New LGBTQ+ London space Zodiac serves up an unpretentious and friendly atmosphere — tell everyone you know, immediately
Words Jamie Tabberer
SCENE
Temptation
Every Thursday, 9pm-2am Zodiac, 119 Hampstead Rd, London NW1 3EE
There isn’t a dry eye in the basement of Euston’s Zodiac bar when vocal powerhouse Farrah Mills delivers a genuinely moving rendition of Adele’s 2021 comeback hit ‘Easy on Me’. It is a sudden gear change for Thursday-night party Temptation, which has until this point been dominated by a series of sizzling dance performances by an array of scantily clad (and inconceivably agile) beauties — it’s not billed as ‘London’s Hottest Transgender party for Transwomen and their admirers’ for nothing!
When Attitude first arrives, before Temptation’s 9pm kick-off time, there are decidedly different scenes on Zodiac’s ground-floor bar: namely, three rounds of Bingo Bonza with charming host Brenda LaCreme, who’s decked out in sky-high ruby red slippers The Wizard of Oz’s Dorothy would kill for. Later, after taking full advantage of the irresistible happy-hour offerings (two Long Island Iced Teas for £12? Yes, please), we put on something of a show ourselves, blagging control of the sound system and treating punters to self-choreographed dances to classics like Charlotte Church’s ‘Call My Name’ and Holly Valance’s ‘Kiss Kiss’.
Such pure pop crowd-pleasers perfectly suit Zodiac: a pint-sized watering hole that radiates unpretentious, naturally inclusive energy; the kind most baby queers cut their teeth in outside the capital. Not that Zodiac is a retro outfit: it only opened in 2021, despite other LGBTQ+ spaces closing left, right and centre. And as a Big Smoke venue decisively engaging with the trans community — as symbolised by a huge wall gorgeously spraypainted with the colours of the trans flag — it’s arguably unprecedented.
“When I came to London five years ago, there was no such thing as a trans-owned-and-led bar in the UK,” says co-proprietress and ‘Mother of Zodiac’ Jade Phoenix Hoskins, one half of London’s most painfully gorgeous nightlife power couple, alongside house DJ Dave Hoskins. The Philippines-born beauty continues: “We’ve gathered a collective of queer people to come together and give us common people — not rich people — a queer community venue that gives platforms to beginners, not just established, polished performers.”
It’s an immensely likeable space, albeit with a very slight Achilles heel: location. Despite being only a few minutes’ walk from Warren Street and tr
