Photographer Zula Labikowska and author Emily Crooked headed to Broadway Market for a photo shoot. launch
About four weeks ago, a rumor surfaced on social media that a new lesbian bar was opening at Broadway Market. La Camionella (Meaning “female truck driver” in Spanish, but also informally meaning butch lesbian). Beyond this, information was sparse, marketing was unclear, and the owners were tantalizingly anonymous. Where? What would it be like? Is it a full time bar? Is it just a club night? And most importantly, who is running it?
The news has captivated lesbian rumors for weeks, reaching its darkly sexy climax last night. The opening served as a temperature check and a survey of interest in London Fields’ lesbian bar. As it turned out, there was a lot of interest. hot.
The night can easily be split into two halves. The first was from 5pm to 6pm, when punctual East London lesbians filed into the candlelit boudoirs early in the morning. They quickly filled the 20 covers lined up for the evening, drinking “cañas”, “bermuts” and Negronis, and serving a girls’ dinner (skewered olives, cornichons, anchovies, and pickled chiles). I pinched it. In that half, we witnessed the birth of a venue where more first dates are seen than there are French men off-screen.
The second part of the night, from 6pm to 11pm, drew hundreds more to the venue, spilling out into the street as well as the second floor of La Camionera and Off-Broadway. Downstairs it got intimate, hot, sweaty and sexy, and the upstairs bar was collecting spills.Then a crowd of lesbians and their girlfriends’ ex-lovers filled up. full width of the street, Including the sidewalk, in one direction to Crimpson’s and in the other direction to El Ganso.
In all my time living in London, I have never seen lesbians come together like this. The atmosphere was absolutely perfect as we made our way through the sea of suffixes that lined the streets. This was quite remarkable considering they came to a bar that most people cannot physically enter. The joy of being together as a group was palpable, and when asked how they felt about the night, one word kept coming up: Awesome “I need it”, “It’s just So “We need”, “We need need Add variations on a theme, such as “More like this.”
Seeing the lesbian community so united and so numerous filled my little gay heart with joy and hope.Others were glad they saw it I didn’t I dated every lesbian in London – and I’m sure the unfamiliar faces and untapped friendship groups brought similar joy and hope to the desperate Saffy serial daters.
La Camionera is located downstairs at 63 Broadway Market. This morning they announced that they will be open Sunday through Thursday (but bear with me for the details). Official opening hours will be shared via Instagram soon.