The Glory

31/10/15: The Glory absolutely lends itself to Halloween.

By day it’s exactly the sort of candlelit, leather-upholstered bar where Winifred from Hocus Pocus would hang out (“BoooOOOOOK!”) and by night their glitter hole dance pit in the basement is where disco goes to die. On Halloween night it excelled itself. It put a spell on us, and we were THEIRS.

Drag queens stalked, shoved, strutted and snogged their way through through the crowd, alternating between lip-syncing, covering themselves in blood and having nervous breakdowns (often all of the above, all at once).

Fierce new Muslim drag queen Sal was there in a second-hand burqa that she’d appropriated into a kind of Darth-Vader-Meets-Victoria-Beckham fashion bloodbath. She told us she’s going to find fame on Britain’s Next Top Refugee, a new, slightly politically incorrect gameshow presented by Jameela Jamil on a beach in Dover.

Jonny Woo was there of course, MCing the whole thing with his usual flare the absolutely fucking insane. As were his sidekicks, Ma Butcher and John Sizzle. The three witches of Eastwick. Or at least Hackney Wick. God knows what it looked like in the morning. Maybe it’s gone.

Maybe there’s just a steaming green spellbook where the pub used to be. Waiting for the next hapless traveler to open it and unleash its powers. Princess Julia’s watching it intently in a crystal ball. Slowly stirring a cauldron of Heinz baked beans.

281 Kingsland Road, E2 8AS

Words by Dylan Jones

Photos by zefrographica

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