Heaven (nightclub)
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| Heaven | ||
|---|---|---|
 The entrance to Heaven |
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| Location(s) | Charing Cross, London | |
| Type | Night club | |
| Years active | 1979 — present | |
| Capacity | 1,625 | |
| Owner | Jeremy Millins Puregroup |
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| Promotions | Bang! Bedrock Fruit Machine Gatecrasher |
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| Website | www.Heaven-London.com | |
Heaven is a nightclub in London, England 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.
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[edit] History and background
[edit] Early history
Heaven opened in Dec 1979. It was opened by Jeremy Norman. Norman had started an earlier club, The Embassy, in Bond Street in 1978. The Embassy had taken London by storm and is generally seen as the London equivalent of New York's Studio 54. Norman, an entrepreneur took his knowledge and used it to create an entirely new form of gay club on a larger scale in the arches beneath Charing Cross railway station, once part of Adelphi Arches, a large wine-cellar for the hotel above. Heaven quickly established itself as the centre of the (then understated) gay London nightlife. Until Heaven, most gay clubs were small hidden cellar-bars or pub discos. Heaven brought gay clubbing into the mainstream.
In 1993 Heaven was acquired from Norman 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 1998 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 enjoyed a real buoyancy in terms of custom, and was the very popular. The dotcom revolution and the economic upturn of 1999-2000 meant that customers had a lot of disposable income.
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, especially affecting 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 of the club in 2003 to a consortium which included Pure Group [2] owner Jeremy Millins and original 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. On the latter point, however, Heaven now has a 06:00 drinks licence, and in fact is the only venue in Westminster to have one.
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: Gran Canaria[1] and Ibiza [2]
[edit] Heaven Today
Heaven remains one of the best known gay nightclubs in London and one of the largest in terms of floor space in Central London.[3][4][5] It hosts several large events, corporate events and has been used as a setting for music videos. Heaven's artistic efforts are directed Managing Director Jeremy Millins from the Pure Group.
[edit] Monday
Monday is perhaps the busiest night in Heaven's week. The club plays host to a party called Popcorn! which plays pop and funky house music.
Although advertised as a gay event, the production style of the events have toned-down the gay ethos. The club occasionally features drag queens, however, nowhere near as many as previous years. 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 night called Work. Offering a mix of Electro, 80's Pop and the like.
[edit] Friday
Alternate Friday nights are guest held, which include Drum and Bass night"Hospitality", and the hard house joint "Tidy"/"Extreme Euphoria" along with many others.
[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] Heaven in popular culture
The club is referenced in the song "Heaven" on the 1979 Fear of Music album by the Talking Heads. David Byrne describes his song as being about "a gay disco in London owned by Richard Branson."[citation needed] It is also referred to directly in the "Battles" episode of the first series of the UK sitcom Spaced.
