A popular gay venue is returning for one night only next month in a bid to revive the scene in Swansea. 'Champers' was a gay bar which many fondly remember as a safe space for gay people in the 80s, 90s, 00s before closing in the last decade.
The bar had many different owners over the years and was eventually bought by chains Pulse and later OMG! before its closure in 2017. The bar was located in the building which is now Elysium Bar & Gallery and in a nod to its queer history, Elysium hosts a regular queer dance night called 'Pynk' which is run by partners Lucy Fairbrother and Jess Lucitt and is described as "a queer dance party for everybody".
In an effort to connect the iconic history of Champers to the queer community that Jess and Lucy have brought together through their alternative club nights, Pynk and Elysium have teamed up to put on this nostalgic night on Friday, September 16 and are calling it 'PYNK & Elysium's Champers Reunion'.
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On a Facebook post by Pynk, the organisers wrote: "Many of you will remember Champers, which for much of its history was open when Section 28 was still in force. People remember Champers as a friendly and welcoming space, where people didn't have to pretend to be anything but who they authentically were. We are excited to be hosting this reunion party for everyone to enjoy."
Section 28, passed in 1988 under Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government, prohibited councils and schools from "promoting homosexuality". The law was in effect until 2003 in England and Wales and for many young people living in the UK during this time, this created an environment of shame and fear around sexuality and teachers in the UK could be prosecuted for discussing LGBTQ+ issues with students.
Champers is remembered by many as an important "safe space" during this time where people could be themselves and many people who grew up in the 80s, 90s and 00s in Swansea and south Wales saw Champers as a place where they could find their community. Pynk shares these same values as a club night, aiming to be fully inclusive as an LGBTQ+ pop-up event.
Pynk organiser Lucy said: "At the time Champers was running, being out and proud was definitely harder than it is now. It is certainly easier now for people to be gay and bisexual in mainstream clubs but I think what is different now is that there is still a lot of prejudice against trans people and non-binary people and I think that's still a place where safe spaces are particularly important now. With trans rights being under attack, we're not quite there in terms of people being safe."
Elysium prides itself on being a safe, inclusive venue and has all gender toilets and as "custodians" of a building which has historic significance in terms of the gay nightlife scene in Swansea, staff at Elysium are committed to putting on LGBTQ+ events at a time when "safe spaces" in Swansea are limited.
Scott Mackay, bar manager of Elysium, was inspired to bring back Champers after he noticed how often he was asked by customers about the history of Elysium's building. "We have a lot of people asking 'Was this Champers?' and a reunion seemed the fairly natural thing to do because Jess and Lucy from Pynk are great. It was up to them to do all the organising," explained Scott. "It's the same premises and because of the nature of the business- we're an art gallery and bar venue - I think there's a bit of a cross-over in terms of the sort of people coming to Elysium anyway."
Swansea has been described as a "city mourning the loss of its gay culture" which you can read more about here. The last remaining gay bar in Swansea, 'The King's Arms', closed earlier this year and other than pop-up nights like Pynk, the gay nightlife scene seems to have died out.
Although a drag showbar called 'Dorothy's' opened on Wind Street this year, it has not marketed itself as a gay bar and focuses more on offering entertainment to all people on Swansea's popular nightlife strip. Lucy explained: "There is a negative side of the story of queer spaces and gay spaces in Swansea and elsewhere. Champers was one of the last remaining specifically gay venues left at a time when quite a few of them closed down around it. It was a story that was repeated around the country where you had lots and lots of gay venues and the scene changed over the years and gay venues found it harder and harder to keep afloat. Champers held out longer than most but ultimately closed down as well."
On why Pynk has been able to survive as a queer club night, Lucy explained: "Pynk is a pop-up club night and it runs because we have a venue that is economically viable otherwise and we have very little outgoings in terms of cost."
The sad demise of Swansea's gay scene which once competed with Cardiff's many gay bars and clubs has left pop-up nights like Pynk with the huge responsibility of catering to the wide variety of LGBTQ+ groups in the area. "Because PYNK is pretty much the only proper queer night, we need to aim as broadly as possible because it's the only one," Lucy explained. "It has to appeal to a lot of people otherwise some people will have nowhere to go."
Pynk recently held a busy Pride event which attracted many people who had not been to one of Jess and Lucy's nights at Elysium before. Jess explained: "When we did our Pride event we had a lot of different age groups and generations attend. A lot of people came to the door and said 'I used to come here when it was Champers' and for whatever reason our marketing hasn't sung to those generations previously so we just thought it would be really good to extend that out for nostalgic purposes really. We wanted to go back to the old Champers days. We made sure the poster and pictures that we used show the iconic glass cubes on the outside of the building."
It was these iconic glass cubes on the outside of Champers that initially put off former Champers bartender Christopher Stuckey, now 36, from first going through the club's doors. Christopher grew up in Sandfields, Swansea and came out at the age of fourteen during a time when it could be very difficult to be gay in south Wales. When Christopher started going out to gay bars in Swansea, Champers was one that he avoided.
"There were big glass windows, which you couldn't actually see through, but used to make me nervous as a 21 year-old. It was on the high street, it was really rough there and we used to have H20 down the marina which was well out the way so that was ideal for me. It was those glass windows that put me off at first. Even just going from Kings to Champers could be a bit of a nightmare- if you looked gay you could run into trouble even walking up the high street back then."
Christopher eventually got a bar job at Champers, where he worked on and off for eight years and was known by regulars by his nickname 'Plop'. He saw Champers pass through the hands of many different owners before club chain 'OMG!' took it over and eventually closed. After OMG! shut its doors in 2017, the building was empty before Elysium set up its gallery and bar there in 2018.
For Christopher, Champers was much more than a workplace and was instead a "safe space" where he found his community and passion for performing in drag. "It shaped me as a person. I look back at my time at Champers and feel blessed and lucky to have lived in a generation where we had that space. That's kind of lost now, no matter where you go. That sense of community is missing from gay bars now and Swansea doesn't even have a gay scene anymore, it's such a shame. I really do feel bad for the new generation in that regard but at the same time they have a safer world to live in."
Performing as 'Plopalina', Christopher made his drag debut at a competition in Champers many years ago and after finding his passion for performing, left Swansea for Newcastle to pursue a career as a drag queen. "I'll always cherish the memories that I had with the Swansea gay community there," Christopher said, "I was wrong about those glass windows, you couldn't see anything through them and it was a safe space. That was what I valued most, the sense of community that we had."
On one of his favourite memories from his Champers days, Christopher said there used to be a 'drag race' where staff from Champers would race down the high street in drag in the middle of the road. Christopher laughed as he remembers falling over during the race as it was his first time in heels and said his managers promised they would speak to the police to get the road closed off but would always end up closing the road off themselves.
Many people vividly remember the joy that Champers brought to Swansea and Elysium manager Scott said "You can see people's eyes glaze over as they are talking about it. There's a lot of nostalgia for Champers, especially at the moment with the lack of queer venues in Swansea. It's of more importance at the moment while there isn't a dedicated queer venue, that people put on nights that are welcoming to everybody." Although Pynk organisers Lucy and Jess usually steer away from the usual cheesy pop that is often found at gay bars, Lucy said they will fully embrace the cheese on the reunion night and Scott said the Elysium team are excited to bridge the gap between the "old Champers crowd" and the current Pynk and Elysium regulars.
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