As events go the Pride season is one that I not only look forward to but actually organise my social calendar around. I wouldn’t dream of being abroad during Brighton Pride. It is one of the highlights of the gay Calendar.
I attended my first Pride at the tender age of 24 on London’s Clapham Common. It was the last year it was held there as due to increasing numbers and an official figure in excess of 100,000 people the place became far too crowded.
In those good old days we used to have London Pride which consisted of the March from Hyde Park Corner down to the Embankment followed by a festival in the park. As it got bigger and bigger the park has been moved from Clapham common to paid events in both Finsbury Park & Hyde Park. For the past two years the March & the Festival have been separated and no longer is it a community event but a private enterprise and tickets have soared to around £20 per person.
The constant moving of location and then the separation between dates of the March & the Festival have caused much of what it once stood for to be lost and two different events talking place. The political side of the March and then the party side of the Festival.
Back when I attended my first Pride the March & Festival were combined. Demanding equal rights and then partying like animals into the late hours of the evening. But back then we also had a second gay summer festival, Summer Rites. This was non political and based down in South London at Brockwell Park. With all of the elements of the original festival, Dance Tents, Fun Fair & Market Stalls. Then it all went pear shape. For the first time ever they went from free events to paid for and tickets went from £5 to £10 to the current £20 for entry. To top it all off, one year the company organising it all, then called Pride, went bust meaning we all lost our money and never got a refund. People lost faith.
Summer Rites sizzled out, Pride was no more and Big Gay Out, a completely commercial exercise offering many of the same things as Pride took its place.
For this reason and the rising cost of tickets more and more Londoners have given up on London Pride in preference for Brighton Pride. A once a year, Free Event that as it grows gets better each year. Last year the official figures said some 130,000 revelers partied in Preston Park and then carried on until the wee hours in the first St James Street, street party. Unlike London where until this year the weather has always been drab and grey, in the first week of August, all but one of my Brighton Prides has been beautiful sunshine. (4 years ago it was a Mud bath when the heavens opened for 4 hours and soaked all of those but us lucky few that made the escape into Wild Fruit that was so packed security had to stop additional people coming in).
As of last year I decided that taking the Train down at 0800 on Saturday morning and making the last train home is too exhausting to do and you miss out on the whole weekends fun.
So the new tradition continues this year. Richard, Mark, Stuart and I will all be down for the weekend. We all have accommodation and will be there to enjoy the festivities of possibly Britains biggest and best free festival.
I bought Mark & Richard two nights at the Brighton Grand Hotel as their wedding gift (One way to ensure they spend the weekend and not just the day there). Fingers crossed the weather will be glorious. Cadice, Mikey and a whole gang of us are all in the same city centre hotel and will be there to enjoy the festivities. As if a weekend of fun is not enough this coming Sunday the whole of Soho comes alive for Soho Pride.
Last year was the 3rd annual such event and Police figures say 30,000 people packed out the Square Mile. The streets closed to traffic, restaurants and bars pour over onto additional seating in the street. Dance Tents fill Soho Square, additional bars & washroom facilities will struggle to cope with the demand. My friends and I shall gladly pack out any space we can find with our name on it, no doubt drinking too much, dancing a little and enjoying our second Pride of the Year.
I still feel exhausted from last weekend and I only really hung out with Marcus, Woody, Steve & Carl.
So if you have nothing to do this Sunday, come on down to Soho Square, give me a call and ill meet you for a drink and a dance. The weekend of the 4th – 6th August find us in Brighton.
Happy Pride – Hope to see you there!
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