where you want to go for muscle boy heaven, saunas, gyms and a whole lot of drugs. Needless to say it's not to everyone's taste. Another more alt scene is opening up in the East End, where all the creatives and trendies congregate. Soho now tends to be a mainstream dabbler, having lost alot of its edge in the '90s and '00s when it was aboslutely packed to the rafters - 500,000 partygoers a night and doubling on the weekends. Earls Court to the west is for the older crowd, a traditional haven since the 80s it's all but closed up now, but has its moments. Of course on almost every main street across the city there will be gay bars and pubs too.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by tdawg

cool. still looks like a good time despite the missteps. I could not, however, take a leak out in the open like that. I have never seen portable urinals like those. Ick!

We have those at Toronto Pride; sometimes set up in a circle so you're facing 4-5 other guys. They don't bother putting the urinals off to the side though. I remember they had one right in the middle of the dance floor. I'm just glad I don't have to line up for a port-a-potty.