Backstreet Boys
London leatherheads get one last slice
In London leather lore, The Backstreet is canon. Set up in 1985 by solicitor John Edwards, the men-only bar served a fetty clientele of daddies, rubberists and – as the changing winds of fetish took hold – puppies and superheroes. Formally closing in 2022, the bar had weathered the AIDS epidemic, fickle queens and seven prime ministers. While it’s no longer in business, The Backstreet lives on through a bountiful archive of medieval-style body-cages, dog toys and dusty horse-guard boots.
After catching wind of its 40th birthday party – to be held in the queer South London venue, The Triangle – I headed straight to New Cross to find a gaggle of hide-loving homos and their friends nursing bottled beers and G&Ts. Inside the venue, merch with the bar’s iconic Tom of Finland logos lined the tables. Elsewhere, there were cake decals celebrating the bar’s birthdays over the decades displayed in a vitrine, an art exhibition by former cloakroom attendant Matt Pagett and plenty of old posters, lost poppers and chaps dotted around the space. And yes, there was cake.
Here, we joined some of The Backstreet’s fans – old and new – for some quick and sleazy questions…
Pup Emrys & his owner Stephane met at The Backstreet’s closing party
Did you get any action the first time you went to The Backstreet?
Emrys: Erm, a bit of action: outside being a cigar ashtray and then playing around in the dark corners. Also chatting up a few of the barmen as well.
Did you ever get your dick sucked or suck any dick in The Backstreet?
Stephane: Yeah, that’s kind of a given. (laughs)
How many dicks do you think you sucked?
Stephane: Not that many…30?
What was the most surprising thing you saw in The Backstreet?
Stephane: A chicken on the counter for the anniversary night – like barbecue chicken in bowls. They used to order food for the birthdays, so we’d run to get it before somebody – who had potentially played – would touch it. It was actually nice chicken.
Anna Rosa, Martin & David
What’s your main fetish?
Martin: Submission and servitude.
What’s the most elaborate act of service you’ve performed?
Martin: It’s not that elaborate, but do you know what “figging” is? This is now on my no-no list. A piece of ginger goes up your ass. Apparently, it’s what they do to horses so they stay erect. It just feels like you’re on fire. It burns through your asshole, your balls, right up your dick.
David: Ginger is supposed to be really healthy…
Mark worked as a barman at The Backstreet for 18 years
When did you start?
Mark: 2004. I fucking loved it. Sadly in 2013, John had a stroke so he’d run the club from afar, so I had to kind of manage it.
Who was the most surprising patron you ever had? I know you had Rick Owens in 2013.
Yeah, he hired the venue out. That was an amazing night. Everyone was saying, ‘Oh my god, Björk is in the smoking area.’ I don’t know if someone let her in through the back – I never saw her but I like to think she was there. I also met a eunuch. He came in and had a tattoo with the word “eunuch” across his stomach. I was like, ‘That means you’ve had, you know…’ And he said, ‘Yeah I left my penis in Antwerp.’
Tom runs a leather night in London and travels the world for his love of leather
What’s your favorite memory of The Backstreet?
Oh, it has to be the final night, meeting Jean-Paul Gaultier. It was a sweaty, hot Saturday evening, filled to the brim with black leather. Many people travelled internationally for the event.
What was the best sex you ever had at The Backstreet?I remember it like it was yesterday. It was my first time. I was always so insecure. I’d drink at the bar with a friend – we’d get there at like 10 or 11pm and two or three hours later, I’d still be at the bar clinging onto my drink. Then at 2am, my friend dragged me into the middle of where everyone was having sex and said, ‘You’re going to cruise somebody. Look at them. If they look at you, give them a wink or a nod and that’s it.’ And then it was 15 minutes of hot kinky sex.
What was kinky about it?
It was my first time licking somebody’s boots and having sex in front of other people, with my arse in the air.
Ess and K are not a couple
Are you two together?
K: No, but we live together, in the same walls – so I’m going to say yeah.
What’s the kinkiest sex you’ve had in the last year?
K: I don’t know, babes. I’m on antidepressants.
Ess: Listen, I’m perimenopausal. There’s no memory between the two of us.
What’s your nichest kink?
Ess: Really specifically, this bit of a hand (points to the segment between the thumb and index finger). That and a shoulder.
K: I don’t know if it’s a kink, but I really like crow’s feet – as in eyes, not actual crow’s feet. I think what I’m trying to say is I go for older people. I do like an armpit, as well, but I’m not particularly into strong BO.
Paul is into fisting
Are you a dom or sub?
Usually submissive. I like to think I’m vers, but I’m not really.
Best sex you’ve had in the past year?
It was probably a first date with a guy – fisting on a first date.
Matt Pagett has drawn the cloakroom he once manned for a work titled ‘The Box’
When did you start working at The Backstreet?
I started working behind the bar in 2015, and was offered the job in the cloakroom in 2018.
Tell us one of the more unusual nights you witnessed at The Backstreet.
It was puppy night, which was divided between handlers and puppies. There were bowls of dog biscuits on the bar, which some of the puppies got into. One guy was telling me he’d spent £600 getting his paws made. Every now and then, one person would start howling and it would spread throughout the whole club. Arooo!
What was the best thing you’d find left behind in the club?
The shitty condoms, to be honest. Each one of those – revolting as they were – told a magical story of a moment of bliss.
Best sex you ever had at The Backstreet?
Erm, this was as a customer – not as a staff member! There was a guy who I still think is incredibly hot and he was a regular there. I sucked his dick and I could taste other people’s mouths off that dick. Yeah, that was a good result.
