Events tagged with "Matador"
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...
Women's access to bars
Pre 1960s Prior to the 1960s, and well into the 1970s there appears to have been very little opportunity indeed for lesbians to get together openly in a social or public space. All the bars noted as being popular with the gay crowd in the 40s and 50...
Memories tagged with "Matador"
'Private parties' for lesbians at the Greyhound
G: “The Greyhound in Holloway Head must have just opened (around 1975) because I can remember Den and Sharon who’d founded it. Basically, they’d gone round all the pubs in Birmingham to find somewhere that would take a women only group, which would h...
Comfortable at the Matador
“The Lesbian and Gay Community Centre discos went on at the Matador for years, alternating I think with Switchboard discos. I liked it very much, at times there were a lot of women, times more women than men, or vice versa, I always felt OK there, I ...
Different bars for different sorts of lesbians
During the eighties Mary visited various pubs and clubs in Birmingham including The Matador, where the old Bull Ring market was, which was quite a good gay venue, with a women's disco every Friday which attracted a broad spectrum of women. She, an...
Friend socials at the Matador from 1988
“I came out to a social with Birmingham Friend that used to be held at a pub at the Holloway Head (The Matador) which was a straight pub but the landlord was gay-friendly. He let a room out of a Friday night. I was quite shocked and a little naive...
Gay Centre discos at the Matador
“Prior to the Nightingale moving into town (Thorp St) in 1981 there was nothing in the city centre other than the original Gay Community Centre discos in Allison Street, bring your own booze, and 25p for a baked potato, that sort of fund-raising. So ...
Lack of women’s venues in 1980s and early 90s
When Inge first came out in the mid 80s “There was hardly anything in town, (for women), apart from the Matador (Lesbian Line discos). I didn’t go to the Nightingale much. I first socialised at the Jug approx. 1992, but it was very hard to get into t...
Making friends at the Matador
Inge started going to ‘The Matador’ (where new Bullring market is now). Lesbian Line fundraiser discos were held on the 2nd and 4th Friday and the third Saturday each month, during the period from around 1985 to 91/92. (Lesbian Line was then separate...
Sensitive policing in the late '80s
Belinda recalls “The Police had a 12 year old boy who had been picked up for cottaging. The police were concerned that he was being exploited by older men and directed him towards the discos at The Matador feeling that this would be a much safer venu...
Switchboard met Bridget at the Matador late 70s
Fortunately Bridget somehow got hold of the number of the Gay Switchboard in the late seventies. They said “Come along and have a drink”. This was an important moment for her as volunteers arranged to meet her at the monthly lesbian disco at the M...
Teachers didn't need Clause 28 to be silenced!
During this period in the late eighties Mary, a teacher, was still paranoid about being found out by pupils, and said “You didn’t need Clause 28 to be silenced!” However she was spotted coming out of the Jester by some kids and it all blew up. T...
The Matador
“The Gay Community Centre discos went on at the Matador for years, alternating I think with Switchboard discos. I liked it very much, at times there were a lot of women, times more women than men, or vice versa, I always felt OK there, I never felt o...
The scene in the seventies
Bridget said there wasn’t really a gay area 9around the mid to late 1970s), but places dotted over the city, the Grosvenor Hotel up Hagley Road, the Greyhound (Holloway Head) at Five Ways, the Matador in town, the Jester, mainly men, the Silver Web...
Volunteering at Switchboard 5 nights a week
Lyn became involved with Switchboard from 1983 to 2000. “I started training on the first Saturday after New Year in 1984. It was a fairly successful organisation with 20 or so regular operators. There was a separate Lesbian Line on Wednesdays but sti...
Volunteering at the centre
Lyn said, “I started socialising, but didn’t become involved in the Lesbian and Gay Community Centre management until 1985. By 1980, the original Gay Centre in Digbeth had closed, being faced with huge repair costs they’d decided not to renew the lea...