Her Upstairs

There’s a new cabaret bar in town!

Her Upstairs is the fabulous illegitimate love child of professional bar manager George Atkinson, internationally renowned drag performer Meth, and queer acedemic Joe Parslow. This is a beautiful new recurring theme on the London gay scene – in an increasingly dispassionate corporate world, talented creatives are taking matters into their own hands by breathing life into new and exciting venues.

George, Joe and Meth took a moment from their busy schedule of being camp to tell Dylan Jones all about it.

 


We’ve heard about this tarty lady who’s moving in to the London gay scene! Her Upstairs! Who is she?

George: Her Upstairs (taking over the first floor at the Bloc) is the brain child of Meth, #BoyfriendJoe and myself. A new queer cabaret and cocktail venue, with kitschy interiors, amazing cocktails, and a cabaret lineup like no other. We really are pulling out the stops to bring our vision to life, we have even been tiling and painting ourselves!

Describe Her Upstairs’ general vibes.

Meth: It’s hard to see past the overwhelming building site vibes at the moment but she’ll be a camp, quirky, queer wonderland once the dust has been swept away!
Joe: Her Upstairs is a queer performance space at its heart, surrounded by all the campy decorations you could ever want. A space where you can go and grab a drink in a comfy environment and before you know it you’re witnessing some of the funniest, fiercest, campest, rudest, most challenging and intellectually stimulating performance you have ever seen.

If Her Upstairs were a celeb, who would she be?

Meth: I see what you’re trying to do here Mr Jones and we are not saying Nicola Roberts! I’d say she’s like Dolly Parton just before she got real famous.

How did she come into being?

George: She was born from a gin fuelled conversation between the three of us. We’ve worked together for three years now and it just seemed like a natural progression for us to get our own bar, with our gin. When we approached Wayne Shires, the madame of the house, it all seemed to fall into place. He’ll be running the downstairs now, Bloc, as a late-night club destination, while upstairs we will play with drag queens and sequins and sip our cocktails from champagne saucers.

What kind of crowd do you think Her Upstairs will cater for?

Joe: Her Upstairs is for anyone who wants to use it. We are clearly catering for LGBTQI+ customers and audiences, but that doesn’t mean allies aren’t welcome too. I’ve said it time and again, queer is about a radical togetherness, and we want to emulate that in our space; a space for people to come together (yes that does say “come together”) and enjoy themselves and be challenged and have fun and meet one another, and all those other things you use a bar for.
George: Basically you can come in as long as you’re not an asshole.

Will there be fit bar staff?

George: There will be, undoubtedly, but at the same time Leean and Myself will be there everyday as the Bet Lynch and Elsie Tanner type fixtures of the venue!

Latrice Royale was there the other day wasn’t she! How did that go?

Joe: It was phenomenal. After not having had a Drag Race queen work with us for a while, and having not seen Latrice for nearly a year, it really reminded me of what excitement and sheer love can do for a space. It was a special show, and left me beaming from ear-to-ear – and apparently the audience liked it too, which I always think is an added bonus.

We hear you’re gonna do cabaret there! What kind of cabaret? What kind of acts? 

Meth: Thursday through Sunday will have a show every evening! We’re particularly excited about a monthly schedule of Thursday night cabarets that are designed to give space to female identifying performers, newcomers to the scene, drag kings and queer performers of colour. Keep both eyes on our social media for details of what we have planned…

What other plans have you got for her?

George: This is stage one of our global takeover. There will be Her Upstairs all over the city soon! Bringing camp tomfoolery, aggressive tiling and glittered covered plastic birds to every corner of London’s queer spaces!

When’s the grand opening? Are we invited? 

Meth: September 25th, where we’ll launch our All Stars Fridays with me, and a certain TV show with drag queens doing stupid things in a competition. You can come, just don’t spill drinks on our fancy new couch.

 

• Her Upstairs will be at 18 Kentish Town Road, NW1 9NX. Opening night September 25th.

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