Vicky's Venue Review - London

Key to Symbols
The 'My Cup of Tea?'TM rating system is only a reflection of how much I enjoy a particular place and is likely to vary at whim with my mood! As a guide:
•	represents a really good cup of Assam properly mashed with boiling water in a pre-heated tea-pot with just the right amount of semi-skimmed Jersey milk served in a fine china tea-cup
•	represents watery 'tea-style beverine' dispensed from a vending machine with milkette served in a plastic 'cup-alike' swill holder
I've added an additional key as well to distinguish between t*friendly, gay and straight venues as below (venues without any symbol are 'straight'):
•	means the place is geared specifically towards the transgendered community
•	means the place is geared towards the gay community (typically of mixed gender) but has proven to be tranny friendly

Vicky's City Guide - London

It's not just by conincidence that I've used a picture of Tower Bridge (yes, that's Tower Bridge, not London Bridge) to symbolise the tranny scene in London, as most of the tranny specific venues in London are within a couple of miles of the bridge! Unlike Manchester where you can bar-hop between different venues, the ones in London are spaced out. There are a clutch of them around Tower Bridge (The WayOut Club, Stormes and Trans-MISSION) and a couple near Earl's Court (The Phibeach Hotel and Ted's Place) but even though they are in similar locations they are not within walking distance of each other and unlike Manchester they're not free either so if you do decided to visit a few, the entrance fees can mount up. London also has a gay district or two, the main one being in and around Brewer Street in Soho. Here there are a host of gay pubs, bars and clubs and yes, many are within walking distance of each other. The pubs and bars are usually free to get into, the clubs vary from reasonable (UK£5) to extortionate (UK£15++), but the most expensive are also the most swish, so you gets what you pays for! The other gay area is around Earl's Court but there is much less going on here. Hotels in London can also be expensive but the trick is to stay in the City (where all the big banks are located), which is around the tranny venues near Tower Bridge. Here many hotels are often empty at weekends as there's not much touristy to see, the hotels being geared towards business-folk during the week. A decent double room in a 3/4* hotel including breakfast starts from about UK£50 and you're paying too much if you end up paying much over UK£80.

Clubs

Venue	Type	My Cup of Tea?	Updated
Trans-MISSION London, UK			January 2005
Reflex London (Kingston-on-Thames), UK			May 2004
Tootsies London, UK			January 2005
The WayOut Club London, UK			December 2002
The Philbeach Hotel (Lipstick) London, UK			November 2002
Full Tilt @ The Electric Ballroom London (Camden), UK			March 2003
Shadow Lounge London, UK			January 2003
Heaven Night-Club London, UK			August 2002
Ted's Place London, UK			September 2001

Bars and Pubs

Venue	Type	My Cup of Tea?	Updated
The Birdcage London (Chiswick), UK			January 2004
West 5 London (Ealing), UK			July 2003
The G-A-Y Bar London, UK			April 2003

Restaurants

Venue	Type	My Cup of Tea?	Updated
Restaurant 109 London (Richmond), UK			March 2003
Carluccio's Caffe London, UK			December 2002
Pizza on the Park London, UK			May 2002
Steph's London, UK			August 2002
Silks and Spice London (Chiswick), UK			September 2002
La Perla London, UK			October 2001
Balans London, UK			September 2001

Hotels

Venue	Type	My Cup of Tea?	Updated
Thistle City Barbican London, UK			January 2004
Richmond Hill Hotel London (Richmond), UK			May 2002
Tower Bridge Novotel London, UK			April 2002
Club Quarters, Gracechurch London, UK			May 2002
Rose Court Hotel London, UK			April 2002

Shops and Retailers

Venue	Type	My Cup of Tea?	Updated
Doreen Fashions London, UK			April 2003
Honour London, UK			March 2003
She 'n' Me London (Hammersmith), UK			March 2003
Transformation London (and nation-wide), UK			August 2001

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