Soho sleaze and striptease

Quote:In Goodge Street in the old days there was a drinking club with a stripper on at lunch time and he can recall seeing one of the old Soho favourites a girl with dark hair, nice smile and always with her hair up dancing there at the time he thought she would have been around 50 but he could recall her dancing when she had been in her 20s, lovely girl but perhaps a bit sad at her age.

Hi,
I was about yesterday and on the drinking club with strippers at lunchtime in Goodge Street it is still open.
Only thing is it is a cocktail bar today called The Rev J W Simpson, Address is 32 Goodge Street, I have a strong suspicion the strippers have left the building.

Kev

Hi,
On this thread, I am interested in the things which went on before or during my time in the 1970s/1980s and I have a few friends from that area who used the facilities more than I ever did and it is to them I have been asking questions.
One thing that has not been considered in these posting is the activities were all carried out against the backdrop of News of the World and their investigations, over the years many players were subject to ridicule and worse if they were found out.
Anyway one of my friends was a regular in the area and before him his uncle . His uncle was a regular at Murray’s Cabaret in Beak Street when run by Helen O’Brien, then at Eve’s when it was on the Mayfair side of Regent Street. He was saying that sometime in the mid/late 1970s one semi-retired enterprising black cab driver had the idea of offering a Strip-Taxi service. Today on these forums we have Nicole promoting the Limo-Strip but the original was the black cab. There were no privacy glass in those days but there were blinds to shut out the public. A customer would travel with a stripper and have a show and a shag while being transported through Soho/West End. This proved popular but the undoing was when he advertised it on one of the give-away tourist street maps, the News of the World cottoned on and did an expose but it was on the go for around 3 years.
Turning to the small unlicensed clubs, he was saying they all had tie ins with the main clubs and if a customer was well behaved he would be directed to the smaller club, these were a bit more expensive as were the drinks, but the shows were explicit, dildos and blue shows. In the 1980s a couple of them became swinger clubs at the weekend, but again they were closed down. From there the swingers went on to what today Rio’s in Kentish Town Road or alternatively to the restaurant in Wilton Road, Victoria for what later became The Toucan Club.
Of the other places there were many, some lasted others came and went but as we went into the mid-1980s the services became rip off and of little benefit to the punters like me.
Now yesterday I went on a walk around the area with a friend who is gay and also one of his friends and they were showing me the seedy gay side, which also overlaps with the straight side.
At the corner of D’Arbley and Berwick Street today there is a juice bar but in the late1970s for around a year in the basement there was a porno cinema where anything went, one side was a straight cinema the other side gay, my friend used to go, watch the couples playing in the straight cinema and then he would play in the gay. I can attest to this as I was a regular in the straight cinema. The customers were well served as upstairs there were two walk-ups.
Further along at the corner of Peter Street and Berwick Street there is a modern building and the corner shop sells up market posters. Back in the 1980s it was serving the gay community, upstairs it had publications but in the basement it had an unlicensed gay dance bar. This was full on, the other guy was saying when he left university he was skint so he danced there for around 3 months, but that from there he got booked into the private parties in Earls Court.
On Firth Street in the 1980s there was a guy who had an apartment, his side-line was as a photographer, He advertised obliquely in both Gay News and a couple of the swinger magazines together with Amateur Photographer and at a time when it was frowned on, you could be a star in either a straight porn shoot or a gay one for your own use without publication. The dancer guy was telling me that he was one of the models. Curiosity got the better of me so I asked him how much he got paid, £25.00 to be shagged in a gay shoot. The girls who would either work in the walk-ups or strip received £50.00 the shoot would be over in 45 minutes.
Further along Old Compton Street on Greek Street there is a Chinese restaurant back in the 1970s/1980s it was a sex shop, the front selling clothing etc. but a cinema at the back, catered for all, one film would be straight the next one gay, and a lot of fun and games as a lot of straight couples liked to get involved. I have had a lot of fun over the years in adult cinemas and have taken girlfriends on many occasions to them, the most notable being the Fantasy in City Road so I was particularly interested in them, close by was the Astral Cinema, which catered for straight and was busy with couples on Sunday afternoons.
At Walker Court there is a old poster advertising the Casino De Paris as highlighted above it must be 30 years old. The area looks like it is about to be developed and no doubt we well have a fresh selection of expensive coffee shops when completed

Kev

(04-09-2016 23:01 )george lusk Wrote:  

(03-09-2016 18:56 )Kevin555 Wrote:  One place I am trying to find out about is the one at the junction of Walkers Court and Berwick Street, walking along Walkers Court, turn right and that is the area, in the 1980s there was a small unlicensed club shut down by the police,

I remember a club in that location in the early 1980s. It didn't have continuous shows on, so I don't think I ever went in there.

Hi George,
I have found it, yesterday I was out with a couple of friends who were regulars back in the day. The club is at the end of Walkers Court and Peter Street opposite the modern building selling up market posters.
He was saying in the 1970s the basement was a small club and that was the first place he saw a naked woman being flagellated prior to being shagged. In those days Fetish Clubs were rare and so it was to this club they went at weekends.
It was open for around six months, closed and reopened selling fetish clothing. Today it is still in business, upstairs a Colt Bookshop selling gay literature but downstairs is a video shop selling 1970/1990s straight retro porn.

This is my last list of Soho strip clubs and is where I have a location but not the club name.

2, 6 & 27 St Anne’s Court

16 Frith St

20 Kingly St

21 Great Windmill St

22 Bateman St

13 Greek St

27 Greek St

41 Frith St

49 Rupert St

Forgive me but despite knowing these addresses I just can’t manage to recall the names!

(05-09-2016 16:02 )elgar1uk Wrote:  2, 6 & 27 St Anne’s Court

16 Frith St

20 Kingly St

21 Great Windmill St

22 Bateman St

41 Frith St

49 Rupert St

Hello Elgar

St Anne's Court I should know it, Trident Studios were nearby but complete memory block

Firth St Did a Google shows as Club Eleven but I cannot recall the name but I am aware of the street and know there were at least one strip club

Apart from that drawing a blank and Google is of no help

Kev

(05-09-2016 09:48 )Kevin555 Wrote:  His uncle was a regular at Murray’s Cabaret in Beak Street

Yes Murray's Cabaret Club is well worth a mention here. It was where the Profumo scandal had its origins. Christine Keeler worked there as a topless showgirl, although she's said that in her case she actually performed naked. Some people maintained that the club was virtually a brothel.

(05-09-2016 18:00 )CIA Snooper Wrote:  

(05-09-2016 09:48 )Kevin555 Wrote:  His uncle was a regular at Murray’s Cabaret in Beak Street

Yes Murray's Cabaret Club is well worth a mention here. It was where the Profumo scandal had its origins. Christine Keeler worked there as a topless showgirl, although she's said that in her case she actually performed naked. Some people maintained that the club was virtually a brothel.

Hi Snooper,
You are correct but never on the premises. Helen O’Brien did not allow that. From her obituary it stated that the girls would talk to a client make the excuse to visit the bathroom leaving there handbag behind on returning if the client had put some money inside they did the business.
Now on this thread the thing which has come out is the un-authorised venues and rooms on day rent, so I would imagine the girl after they finished the champagne they would head off to a location near-by. Would love to know more about these secondary venues, they seem to be where the action took place

(05-09-2016 08:19 )Kevin555 Wrote:  Hi,
I was about yesterday and on the drinking club with strippers at lunchtime in Goodge Street it is still open.
Only thing is it is a cocktail bar today called The Rev J W Simpson, Address is 32 Goodge Street, I have a strong suspicion the strippers have left the building.

This was Jacks Club and it did use to have strip shows all day, although not continuous shows. As you say, it was a drinking club with strippers rather than a strip club. The current bar is named after someone who once lived there and has been open since October 2012.

(05-09-2016 09:56 )Kevin555 Wrote:  The club is at the end of Walkers Court and Peter Street opposite the modern building selling up market posters.
He was saying in the 1970s the basement was a small club and that was the first place he saw a naked woman being flagellated prior to being shagged. In those days Fetish Clubs were rare and so it was to this club they went at weekends.
It was open for around six months, closed and reopened selling fetish clothing. Today it is still in business, upstairs a Colt Bookshop selling gay literature but downstairs is a video shop selling 1970/1990s straight retro porn.

Kev, I was remembering a different place to you. I gather from the above that you're referring to 28 Peter St, but the strip bar I was recalling was next door if I'm not mistaken, at no. 29. By the way, I managed to find a picture of no. 28, although from what year I don't know.



The ground floor's obviously a video shop, but to the right it says "live show" and there's a door with a sign saying "erotica" over the top. That door leads to the basement no doubt, but from that picture it's hard to say exactly what's going on down there (something gay I assume).

(06-09-2016 14:35 )george lusk Wrote:  Kev, I was remembering a different place to you. I gather from the above that you're referring to 28 Peter St, but the strip bar I was recalling was next door if I'm not mistaken, at no. 29. By the way, I managed to find a picture of no. 28, although from what year I don't know.



The ground floor's obviously a video shop, but to the right it says "live show" and there's a door with a sign saying "erotica" over the top. That door leads to the basement no doubt, but from that picture it's hard to say exactly what's going on down there (something gay I assume).

Hi George,
There could be some confusion on my side, the image in your picture is my location, downstairs it sells retro adult videos from the 1970s/80s/90s but I think of a straight variety. Upstairs is still a Gay Store but that is it, the downstairs was a fetish outlet for a while, phoned my gay friend and he said Peter Street had numerous occupants over the years it was a location targeted by the authorities, so your place like mine could have been open closed and opened again many times over.
One day we will get to the end of this but the journey is fun