Group delves into past of Vauxhall's gay pubs

Duckie wants to hear from former punters of the Royal Vauxhall Tavern (RVT), the Market Tavern and the Elephant & Castle

A group of LGBTQ performance artists has called on former punters who attended Vauxhall's gay pubs of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s to take part in a history project looking at the "heyday" of London's queer scene.

The collective, called Duckie, wants to delve into the history of three south London pubs - the Royal Vauxhall Tavern (RVT), the Market Tavern and the Elephant & Castle - which it describes as being "the spit and sawdust cultural epicentre of these halcyon times".

The group is organising a community consultation event in Vauxhall for people to discuss their memories of the time.

It said it wanted "to dig deep into the personal and public archives of the period".

All three pubs became popular meeting places for gay men and women during the second half of the 20th Century.

The RVT specialised in drag performance with the likes of Lily Savage taking to its stage in the 1980s, while the Market Tavern developed into a gay clubbing hot spot.

The RVT remains a popular venue to this day but the Market Tavern and the Elephant & Castle both closed down.

Announcing its project, called Take Courage, Duckie said it wanted to revisit the period "as the London tradition of the gay pub falls into long term decline".

"This project is for older people that were there in Vauxhall back in the day and for younger people that were not there, but love a bit of queer history and want to join the dots," it said.

The community event is being held on 16 October at at Vauxhall Gardens Community Centre - anyone who wishes to take part asked to contact Duckie to reserve a place.