London

The Caravan Club

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The Caravan Club

1934

“London’s Greatest Bohemian Rendezvous”

In 1934 a basement off Endell Street advertised itself, with remarkable nerve, as 'London's Greatest Bohemian Rendezvous' — an openly queer-friendly club where men danced together and dressed as they pleased. It ran for just a few electric months.

A police raid in August 1934 swept up dozens of members, and the surviving Metropolitan Police files — descriptions, membership cards, even seized décor — now form one of the richest records of interwar queer nightlife in Britain. The Caravan's brief, defiant life tells us how much was happening long before liberation.

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Part of LGBT History UK