The Lord Ranelagh
Where London’s drag contest scene began
In 1964 the Lord Ranelagh pub, opposite the old Princess Beatrice Hospital, hosted a live event that changed London’s drag scene. A band called The Downtowners persuaded local drag queens to join them on stage; the crowd loved it, and the “Queen of the Month” contest was born – drawing crowds so large that police eventually closed the event when they spilled onto the pavement.
The pub later became Brompton’s and then Infinity before closing. Jennifer Ware, a lifelong Earl’s Court resident who took Sunday lunches at the Lord Ranelagh in the 1930s, is a thread connecting pre-war respectability to the gay nightlife that followed. The police shut the contest down; the queens came back the following week.