The A to Z of the Vauxhall Tavern
H is for hair - or the lack thereof

This pic was taken at the Vauxhall one Sunday about three weeks ago, on the occasion of Matthew's 30th birthday. Spot the man with hair!

According to the Queer Skinhead Brotherhood, "gay skinheads in Europe, especially London, have created a lively culture of their own; though they are primarily sadomasochists who took on a skinhead identity as a replacement for the biker and lumberjack styles of the leathermen." Nowadays, though, the London gay scene has got over its flirtation with skinhead culture, and it's generally only in fetish clubs that you'll still see guys insisting they are "real" skinheads.

The club which did most to increase the popularity and profile of gay skinheads was Oi!. When Oi! was started in the mid-90s, it attempted to foster a real skinhead culture in the gay scene - the look, the lifestyle, the music - but queens don't really go for that ska thing. Oh, they pretended to, but were secretly relieved when Oi! grew to encompass two dancefloors: one playing the dreaded skinhead stuff and the other playing the more acceptable trance. Of course, they didn't really go to Oi! for the music at all, but that's another story.

The Vauxhall on a Sunday tends to attract guys who could best be described as "post-skinhead". Back in the 90s, they'd have been Oi! regulars, and they still like the look - birds of a feather, and all that. But now they want a bit of a laugh and a twirl to some camp pop tunes after all those years of macho posing. None of the people in the pic above indentify themselves as skinheads. I should know - they're all my friends.

And none of them will be talking to me after tomorrow's entry in my A to Z of the Vauxhall - I for "Incestuous"...!