For this week’s edition of Life Outside London, we’re sticking to the UK but taking a trip across the Irish Sea to the Northern Irish city of Belfast! Our tour guide for this little weekend jaunt is gracious host Aaron Eakin, the Creative Director of gay club Boombox.
It’s a city often struggling to shrug off its past, where LGBT policies don’t always align to public desires, yet Belfast has a small but thriving LGBT scene just the same as any European city, except with a lot of Guinness.
What do you think the Belfast has to offer LGBT travellers?
As far as being an LGBT friendly tourist destination, Belfast has had a lot of unfair negative press. The Gay Cake legal case that saw a Christian-run bakery discriminate against a gay customer, and the fact that Northern Ireland is the last part of the UK & Ireland to legalise same sex marriage, have both grabbed headlines, painting a very homophobic picture of us.
The reality couldn’t be further from the truth. Its gay scene is thriving like never before. There’re more venues, club nights and queer talent emerging from Belfast than you’d imagine. We also host the biggest Pride festival on the whole island – no mean feat given that Dublin is a much bigger city than Belfast.
You’re the Creative Director at BOOMBOX in Belfast; what can we expect from a night out there?
We offer a pretty diverse line-up of entertainment from Wednesday through to Sunday. Midweek we keep things fun and affordable for students. With a revolving door for RuPaul’s Drag Race acts and Bitch Please! has become one of Belfast’s biggest midweek club nights. When the weekends arrive we step up the BPM with a more house sound for our weekly Friday night Downtown party. Then on Saturdays we just launched a new night called Satisfy which has had been rammed every week to capacity. Sundays we wrap things up with weekly drag cabaret show Sunday Service. It’s the biggest show of its kind in Northern Ireland, starring the immensely talented drag queens we have in our BOOMBOX family.
Talk us through the average crowd at Satisfy, your regular Saturday night.
It’s a proper mix of muscle boys, lesbians, twinks, hipsters etc. As eclectic as they are, they do have one thing in common: they’re determined to have one hell of night! The atmosphere is electric and intensely friendly. It’s fair to say that Belfast people are renowned for their energy and enthusiasm when it comes to having ‘the craic’ and a good night out.
The club has some pretty big name nights come over to host, from Room Service to Horse Meat Disco. What other more local nights should we be looking out for also?
On the last Friday of every month I host my own disco and synth night called HOtel MOtel. To date I’ve had guests like Horse Meat Disco, Jon Pleased Wimmin and also Mark Moore over, plus we host an annual Vogue Ball. It’s always insanely fun!
“There’re more venues, club nights and queer talent emerging from Belfast than you’d imagine.”
If a hot guy handed out his phone number last night, where’s the best place to take him on a super cute gay date in Belfast?
Obviously I’m going to say The Maverick, our bar below BOOMBOX. It’s quirky, intimately warm with lots of hidden nooks if you want some peace and quiet for a ‘proper chat’. But Belfast has a ridiculous amount of amazingly good bars. The good thing is that they’re all within walking distance of each other, so if you aren’t happy in one it’s no big deal to move on to the next.
And if our lesbian girlfriends tagged along for this Northern Ireland jaunt? Is there much on offer for them?
Now and again there are occasional club nights run by lesbians for a lesbian crowd, the one we have at BOOMBOX is called Cherry. Generally though, the lesbians are more than catered for within the scene as a whole.
Belfast Pride: come for the rainbow flags, stay for the parties? Or just avoid altogether?
Belfast Pride is phenomenal! When I was younger I totally avoided it and wanted nothing to do with it. Naively, I was pretty embarrassed by it. Then I figured I could help change that when I started getting involved with events. Belfast Pride Parade is now the biggest of its kind on the Emerald Isle. I’m very proud that we now host Pride events at BOOMBOX with world-class line-ups that would rival any major capital city on the planet.
And finally, sum up for us why you love your city.
Belfast has had its fair share of tough times in the past, all of which are well known. The fact is, the majority here want to put all that behind them and get on with more important things, like convincing our backward politicians to legalise same sex marriage. I know it sounds clichéd, but our past seems to have people here a determination to make it the most inviting, friendliest place possible. Belfast has a true and unique spirit and that’s what I love. Don’t let news headlines put you off visiting us. The reality is you’ll get the warmest welcome in the world and want to come back again.
• Visit BOOMBOX Belfast at 108 Donegall Street BT1 2GX www.boomboxbelfast.com
