Heaven
A nightclub, and the idea of a movement
Heaven opened under the arches of Charing Cross station in late 1979, and the cavernous brick railway arches became London’s largest and longest-running gay nightclub – big enough to lose yourself, dark enough to be invisible, loud enough that the outside world disappeared.
But its most important moment was quieter than any club night. In 1988, as Parliament passed Section 28, a group of activists gathered in the bar and began planning what became Stonewall UK. Ian McKellen, Michael Cashman and others were among them; the formal founding meeting took place in McKellen’s home, but the idea was conceived in this room. Stonewall launched in 1989 and went on to campaign for equal ages of consent, civil partnerships and marriage equality. Beneath the arches, with the trains rumbling overhead, they decided to fight back.