Small bar in dead part of town had 'insane' lock-ins

A small bar located in the “dead part of town” was the place to be in the 90s.

The Curzon Club, which used to be on Temple Street, was known to be the city’s oldest gay bay. After 28 successful years, the venue closed its doors back in 2016, despite this, the “insane” and “mental” memories are still fondly remembered today by many - including Liverpool’s LGBTQ+ community.

The “one-room” venue was among the clubs frequented by the community when venues such as Paco's and The Bear's Paw were the go-to places for society’s “outsiders” to spend time with their friends. The club was the last one standing when it closed, seemingly to be sold off for flats at the time.

Toxteth DJ Stewart Who? was a regular customer of the venue, attending the club “three of four nights” a week. He told the ECHO : “It was a small bar, down a side street in a dead part of town. It was 1989 and the vibe was a ‘cocky speakeasy’. Most people wouldn’t know of its existence, you had to know it was there. But once inside, the punters didn’t act like they were hiding anything from anyone. There was confidence that this was an LGBT space.

“It wasn’t very big, one room essentially and the music it played was upfront - house music with the odd bit of pop. The record I always associate with The Curzon is ‘is there anybody out there’ by the Bassheads, the brother's Nick and Desa Murphy, who made the track are from Neston. There was one person at the club, who went by the name of Dean the Queen, he was always in the club, voguing away like his life depended on it.”

The 52-year-old former Liverpool John Moores University student explained when he attended the club it was a time when “it felt almost criminal to be gay”, with LGBTQ+ rights being nowhere near where they are today.

He added: “You kept your head down. The age of consent was 21, there was no internet, AIDS was killing people, violent homophobia was a real threat in the streets and was encouraged by the media, acid-house music was new and the Tories were still in power. You can’t compare that time with now, even if there was a similar club, the atmosphere and political climate were very different then.”

One of Stewart’s favourite memories was the club's “pretty insane lock-ins”. He said: “I went on Christmas Eve once and we didn’t leave until about 8am. As we staggered back to Toxteth on Christmas morning, mass was being said in a local church and a gospel choir was singing inside. We stood outside listening, feeling like sinners, but captivated by the soul-stirring voices. We were in such a state, that all we could manage was beans on toast for Christmas lunch.”

The venue played porn on its screens and hosted men-only events, which came complete with a mixed-fetish theme, erotic dancers and changing areas. The interior consisted of “glitter curtains”, a seating area and toilets “which were like something you had never seen before”. Under new management, it reopened briefly in 2017, but regular Lynnette Devine, who “practically lived” in the original club, claimed nothing could compare to the atmosphere during the 90s.

The Toxteth costume designer, who attended the club when she was in her late 20s, said: “I was out every night of the week in the 90s and during the week it was our go-to. It was the gayest bar in Liverpool at that time. The downstairs dance floor was just mental, they had a smoke machine with mirrors all around the walls. The Curzon had that edge that you can’t compare to, there was nothing like it.

“If there was a year I could go back to it would be 1997 - there were so many good club nights, and there was just a great vibe. That year was just the summer of love for me and The Curzon Club just added to it.”

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