Heaven (nightclub)
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| Venue | |
|---|---|
| Location: | Charing Cross |
| Rooms: | 6 |
| Layout: | multi-room |
| Promotions: | Bang! Bedrock Fruit Machine Gatecrasher Hospitality Megatripolis Popcorn Tidy/Extreme Euphoria Urbantorque |
| Licensing | |
| Capacity: | 1,625 |
| Licensing authority: | Westminster |
| Business | |
| Opened: | 1979 |
| Owner: | Puregroup - David Inches, Paul Savory |
| website | |
Heaven is a nightclub in London, which appeals predominantly (but not exclusively) to the gay market. It is located underneath Charing Cross Railway station in Central London, just off Trafalgar Square.
Contents |
[edit] History and background
[edit] Early history
Heaven opened in 1979 in response to the growing need for a gay nightclub in London. Designed to emulate the notorious nightclub Studio 54 in Manhattan, it initially opened as a roller-disco called the Global Village.
In the 1980s it was acquired by Richard Branson's Virgin Group. Branson was one of the first to identify the burgeoning 'pink pound' and saw the club as an investment opportunity. However as one of the first gay clubs in London, and one of the first openly-so in the world, it courted controversy, frequently appearing in the tabloid press, especially in the famous News of the World headlines about alleged ecstasy use in the nightclub in 1989.
Heaven became home to the Megatripolis club in October 1993 until October 1996 hosting visits from Allen Ginsberg, Terence McKenna and Ram Dass and DJs including Derrick May and Mr C.
The club was refurbished in 1998 and re-opened as a mainstream nightclub to challenge other larger nightclubs in Central London which had since appeared since the growing popularity of house music. Clubs like Trade and The Fridge had constantly challenged Heaven's long standing reputation as the only major gay nightclub in London.
[edit] Performers
Famous performances include Divine, Sylvester, Eurythmics, Billie Ray Martin, Baby D, Grace Jones and most notably Cher who launched her single Believe there in 1999 to a packed crowd. Cher was introduced onto stage by close friend Ben Kingsley. The singer was so scared by the amassed crowds, that once on stage she mimed to only two songs instead of the intended five.
[edit] DJs
Heaven's original resident DJ Ian Levine has often been credited with creating the now customary style of audio mixing (when previously two records had normally only been segued together by fading one in and the other out regardless of tempo).
Through the direction of Heaven's original stage manager David Inches, Heaven has always tried to find and employ unknown (and low-cost) DJs who played and most often produced new sounds and mixing styles. These DJs then usually went to find greater acclaim in the mainstream or gay music industry. Original Heaven DJs have included: Ian Levine, Marc Andrews, Ian D, Jon Dennis & finally Wayne G.
One of Heaven's most famous DJs Marc Andrews left his main Saturday night residency to join rival club The Fridge based in Brixton. Their Saturday night presentation "Love Muscle" gave Heaven competition and caused a significant change in the balance of the major London gay club's control of the pink pound market.
[edit] After the 1998 refurbishment
Heaven was highly profitable in the early part of the millennium, even though gay culture in itself had become progressively mainstream and less underground. Heaven's reputation ensured it was chosen by national promoters such as Gatecrasher and Bedrock (run by DJ John Digweed) who eventually took up a permanent residence on a Thursday night until 2005.
After the 1998 refurbishment Heaven continued to employ the DJ Wayne G who had created his own successful sound based on the dance track by Sash - "Encore Une Fois", this became known as Handbag. Since 2004. Since then, Heaven has adopted a more mainstream tribal house and disco based sound. Heaven has employed DJs originally resident at other major gay London nightclubs such as Gonzalo (a DJ originally resident at Trade, Salvation and Action).
[edit] The Heaven Sound
The original Heaven sound of the 1970s and 1980s could be attributed primarily to the producer Giorgio Moroder and later to original resident DJ Ian Levine. It can be described as having disco origins and influenced by the emergent house music style. Examples of this style of music include Yvonne Elliman's - "Love Pains", Company B's - "Fascinated", Eria Fachin's - "Savin' Myself", Donna Summer's - "I Feel Love", Pet Shop Boys - "It's A Sin" or "Always On My Mind", and Divine's - "Native Love".
[edit] Post 9/11
The attacks on New York on 9/11 sent a shock through the worldwide economy, and to many airlines. The Virgin Group, who at the time owned both Virgin Atlantic and Heaven, wanted to consolidate their business portfolio and concentrate on Virgin- branded products. Although Heaven was part of Virgin Hotels group, it did not carry the Virgin logo, and had no open association with Virgin. This led to the sale (in 2003) of the club to a consortium which included Pure Group [1] owner Jeremy Millins, original and present Stage director David Inches.
[edit] Competition
Inevitably Heaven now faces increased competition from many other local clubs; there are several others in the immediate vicinity, most notably G-A-Y which is half a mile away, and other clubs which enjoy more liberal licensing regulations south of the river, in Vauxhall, for example Fire
Another source of competition has been other places for gay men to meet: saunas/Gay bathhouses, and websites such as gaydar. Other niche venues specialising in areas of gay sub-culture have also sprung up; including fetish, bdsm, sportswear and uniform clubs.
[edit] Heaven brand worldwide
The Heaven name has been franchised around the world, in Palm Springs, USA [2] and Gran Canaria [3]. A Heaven bar in Copenhagen existed until early 2006
[edit] Heaven Today
Heaven remains one of the biggest nightclubs in Central London (and certainly the largest in terms of floor space in Central London). It hosts several large events each year, and continues its in-house clubnights. It hosts many corporate events too.
[edit] Monday
Monday is perhaps the busiest night in Heaven's week. The club plays host to a party called Popcornwhich plays pop and funky house music. The main floor is hosted by Dusty O starting with funky house and then DJ Bodum after 1am going into a mixture of old school vocals put onto new synths and beats with scouse house backings. He has been hosting for the last 8 years at heaven, missing only three days ever due to illness.
Although advertised as a gay event, the production style of the events have toned-down the gay ethos. The club no longer features drag queens, live PAs or any form of gay theme. This has led to Popcorn attracting criticism from the gay community and accusations of Heaven "selling out" and losing its core values as a gay venue.
[edit] Wednesday
Wednesday at Heaven plays host to a party called Fruit Machine offering a mix of RNB music and some House Music. Fruit machine attracts predominantly gay Afro-Caribbean customers.
[edit] Friday
Alternate Friday nights are usually "Bang" , with a mixture of old and new music. Guest nights on Fridays include "Hospitality", the hard house joint "Tidy"/"Extreme Euphoria", and "Knowwhere".
[edit] Saturdays
On Heaven Saturday, a variety of music is played, aimed at a wide cross-section of the gay community. These nights occasionally feature a stage performance of (often) muscular men dancing on podiums. These shows have attracted more criticism from the gay community who claim that they encourage unobtainable body images for gay men, and lead to anabolic steroid abuse, anorexia and body dysmorphia. [citation needed]
[edit] Trivia
- The club is referenced in the song Heaven by the Talking Heads. David Byrne describes his song as being about "a gay disco in London owned by Richard Branson."
- The buidling which houses Heaven used to be part of the Adelphi Arches, a large wine-cellar for the hotel above.
- Heaven is one of a very small amount of venues with a 6am license to sell alcohol in Westminster.
[edit] External links
- Official website
- Gatecrasher website
- scene-OUT.com is an interactive gay & lesbian website serving up complete daily scene news & listings for London, interactive club, bar, sauna, music, movie and theatre reviews, plus a huge photo gallery of people enjoying the clubs and Pride events across Europe.
