The A to Z of the Vauxhall Tavern
Y is for Youth
The average age of the combat-wearing Vauxhall-goer is 30. In G.A.Y, it is n-n-n-n-n-nineteen.

The punters at the RVT are older than in your average gay club - I've just paraphrased a Paul Hardcastle record, ferchrissakes - how much more proof of, er, maturity do you need? Those shaved heads are not just fashion statements - they're follicular necessities.

However, they certainly don't act their age - but then who does these days? Little Women, last week's BBC documentary, looked at the "tweenager" - a powerful market force. The programme followed a group of pre-pubescent girls as young as seven, as they shopped for labels at Selfridges, and bopped around to S Club 7 while wearing leather trousers. "I'm going for the biker-babe look," said 10-year-old Alex.

A casual listener outside the Royal Vauxhall Tavern on a Sunday afternoon might assume it was a pre-teen disco. Kylie, Steps, S Club 7, Geri - anodyne pop. The "pink pound" is another market force, with exactly the same music being aimed at it. Gay men are virtually encouraged to act like little girls - and boy, do they ever! All the way through "Little Women", I was struck by the parallels between the tastes and clothing of the tweenaged girls and your average bunch of gay men. There were, of course, a few noticeable differences. Sex [in both senses of the word] for one. And the documentary opened with two little girls getting ready to go out: "She's not my sister - she's my best friend." With two gay guys, that would be the other way round!