The Glory team announce new LGBTQ club The Divine in London’s Dalston
The venue, opening in February, is billed as The Glory's "naughty little sister"
The team behind The Glory have announced a new 200-capacity LGBTQ bar called The Divine, opening in Dalston, London this February.
The space will include a cafe, show-bar and nightclub, and occupy the street level and basement of a prime location at the top of Dalston.
The Glory drag legends Jonny Woo and John Sizzle are behind the venture, along with TV producer Colin Rothbart.
Billed as The Glory’s “naughty little sister” and located at 33 Stoke Newington Road, The Divine opens with a launch party on Friday 2 February.
The announcement follows news that The Glory in nearby Haggerston is to close on 31 January 2024 after 10 years.
The team behind The Glory have hinted that the brand may be revived in some capacity in the future.
A launch programme for The Divine, spotlighting well-known names, as well as up-and-coming artists, is to available at www.thedivine.co.uk.
To follow The Divine on Instagram, click here.
“The name is a cheeky homage to John Water’s muse”
John Sizzle, co-creator of The Divine, said in a statement: “We wanted this new venue to make a strong statement about community. The Divine is a joyous, celebratory name as we’re creating space for our beloved queer community who are worthy of adulation. They are the divine in question. And of course the name is a cheeky homage to John Waters’ muse, radical drag superstar, Divine, who didn’t take any crap from anyone. As with the name, The Divine will be a place where people can come together and flaunt their true selves, but equally create and enjoy queer art that is subversive, progressive radical and hopefully very very silly.”
Jonny Woo added: “It’s with sadness that we leave our current home, but it’s with great excitement that we make The Divine the new home of great parties and exciting emerging queer talent. We officially open the doors on Saturday 3 February with one of our signature classic East London queer parties and then a programme of brand new cabaret, as well as a short run of my latest solo show Suburbia.”
“An industrial, modern space”
Describing the new venue, a rep for The Divine said: “The industrial, modern space is softened with draped fabric artworks created exclusively by Max Allen [Selfridges Christmas displays] featuring queer icons from The Glory’s alumni, historic queers and LGBTQ+ trailblazers.
“The impressive basement-club-come-theatre space has a stage with new top quality lighting rig and sound system, installed by Sensory Studio – the people behind the new lighting install at The Cause where Adonis made its name). The Divine stage itself is larger than that of The Glory’s theatre space and offers a capacity of between 80-100 people, perfect for emerging artists, work in development, nu-queer-cabaret and of course a new home for world renowned drag competitions.”