Torture Garden is one of London's (and indeed, I'm told, the world's) most famous fetish clubs. As a fancy dress enthusiast I have been meaning to go for about two years, but my usual fashion never got round to it when I was living a short bus ride away but took the plunge once I'd moved across to the opposite side of London.
My friend and I found our way to the club (which is in an old church) by spying people with headdresses and body paint picking their way through the churchyard like decadent fairies.
That image pretty much encapsulated the 'mood' of Torture Garden which quite simply fairyland without innocence. A sexy Narnia. A goblin kingdom. The best thing about the atmosphere is the aura of freedom and acceptance and goodwill. Everyone seemed so NICE
and genuine.Fauns and fairies mingle with trannies and leather queens and burlesque ladies in basques and bustles, gents dressed as cigar-smoking WW1 ofFicers order drinks next
to exhibitionists wearing nothing but a cock ring. People dress as blow up dolls, wind up dolls, devils and dancers. Santa dances jive and about half the women are bare-breasted with bejewelled nipples.
Snow white is male, middle-aged and arrives in a latex rendering of her Disney costume. The over-60 crowd are into cross-dressing and wearing nothing but chains and body hair, the hardcore scenesters are in latex, tourists in novelty lingerie from La Senza. The first hour I
was mesmerised, people-watching, awe-inspired by all these magical characters.
Entry to the club is through a fairly utilitarian hallway and one is then plunged into The Dungeon, which is the ground floor lounge area with gentler music, seating, a bar, smoking area and 'playrooms'.
The 'Main Room' is like any other club, house music, a large space and seems to be where all the least imaginatively dressed patrons spend the night. The best-dressed pass through on their way to the 'couples playroom'.
I chose to remain in the far superior Cabaret Room which had the best music (showtunes and throwback versions of contemporary tunes, to give you an idea they played some songs from Cabaret) by far as well as the floor shows: people dancing with knives, strippers, pole dancers, a
dance troupe in fantasy costumes, burlesque performers. All excellent.
The Cabaret Room is also where the most interesting people congregate. People don't touch with fingers, they kiss cheeks instead. I loved every moment in there - the Cabaret Room is the kind of club I've always wanted to visit, where 'retro' means the 1920s and 1930s, Weimar nightclubs.
Dancing and socialising are the main activities at Torture Garden. A lot of the most noticeable people are clearly regulars on the fetish scene, they know each other and greet warmly.
The music is fabulous and everyond dances - the major difference between this and other clubs is that there is no accumulation of saddo geezers hovering by the bar, ogling. Everyone is a participant, which enhances the mood, the fun, the feeling of security. Presumably there are people who dance not, but they keep to the Dungeon.
The Dungeon is where the voyeuristic pleasure takes place. As well as dark couches where couples kiss and grope, there are areas partially obscured by wooden screens where people can be tied up and played with. A young woman was trussed up, her back bared and some species of
electrical, buzzing thing passed up and down her spine - she seemed to be enjoying it. further along a man with the seat cut out of his leather trousers was having his buttocks caressed and spanked by two women. Another woman was being whipped. Past these was another
playroom, which I didn't enter, but it's where people can go together to get intimate.
Drinking happens, but not nearly as much as in other clubs and I saw no-one who was either visibly drunk or visibly high, which is very unusual.
There is also a real feeling of safety. Skimpy dressing can be hazardous, but at TG no-one is vulnerable because everyone is. Which is v liberating. The pole dancers all seem to bring their partners with them to watch them perform, and direct their dance at them. It makes the whole thing less seedy and more tasteful than elsewhere and none of the dancers were emaciated either - refreshing.
Definitely one of the best club atmospheres I've experienced. I got home at 5am and woke with a stinking cold, so I spent Sunday sipping mulled cider to soothe me!
My friend and I found our way to the club (which is in an old church) by spying people with headdresses and body paint picking their way through the churchyard like decadent fairies.
That image pretty much encapsulated the 'mood' of Torture Garden which quite simply fairyland without innocence. A sexy Narnia. A goblin kingdom. The best thing about the atmosphere is the aura of freedom and acceptance and goodwill. Everyone seemed so NICE
and genuine.Fauns and fairies mingle with trannies and leather queens and burlesque ladies in basques and bustles, gents dressed as cigar-smoking WW1 ofFicers order drinks next
to exhibitionists wearing nothing but a cock ring. People dress as blow up dolls, wind up dolls, devils and dancers. Santa dances jive and about half the women are bare-breasted with bejewelled nipples.
Snow white is male, middle-aged and arrives in a latex rendering of her Disney costume. The over-60 crowd are into cross-dressing and wearing nothing but chains and body hair, the hardcore scenesters are in latex, tourists in novelty lingerie from La Senza. The first hour I
was mesmerised, people-watching, awe-inspired by all these magical characters.
Entry to the club is through a fairly utilitarian hallway and one is then plunged into The Dungeon, which is the ground floor lounge area with gentler music, seating, a bar, smoking area and 'playrooms'.
The 'Main Room' is like any other club, house music, a large space and seems to be where all the least imaginatively dressed patrons spend the night. The best-dressed pass through on their way to the 'couples playroom'.
I chose to remain in the far superior Cabaret Room which had the best music (showtunes and throwback versions of contemporary tunes, to give you an idea they played some songs from Cabaret) by far as well as the floor shows: people dancing with knives, strippers, pole dancers, a
dance troupe in fantasy costumes, burlesque performers. All excellent.
The Cabaret Room is also where the most interesting people congregate. People don't touch with fingers, they kiss cheeks instead. I loved every moment in there - the Cabaret Room is the kind of club I've always wanted to visit, where 'retro' means the 1920s and 1930s, Weimar nightclubs.
Dancing and socialising are the main activities at Torture Garden. A lot of the most noticeable people are clearly regulars on the fetish scene, they know each other and greet warmly.
The music is fabulous and everyond dances - the major difference between this and other clubs is that there is no accumulation of saddo geezers hovering by the bar, ogling. Everyone is a participant, which enhances the mood, the fun, the feeling of security. Presumably there are people who dance not, but they keep to the Dungeon.
The Dungeon is where the voyeuristic pleasure takes place. As well as dark couches where couples kiss and grope, there are areas partially obscured by wooden screens where people can be tied up and played with. A young woman was trussed up, her back bared and some species of
electrical, buzzing thing passed up and down her spine - she seemed to be enjoying it. further along a man with the seat cut out of his leather trousers was having his buttocks caressed and spanked by two women. Another woman was being whipped. Past these was another
playroom, which I didn't enter, but it's where people can go together to get intimate.
Drinking happens, but not nearly as much as in other clubs and I saw no-one who was either visibly drunk or visibly high, which is very unusual.
There is also a real feeling of safety. Skimpy dressing can be hazardous, but at TG no-one is vulnerable because everyone is. Which is v liberating. The pole dancers all seem to bring their partners with them to watch them perform, and direct their dance at them. It makes the whole thing less seedy and more tasteful than elsewhere and none of the dancers were emaciated either - refreshing.
Definitely one of the best club atmospheres I've experienced. I got home at 5am and woke with a stinking cold, so I spent Sunday sipping mulled cider to soothe me!
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