Get out on the dock this weekend
Originally built as a storage warehouse, Tobacco Dock in Wapping has had a strange and chequered post-industrial life. It was a failed shopping centre and was even used as the set for an ill-fated Channel Four reality show that challenged contestants not to sleep. Nowadays, though, it’s finding its feet again – lending its labyrinth-like brickclad rooms and caverns and 8,000 person capacity to partying.
This weekend, the venue plays host to Out on the Dock – a huge all-day coming together of the best of London’s LGBT nightlife across nine different arenas. Memories of dancefloors past will be revived as four of the city’s most legendary gay nights (including Trade, Crash and DTPM and Love Muscle) reconvene to host The Big Gay Reunion stage. On the flipside, the new kings and queens of clubland, Sink The Pink (pictured above), bring their glitterdoused campery, as well as hosting performances by ’80s pop heroines Sinitta and Hazell Dean. Add a nautical dress theme, a pirate ship, a carousel and food from Street Feast and you’ll be saying ‘hello sailor’ in no time.
Out on the Dock, Tobacco Dock. Noon-11pm. Sat Jul 26.