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Taking pride in the gay presence
TOM KING recommends an excellent exhibition celebrating LGBT+ venues in London
Soroya Marchelle

Queer Spaces: London, 1980s — Today
Whitechapel Gallery, London

 

THE ROYAL Vauxhall Tavern — to its loyal patrons, simply the RVT — is an imposing Victorian pub in south London which made history in 2015 as the first building in Britain to be awarded grade-2 listed status for its significance to the LGBT+ community.

 

Surviving the Blitz, the bulldozers of “progress” and, so far, the developers’ beady eye, the tavern’s been home to exhilarating cabaret for decades and it’s nurtured the career of many drag queens — most notably, Lily Savage.

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