Here’s what’s going on at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern this festive period
The Royal Vauxhall Tavern is one of London’s best-loved venues, LGBT or otherwise. It’s had a rollercoaster few years, fending off developers and planning laws left right and centre, and proudly continuing to hold its bejeweled head up high as a cornerstone of our city’s wonderfully kaleidoscopic gay scene.
This sparkling attitude is reflected in their glorious roster of festive programming. They’ve got so much stuff on, WE DON’T KNOW HOW THEY DO IT (hi Catia, u ok hun?)
We’ve listed some of the highlights on this page. For full listings and tickets, head to vauxhalltavern.com.
RUBBED!
Friday 21st, Thursday 27th and Friday 28th December
The RVT’s yearly Christmas panto is a much-loved tradition, and arguably started the trend of adult pantos that we’re suddenly seeing EVERYWHERE this year. Rubbed is an outrageous reimagining of Aladdin, complete with dirty versions of your fave chart hits, and plenty of Brexit jokes. Written by Paul Joseph and Tim Benzie.
Doors 7pm – advance tickets £17.50, £22 OTD
Duckie
Saturday 22nd December
Fab queer-inclusive club nights are all the rage these days, but Duckie was one of the very first. It’s been a staple of the RVT’s weekly programming for years, blustering in every Saturday night in a neurotic and wonderful shower of unapologetic fairy energy. Join the Readers Wives and Amy Lamé this Saturday for a final pre-Christmas knees up. It’s gonna be festive, fab, and fierce!
9pm – 4am. £5 before 10:30pm, £8 after.
Sunday Dance at the RVT
Sunday 23rd December
This is a brand new addition to the RVT’s roster, but with plenty of familiar faces! It’s basically a big lol-over dance on Sunday evenings! There’s something lovely about that silly post-party-weekend hangover feeling, especially once you’ve got a couple of hair-of-the-dog pints in you. And this is gonna be a big one as well, because most people are off work for Christmas eve the next day. Although there’ll probably be a lot of hangovers on the M1. LOOOOADS of amazing DJs play on rotation, including David Robson, Liam Chaplin, Neil Prince, Sean Sirrs and more.
7:30pm – 10:30pm. £5.
Schlager Divas
Friday 28th December
Now, we’ve already mentioned this in club news so we won’t bang on about it too much, but it was worth a second mention just in case – they love a SCHLAGER NIGHT at the RVT. One might even say they’re SCHLAGER SCHLAGS! This one’s an ABBA special, with all yer fave ABBA hits. Festive!
10pm – 3am. £8.
The Royal Vauxhall Tavern, 372 Kennington Lane, SE11 5HY