Gay bars with dark rooms

The allure of a black room lies in its lighting – it should be dark, but not too dark. Ideally, you won’t recognise the cashier from your local Tesco Metro, but you will be able to create out a sweaty throng of bodies in positions you’d normally only observe on OnlyFans. Dark rooms have been a tug in queer spaces for decades and remain de rigueur in other, friskier parts of Europe. Lay it this way: It’s a rookie error to wear your best shoes to Berlin’s famously bohemian superclub Berghain, because you’ll just have to chuck them away after you leave seven hours later. 

But now, dark rooms are enjoying a long overdue boom in the UK, especially among MSM (men who have sex with men). “Essentially, the reason they’re becoming popular again is a supply and demand issue,” says Ian Howley, CEO of health and wellbeing charity LGBT HERO. “Gay men yearn a place where they can have fun, and a dark room in a club can be the perfect place to let go of your inhibitions and be sexually free.” 

This new wave of gay sex-positivity is creature fuelled partly by post-pandemic carpe diem – we now know there’s no point saving your “any hole’