Soho sleaze and striptease

Two things have given me the idea for this thread. Firstly I noticed in the London strip club thread that there are just as many posts about former venues as there are about current venues, so there’s clearly some interest in recalling the erotic entertainments of the past. Secondly I’ve noticed for some time now that there really isn’t a huge amount on the net about old Soho or what some people refer to as sleazy Soho, even though it was the first true adult entertainment in the country. Putting these two things together I thought a thread on the history of Soho striptease would be very worthy and I hope enough of you agree and maybe have information and even first hand memories to contribute.

A thread on the golden age of striptease is a great idea. I’d be happy to post what I can remember of Soho’s original strip clubs. The Raymond Ruvuebar opened in 1958, as is well known, but contrary to what many people believe it wasn’t the first. The Irving Theatre, the Club Panama and the Nell Gwynne were all there before it, and the Casino de Paris opened the same night as the Ruvuebar. The usual story is that everyone was following in Paul Raymond’s footsteps, but this is actually mythical. Paul Raymond wasn’t the pioneer that he’s so often made out to be, but rather he was one of several people who opened strip clubs at the time and became famous because he was the one who turned out to have the most successful formula.

Gotta admit, many years back I went to one of those SOHO underground bars and they were nasty and dodgy as hell. They made regular strip clubs look classy!

The one I went into had two women and one security guard there. All was calm and relaxed and I asked if I could just sit in the regular (TINY) area and order a drink, and that I just wanted to see what the place was like. The guard and woman said sure.

I sat down, no other customers there, got my drink which was labeled as 10 pounds on the menu, and instantly a woman sat next to me. I knew what was going on, like at any strip club when a woman wants a drink or dance etc. I told her I didn't want a dance at the moment, and she got up and left, but the other woman working the bar brought over a bill that said 310 pounds on it. I laughed and told her I wasn't going to pay it, and she said it was for the company I had had with that woman (30 seconds of me telling her I didn't want a dance). I put down a ten for my drink and got up to leave, and I really hadn't spent more than three minutes there at most, and the security guard blocked me from leaving. The two women were bitching my ear off, but when the guard saw that I wasn't going to give in, he actually let me pass, but it didn't end there. As I walked up the steep windy steps, the woman who'd been working the bar chased me and grabbed onto my leg, but I shook myself loose and pushed her off. The security guard ran up the steps, held her back and told her to stop, then opened the door at the top for me and pretended all was well ("OK, thank you sir, have a nice night"). I left and almost reported it to a police officer who was scoping out another close by place where some guys had the same issue, but I decided not to. Obviously the officer knew what was going on in the area.

The catch of the club was that in tiny print outside, there was a little message that stated the prices, but it was so small and place in a non visible location so customers wouldn't see it. How nice of them


A couple of years later when I was walking in that area (As many of you know, much of that area was fine back then, and it was only really two spots in Soho that were dodgy), I noticed most of those places had been shut down, which was a relief to see. Now part of that area has been redone and is very nice.


I avoid strip clubs most days as well now, and only ever go to them a couple of times a year.

(23-08-2016 11:10 )elgar1uk Wrote:  I’d be happy to post what I can remember of Soho’s original strip clubs.

Perhaps you could list them for us elgar? That would be a useful start.

(23-08-2016 22:22 )mrmann Wrote:  Gotta admit, many years back I went to one of those SOHO underground bars and they were nasty and dodgy as hell. They made regular strip clubs look classy!

The one I went into had two women and one security guard there. All was calm and relaxed and I asked if I could just sit in the regular (TINY) area and order a drink, and that I just wanted to see what the place was like. The guard and woman said sure.

I sat down, no other customers there, got my drink which was labeled as 10 pounds on the menu, and instantly a woman sat next to me. I knew what was going on, like at any strip club when a woman wants a drink or dance etc. I told her I didn't want a dance at the moment, and she got up and left, but the other woman working the bar brought over a bill that said 310 pounds on it. I laughed and told her I wasn't going to pay it, and she said it was for the company I had had with that woman (30 seconds of me telling her I didn't want a dance). I put down a ten for my drink and got up to leave, and I really hadn't spent more than three minutes there at most, and the security guard blocked me from leaving. The two women were bitching my ear off, but when the guard saw that I wasn't going to give in, he actually let me pass, but it didn't end there. As I walked up the steep windy steps, the woman who'd been working the bar chased me and grabbed onto my leg, but I shook myself loose and pushed her off. The security guard ran up the steps, held her back and told her to stop, then opened the door at the top for me and pretended all was well ("OK, thank you sir, have a nice night"). I left and almost reported it to a police officer who was scoping out another close by place where some guys had the same issue, but I decided not to. Obviously the officer knew what was going on in the area.

The catch of the club was that in tiny print outside, there was a little message that stated the prices, but it was so small and place in a non visible location so customers wouldn't see it. How nice of them




A couple of years later when I was walking in that area (As many of you know, much of that area was fine back then, and it was only really two spots in Soho that were dodgy), I noticed most of those places had been shut down, which was a relief to see. Now part of that area has been redone and is very nice.


I avoid strip clubs most days as well now, and only ever go to them a couple of times a year.

The above says it all and highlights what went wrong with Soho, to many greedy people after a quick buck

The pubs were always better and in the 1970s there were lots of them

(23-08-2016 11:10 )elgar1uk Wrote:  The usual story is that everyone was following in Paul Raymond’s footsteps, but this is actually mythical.

Another Soho myth is that prior to the advent of strip clubs the Windmill was the only theatre with nudity on stage, from when the legendary Windmill Girls shows began in 1932. It's rarely mentioned, but The Piccadilly and Pavilion theatres copied the format and had their own nude shows.

(24-08-2016 00:56 )southlondonphil Wrote:  Perhaps you could list them for us elgar?

Blue Moon (18 Frith St)

Carnival Theatre (12 Old Compton St)

Casino de Paris (5-7 Denman St)

Club Panama (41 Great Windmill St)

Dolls House (4 Carlisle St)

Geisha Theatre Club (56 Old Compton St)

Irving Theatre Club (17 Irving St)

Metro (2 D'Arblay St)

Nell Gwynne (69 Dean St, entrance in Meard St)

Paradise Revuebar (50 Wilton Place)

Peeperama (47 Frith St)

Phoenix (9 Old Compton St)

Raymond Revuebar (11-12 Walkers Court)

Red Mill Club (12 Macclesfield St)

Queens Club (37 Berwick St)

Sunset Strip (30a Dean St, originally in St. Anne's Court)

Tropicana (18 Greek Street)

Good work elgar. We're fortunate to have someone like you who's old enough to have first hand recollections of these clubs.

A great post from both Elgar and Mr Man the later highlighting what went wrong.
The whole post is a nice way of telling others what went on and letting the memories continue.
Of the clubs mentioned I have visited the Casino De Paris that was my last night in London before moving to Australia that would have been around October 1973. The Sunset and Nell Gwynne back in the day I visited both on a monthly basis and they were great but no misbehaving, I saw one stripper openly confront a customer who was getting a wank from another customer during a show, the audience was delighted it had come to a halt but disappointed they could not do the same for themselves.
The problem was the sleaze and the rip of, some of you may remember a TV Programme called Budgie staring Ian Cuthbertson as Charlie Endell and Adam Faith as Budgie, more than anything the programme showed up what was wrong with Soho.
The rip offs were the main reason people like me left Soho and went to the pubs and cinemas in the surrounding areas and with hopefully the blessing of the OP I would like to extend the locations round London
Strip Pubs there were many, and in Chelsea what is now MacDonald’s was a pub called the Chelsea Drug Store and at lunchtimes they had topless Go Go dancers and in the evening strippers. Further up the road two other pubs had strippers Saturdays and Sundays.
In North London beside the well-known ones from the past we also had the Bull and Gate, today that is a music pub but back in the 70s twice a week it had strippers as did the Lord Nelson in Holloway Road.
In Westminster one of the Gastro Pubs on Horseferry Road had strippers and stag nights, it was there I first saw a stripper put a dildo up her bum lol.
Old Street/Islington had a fair mix of naughty places, of the City Road in the 80s there was a cocktail bar the waitresses all wore skates and leotards, it was the era of keep fit. However round the corner in one of the old warehouses was a bar with the whole outrageous 80s from topless barmaids to full hands on strippers, with blue shows at the weekend, sadly it only lasted about six months, something about no license for anything did for them.
But in addition to that we also in the area had Adult Cinemas, in Danbury Street there was the Exxon Cinema, some of you may remember the operator David Waterfield, one of John Lindsay’s camera men, from there it became the Fantasy in City Road till it closed around 2014 in place for over 35 years as did the Abcat and Oscars, the Willow in Old Street closed in 2002.
For the changes in strip clubs the biggest influence on change was the money, in the 1980s it was the era of Stripper gram and prices were different. To get the perspective in 1985 I bought a one bedroomed flat in Crouch End for £29,000. A Stripper Gram girl could do two a day six days a week at £15.00 a pop total for a 6 day week £180.00 add into that the money from the pubs and £12,000 was achievable but within a year the rate had gone to £25 for a full nude and the demand before the crash of 87 was increased so the number of girls diminished as did the pubs.
Soho was always sleazy with something for everyone but half the time if you did not know where to go then you were ripped off. I discussed this post with a friend of mine who is gay, he was saying that in the 1980s at the bottom of Berwick Street there was a gay shop in the basement for about a year they had nude male dancers, but that was the same as the straight venues but this time with the dancers getting ripped off.
So hope my post generates further discussion and a great topic

(25-08-2016 10:23 )Kevin555 Wrote:  with hopefully the blessing of the OP I would like to extend the locations round London

Your post is great and I was genuinely interested to read it, but on the other hand I fear that expanding the discussion to encompass all London strip venues rather defeats the object of the thread. I think old Soho would end up being somewhat drowned in much wider discussions, so with that in mind I’ve gone and started a London strip pub thread. I’m sure that will prove to be a great basis for telling the worthwhile story of the many London striptease venues outside of Soho.