Orange Nation

1990s–present

The empire that ran Vauxhall clubland

“Orange” was less a place than an empire. Orange Nation began in the late 1990s in a Rotherhithe pub, before Vauxhall was London’s gay clubbing capital – then rode the move south to become the biggest gay promotions brand in the country. In 2002 it launched Beyond, the after-hours party, at Club Colosseum; from 2003 it opened Fire under the South Lambeth Road arches and made it the brand’s spiritual home.

At its height the week ran like clockwork: Trade and Crash on Friday and Saturday, then the legendary Sunday-night-into-Monday-morning “Orange” at Fire, with Beyond on Sunday morning – parties that never seemed to end. Orange Nation ran a chain of Vauxhall’s biggest rooms – Area, Fire, Lightbox, Protocol, Covert – dominating the superclub scene through the 2000s and early 2010s. For a decade, Orange more or less was Vauxhall after dark.