THE PLEASURE PRINCIPLE

For centuries Londoners have made pilgrimage to a pleasure mecca south of the river and our final season for the foreseeable future explores Vauxhall's proud (and peppered) past from the 17th century to the present day...

The Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens opened in 1661 and for almost two hundred years offered the open-air delights of orchestras, aerialists, singers, suppers, balloon launches and bearded ladies, attracting huge crowds including royalty, rogues, prostitutes and pickpockets. Luminaries such as Pepys, Thackeray, Dickens, Hogarth and Canaletto immortalised the gardens in writings and paintings, but they fell into disrepute and disrepair in Victorian times. The contents of this once great place were auctioned for £800 in 1859.

The grounds lay fallow for four years before forming the foundations of the Royal Vauxhall Tavern. From 1863, after a brief hiatus the Pleasure Principle resurfaced – to the delight of locals living along Lambeth Walk - on the stage of the RVT with performances by the leading music hall artistes of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

In 1945, with Music Hall in its dying throes, phoenix-like the Pleasure Principle again arose as the RVT was adopted by returning servicemen from the Second World War who had found their niche entertaining fellow soldiers to keep up spirits. They, and their camp and bawdy humour, attracted both locals and gay men to the bar – which became known as a place where 'anything goes'. Gowns were squeezed onto hips, Polari poured from lips, and gentlemen pleasured each other in the toilet. The RVT became South London's first 'gay pub'. But as the 60's dawned on this dark and secret world the RVT became a hotbed not just of entertainment and sex, but of politics, nurturing the beginnings of the gay liberation movement.

During the 80's the RVT nurtured the careers of many now-mainstream entertainers – most famously Lily Savage (AKA Paul O'Grady) and the Drag Queen held court where once the Bearded Lady had walked.

By 1995, the Tavern was down on it's luck again - the once-busy venue had fallen into disrepair as punters deserted for the burgeoning West End scene. It was then that Duckie breathed new life into Saturday nights – and sowed the seed of the Vauxhall Village which grew up over the following decade. However, oblivion beckoned for the 'ancient matriarch' as Lambeth Council, which owned the freehold, gave permission to a private company to develop the site into a leisure complex - to include the total demolition of the Tavern. But Duckie mounted a fierce protest campaign and saved it from destruction. The landlord was provided with a very insecure lease and again the RVT found itself in slow decline due to a lack of investment. In 2005, the unlisted London landmark was put up for public auction and two gay businessmen managed to outbid the competition… the Pleasure Principle was again reborn.