And the winner is... what the Planet London Ultimate Awards mean to us

When Naomi and I were driving round the west coast of America on our honeymoon this year, we first discussed the idea of running Planet London awards. 

We knew we wanted to find a way to recognise the hard work that all the women behind the club nights, socials, events, gigs, music, comedy, meet ups and businesses do that keep our social scene thriving. 

We talked about the idea so hard that on one drive, we missed our motorway exit by 10 whole junctions.

We put the idea aside for a while, as Summer got underway and Pride events and L Fest took over. Then all of a sudden it was time to begin preparation.

We created the categories, asked for further suggestions, then on the 1st October we opened for nominations. We received over 300 entries, nominating 118 people & organisations (many nominees received more than one nomination!).

We were overwhelmed by how much interest there was and some of the detailed reasons why these amazing women should be nominated really brought home to use just how much we have to be thankful for.

When the voting opened on November 1st, we still had no idea just how much you all would want to have the chance to have your say and vote for your favourites.

15,100 votes from over 1500 voting women later, and the results are in. We have been truly humbled by the amount of interest.

You can view the Awards Ceremony film on the Planet London website from 7pm on Wednesday 11 December.  

We will list the winners here then as well.

By Katie


 

NEWSFLASH - Candy Bar to shut in January

‎Planet London is devastated to announce that the remaining female only LBT space in Soho will close in January 2014.Candy Bar owner Gary Henshaw has made the annoucement citing a 50% increase in rent as the cause. ‎

The venue has been sold and the new proprietor will not be retaining the space as a lesbian bar. Henshaw apologies and announces that a refurbished KU Bar frith street will offer a dedicated female LBT space in the basement - but with separate entrance, Ku Bar Girls and will continue to host events such as Ruby Tuesdays. In the mean time he is seeking a new venue for LBT women in soho.

Why are lesbian venues being forced out of soho with significant rent rises? What does this mean for the lesbian and queer women's scene with no female only space?

The official statement from Gary and the Candy Bar is below

CANDY CLOSES: AN END OF AN ERA, BUT A NEW BEGINNING London's iconic lesbian bar, the Candy Bar in Soho, is due to close its doors for the final time in January 2014. Opened in the late nineties by lesbian entrepreneur Kim Lucas, the venue changed hands many times before being purchased in 2011 by Gay Businessman Gary Henshaw of Ku Bar. "Running the Candy Bar for the last two years has been an amazing experience. But a 50% increase in rent and the current economic climate forced my hand. Candy has been sold to an outside investor and will cease to operate as a lesbian bar in January 2014. The next three months will be about celebrating and commemorating the unique legacy Candy Bar has played over its seventeen years on London's gay landscape. Meanwhle I am working hard at bringing an alternative girls space to the heart of Soho." Gary Henshaw, Proprietor Ku Group With the closing of Candy, so goes Soho's exclusively lesbian bar. The seriousness of this move and how it may affect the dynamics of Soho's gay village community has not been lost on Gary, whose Ku Bar venues both in Leicester Sq.and Soho have always welcomed and valued their lesbian clientele alongside their gay male customers. 'Ruby Tuesdays', a lesbian night at Ku Bar Lisle Street, has run successfully in KuKlub for many years now. As a result in January 2014 as Candy closes, Ku Bar is to radically overhaul its services to offer the gay girls of London a brand new, exciting and stylish space to call their own in the middle of Old Compton Street itself. Ku Bar Frith Street will be totally refurbished and effectively split into two units, with the entire lower ground floor becoming 'Ku Bar Girls', the hottest new girls' bar in town, ran and managed by girls, for girls and their guests. Open daily from 4pm, the newly redesigned venue will be a modern spacious bar with a relaxed early evening vibe. It will have its own entrance staffed by female security on Old Compton Street, giving the lesbian community of the capital a real, visible presence on London's most famous gay street. As well as a unique bar in itself, it will continue the signature Ku tradition of creating a real gay nightlife community in which gay girls can relax, flirt, laugh and enjoy themselves in suitable style. DJs, live music, comedy and special events will all feature in the programme line-up, to be drawn up by lesbian management and promoters. Ku Bar Girls is due to launch the week after Candy closes, but until then the focus will be on celebrating all that Candy Bar has achieved. Since it's inception in 1996, Candy Bar has been the home of countless memories for many members of the lesbian community and famously featured on the Channel 5 TV show, 'Candy Bar Girls'. Ku Bar would like to raise a glass to Candy's special legacy, rather than let it fade out. So please, join us in the party as we see Candy's last Halloween, the last Christmas and its last ever New Year's Eve, with official closing parties taking place in January. Let's see Candy off on a high and make its last three months some of its very best… "I would like to take this opportunity to wish Claire and her fantastic team all the very best in the future and to sincerely thank the thousands of customers who have supported and enjoyed Candy Bar over the years. This is an end of an era for the lesbian community in London, but it is by no means the end of the story." Gary Henshaw, Proprietor Ku Group‎‎

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

A few of months ago we asked 'Where have all the lesbians gone?' and after asking that question we (Naomi and Katie) embarked on a long journey to find out.

A conversation with Sarah Garrett of G3 Magazine at the Big Gay Lifestyle Show in 2011 sparked an idea of how to find out where the lesbians go out or why they don't. Throughout November Planet London sat down in our friendly Wetherspoons thinking about what we wanted to know, and what we needed to ask to get that answer. We then wrote all the questions we wanted the answers to (with several re-writes) . This grew into a (somewhat long, but detailed) online survey.

We spoke to the event organisers and asked them if there was anything else they wanted to know and got some feedback on our initial draft. By the end of the month we had a survey ready to publish.

On 1 December 2011 Planet London launched the '1st Planet London Social Community Survey' - believed to be the first of its kind in London. We'd gained the support of some sponsors and supporters along the way: Candy Bar, Elysion Events, Exclusively Pride, G3 Magazine, Go.Go Festival, Lounge, Rumours, Beehayve, ELOP, London Lesbian & Gay Switchboard, Southbank Surfing and The Glass Bar.

The aim of the survey is to help ensure a thriving and diverse social community and knowing what you like to do is an important part of that. This aim worked well with the aims and values that Planet London has adopted.

We had limited expectations and our hearts in our throats as we let people know and hoped they would fill it in. Happily the response was immediate - lesbians to have a lot they want to say as we had guessed! We surpassed our goal of 100 responses within 2 days, receiving 129 responses in just 48 hours and at the halfway point of the collection period we reached over 500 responses!


responses broken down by area

So we thought we'd like to take this opportunity to explain a bit more about where the survey came from and tease you with a few of the findings so far. On Wednesday evening we met with a few of the headline sponsors and supporters in The Green Carnation in Soho to host New Year drinks and to discuss the early findings. They very much welcomed the early feedback about their specific events and the scene in general and are excitedly awaiting the final results and already have a number of thoughts and ideas to make their events even better for you all.

Over 60% of respondents said personal safety at event was either crucial or of great importance.

"Early findings tell us the main reason people go out to a particular venue, generally once or twice a week, is because that is where their friends are going and Soho and the West End remain the most popular hang outs.

The main factor, to over 45% of respondents, for choosing where they go out is who the event is aimed at. The venue (over 50%) and whether friends are going (over 35% crucial, over 40% of great importance). Facilities and cleanliness of toilets are not as important as music for most respondents.

Of the responses so far, a third of respondents are in their 30s, with other ages groups represented but we’ve had a low response from over 50s and from 18-21s.

The responses come from a good geographical spread around London (and further afield). There has been a fairly low response from people living in West London and the City.

Naomi Bennett, Co-Founder of Planet London said “We are really pleased with the responses so far, we have already learned a great deal about what lesbians want in terms of their social life. However we are keen to make sure the survey represents as many of the views as possible of the lesbians and bi women out there in London, who could number anything from 200,000 upwards.”"

It is a very exciting time for everyone involved, and who knows what the next 6 weeks will hold. Will we exceed 1,000 responses? We'll just have to see.

If you haven't already done so, please tell us think about the social opportunities for lesbians in London. The survey isn't just about going out in the evening, it covers LGBT families; socialising generally; clubs, groups & societies; retail and volunteering & charity. The sponsors and supporters have kindly donated a number of prizes which you can win just for giving us some of your time and your opinion. Full details of what you can win are on the survey page and also at the end of the survey.

2011 – How was it for you? And what will 2012 bring?

Well for Planet London, 2011 has been quite a year. We launched in March following the idea for the site germinating in our minds for a good while, and multiple requests from friends for a good source of up to date reliable information on what’s going on in London for lesbians.

Obviously, the site has grown and developed, form the original ‘events calendar’ seed, and we’ve been excited to respond to requests from Planet Londoners on what they would like to see on the site, and many of you getting involved in reviewing a wide variety of events and activities.

This blog is taking a look at what’s been, what’s come and sadly what’s gone. It’s been a big year for some iconic lesbian/LGBT events and venues closing.

So what did we do then?
Well, when we were putting together Planet London, the Candy Bar was busy undergoing a refurbishment, and also filming its Channel 5 documentary Candy Bar Girls. Whilst the show received mixed reviews, we are always happy to see positive LGBT coverage on mainstream media. And of course, we very much enjoyed our Candy Bar Girls drink game. There was also some other great coverage to note, including a high profile lesbian relationship in Coronation Street and a very well received documentary on transgenderism, My Transsexual Summer, which has done very well to dispel some of the myths associated with gender dysphoria.

It feels like there has been a bit of a sea-change in the types of events increasing in popularity this year, and there is definitely a (welcomed) move towards more intimate, social opportunities to meet friends and new people – such as Southbank Surfing or new events like Bijou, Rainbow Room, Howlers, Blue Monday, Flaunt and Beehayve East, where the focus of the night is not just drinking and dancing. However, there are still some great dance events out there – events like Pout, Lounge, Code are still going strong.

There’s been a rise in the number of one off and special events, that appear to have been a great success such as the Glitterball and the WoW boat party. It looks like pop up and self organised events are the way forward, and websites such as SceneNomad have appeared to support this. And let’s not forget the relaunch of events such as Wig Out and Social Soiree (formerly Usual Suspects)

Sadly we’ve said goodbye to a number of venues for Lesbians (and LGBT people) - First Out, G Spot, The Green venues and GayGirlz have all gone. There is high demand for a new venue – and the community still mourns the loss of a cool cafe style venue.

What kind of co-Founder would I be if I didn’t take a look at the successes of Planet London this year. In brief since our launch in March.

1. March 2011 – first newsletter and website launched
2. June 2011 – gave 2 free tickets to WOW Boat Party featuring Jill Jackson




Planet London marching at London Pride


3. July 2011 – great presence at London Pride, with our 3D planet
4. August 2011 – gave a free signed Jill Jackson CD
5. September 2011 – gave 2 free tickets to L Talent Final/Glitterball
6. September 2011 – Planet London raised £385.00 for Albert Kennedy Trust
7. October 2011 – launched 3 new blogs: The Big Bang Blog, Girls on Film Blog by Victoria Broom and I Want to Make a Baby, its just not that easy Blog
8. November 2011 – Launched Scene Summary including a DJ Profile and Events Organiser Profile to help support and promote the scene
9. November 2011 – gave a free signed Margaret Cho DVD
10. December 2011 – launched 1st Lesbian & Bisexual Women London Community Survey
11. December 2011 – expanded the Scene Summary to include Venue Profiles to further support and promote the scene
12. Donated £12.25 to LGBT Charities from Oystercard and t-shirt sales.

I especially want to highlight the first event lesbian and bisexual women’s social community survey we are running. It’s really important to us to hear as many of the views as possible so we call tell the event organisers, and the community, exactly what it is women want in London. The survey is open until the end of February and we will be publishing the findings in April.

So what will 2012 bring?
It has the potential to be the most exciting year ever for the LGBT community in London – with World Pride and the Olympics. It’s a great opportunity to put on some fantastic events to bring the community together. Keep an eye out for the first ever summer Olympics ‘Pride House’ which promises much for the LGBT athletes, supporters, tourists and Londoners during the Olympic games, on Clapham Common.

Additionally many of the event organisers already on the scene are starting to announce new exciting plans for 2012. The details are still to follow and teaser campaigns are underway but we already know that WOW Events are launching a new monthly Saturday night from January in Chelsea, Lounge organiser Christine is launching a new monthly Thursday night from January in a Volupte in the City, Beehayve West is launching following the success of Beehayve East and L-Wired is also launching in 2012!

Join our mailing list to make sure you hear about all these exciting changes as soon as we do and check our events calendar regularly to find out what exciting nights are on.