Events tagged with "Cruising"
Bull Ring Shopping Centre
The infamous Bull Ring Shopping Centre was built on the site of the historic Bull Ring markets. It was opened on May 29 1964 and had cost an estimated £8 million. The shopping centre covered 23 acres and had 350,000 sq ft of retail trade area. When o...
Cottaging and Cruising
Cottaging, from the Polari slang for Public Toilet. Cruising, slang. Meaning to look for sex. Historically for many gay men cottaging and cruising were the only way they could meet other gay men, not only for sex but also for friendship. For ma...
Farmers Bridge Locks
Stretching from The National Indoor Arena to to St Chads Cathedral, the 13 Farmers Bridge Locks provided until recently a quite, undisturbed subterranean world popular as a Cruising ground for gay men. In the 1980s and before the lock flight was a se...
Finding each other
Finding each otherThe way that lesbians and gay men have met each other has changed over time. Contributors gave many examples of how and where they met both long term and more casual partners. They range from public places (men) through cottaging an...
Funky Duncan
Duncan Finlayson aka Funky Duncan was a legendary 1980s DJ. Regarded by many as Birmingham's first superstar DJ. He regularly played at the Nightingale and alternative nights like Cruising at the Powerhouse. He also played at venues such as Pagoda Pa...
Internet
The Internet has revolutionised the way people communicate, interact and meet. Since the mid 90s with the abundance of cheap home computers and improved speed and access to the internet a proliferation of online dating, chat and meeting places have s...
Places men meet for sex
Historically gay men have met in many places other than bars to socialise and find sex, although illegal many men met in parks and lay-bys (Cruising), in public toilets (Cottaging) and even illicitly Cinemas. At a time when homosexuality was illegal...
Saunas
Exclusively gay Saunas have been popular with gay men since the 1970s and provide a safe alternative to Cottaging or Cruising....
Telecom Tower
Birmingham's tallest structure, the Telecom Tower (formerly GPO Tower), Constructed between 1963 and 1966, its cavernous foundations were a popular haunt for gay men as early as the 1970s. Sitting on top of the Farmers Bridge Locks, which until recen...
Memories tagged with "Cruising"
Cruising under the Telecom Tower
Rob talks about cruising by the Telecom Tower in the city centre and how it was more about social networking than sex "I used to go cruising for sex on the canal under the BT tower in the city on the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal, along the Farmers Br...
Silver Slipper the only option 70s/80s
“Another thing that is important to the gay history of Birmingham was a phenomenally busy cottage called The Silver Slipper in Station Street, long since covered in tarmac. For young gay men in the 1970s and early ‘80s, meeting people in cruising gro...