Madame JoJo’s
Soho’s great drag cabaret palace
Madame JoJo’s on Brewer Street was Soho’s great drag cabaret palace for over fifty years. It began as a strip club in the 1950s, was reborn in the 1970s as a gay cabaret venue, and became a byword for outrageous performance and creative freedom. Everyone played here: RuPaul’s early UK appearances, Boy George in the 1980s, Amy Winehouse, Kylie Minogue. The basement bar was legendary.
Westminster Council revoked its licence in November 2014 after a fight outside – a decision widely condemned as clearing the way for redevelopment. Its loss was cited as the beginning of the end for the old Soho scene. Before RuPaul made it a competition, before drag became a Netflix genre, this basement was where the art form breathed. The building is now a brasserie.