Gay Clubs and Pubs

Hartlepool

If there is one place in the North East where you would not expect to see anything even resembling a gay scene then it's Hartlepool. True?

In a town where a monkey was hung on the vaguest suspicion of it being French (and therefore 'different' ) there has never been much hope of a gay sub-culture developing. But as Dylan said (the singer not the rabbit) '...the times they are a' changin..'.

.......early in 2004 Hartlepool witnessed the opening of its first gay club....Club Attitude but it was short-lived. A second venue, Jax, opened soon after the demise of Club Attitude and their are strong rumours of a third venue opening on the Marina.

True... several people were believed to

Hartlepool Marina

have choked in their beers at the when Club Attitude first opened and for a while the local paper was in a catatonic state trying to decide whether to stick to its traditional homophobic stance or declare instead the towns triumphant entry into the 21st Century.

Hartlepool is something of a sneaky town and these days quite a smart one too both visibly and intellectually.

It tolerates its external image of an Andy Capp culture while at the same it re-elects an out-of-favour gay MP - now off to pastures new.

Likewise, as part of the first batch of towns to have an elected Mayor, it looked with contempt at the jostling local dignitaries jockeying for the £50,000 year position and promptly elected a monkey instead.

What all this is telling us is that its not a good idea to tell the good people of Hartlepool what to think. So the world tells them how terrible it is to have a gay club opening on their doorstep and they retort "so what?" Not only that - if you happen to be from outside of the town they'll tell you to mind your own business!

Over the last few years the town centre of Hartlepool has become a weekend Mecca for revellers from all around the area. Countless mini-vans can be scene on a weekend ferrying in party-goers from Middlesbrough, Stockton and Peterlee. Amazingly, the town is now second only to Newcastle as the place to be on a weekend. This makes it the prime candidate for the next substantial gay scene - more so than either Sunderland or Middlesbrough.

Hartlepool does, in fact, already have a fairly well established gay community. The new Marina development which has provided a wealth of single accommodation is slowly if quietly, developing into something of a gay village with people moving in from across the greater Teesside area. Just like Manchester, the attraction of the Pink pound is a potent hypnotic for a local economy.

It's early days of course - and Hartlepool has only just taken the first steps to establishing a gay scene but don't be surprised if it starts to blossom. There'll be another gay venue soon enough.

Jax

Stockton Road/Middleton Grange

Located in the old Clansman Pub on the edge of the Middleton Grange Shopping Centre - at least this new place is both owned and run by gays - something Club Attitude never managed to achieve. We've had no reports yet and would like to hear fro any visitors but we wish it well.