Location: The Forum, 9-17 Highgate Road, London NW5 1JY I had to do it. Just once.
If you're an Aussie, Kiwi or South African missing home, an afternoon at The Church, in Kentish Town, should provide you with a dose of antipodean spirit that will either motivate you along your backpacker way, or make you renounce your citizenship immediately.
Paying seven pounds at the door 1.30pm on Sunday afternoon, we walked in to the old Forum theatre and were immediately carried away in a gust of boganism to line for drink vouchers, next to the bar selling Jesters meat pies, Twisties and Burger Rings. Three tickets for £7.50, after a tight squeeze in the queue, we made our way to the bar on the other side of the premises to order our three drinks. Lovingly they were served in a sturdy plastic bag that could be tied to your waist in preparation for excess consumption when desired. Drinks secured we headed for the
lower level dance-floor to be amongst all the fancy-dress action.
Oh yes, there were girls in wedding dresses, boys who thought they were superheroes, kids in fluro-yellow high-visibility gear and of course, us in our Santa hats, tinsel and our boys wearing their big Christmas gift bags and not much else!
Old school favourties belted out of the sound system and lots of noise arose as the MC's got the cultural rivals to scream for their countries.
Revving up the crowd once more, the female stripper performed two shows during our visit, each time selecting a guy from the audience as her little side kick to lotion things up. Ah, alcohol. The ultimate social equaliser. Although I'm pretty sure the boys she picked wouldn't mind bearing their bums for all any other day of
the week.
Actually, there were plenty of bare bums on display amongst the crowd during the day. Adding to this were the boobs flashed on stage, to gain the handicap in the sculling competition between nations. Artistic skill by the cameramen however, meant a quick flash was no longer a flash, more a 30 second freeze captured on the two screens in the theatre.
Then, faster than we knew it, it was 3:30pm. The lights came on and we ploughed through the sea of empty cans and plastic bags on the floor towards the door. A London travellers institution, and how well they have have planned it. As you emerge outside onto the footpath with your inebriated fellow countrymen, you realise The Church really does look out for it's community. As even though it's still mid-afternoon in London - it's already dark!
Item 14: The Church? Check!
Paying seven pounds at the door 1.30pm on Sunday afternoon, we walked in to the old Forum theatre and were immediately carried away in a gust of boganism to line for drink vouchers, next to the bar selling Jesters meat pies, Twisties and Burger Rings. Three tickets for £7.50, after a tight squeeze in the queue, we made our way to the bar on the other side of the premises to order our three drinks. Lovingly they were served in a sturdy plastic bag that could be tied to your waist in preparation for excess consumption when desired. Drinks secured we headed for the
lower level dance-floor to be amongst all the fancy-dress action. Oh yes, there were girls in wedding dresses, boys who thought they were superheroes, kids in fluro-yellow high-visibility gear and of course, us in our Santa hats, tinsel and our boys wearing their big Christmas gift bags and not much else!
Old school favourties belted out of the sound system and lots of noise arose as the MC's got the cultural rivals to scream for their countries.
Revving up the crowd once more, the female stripper performed two shows during our visit, each time selecting a guy from the audience as her little side kick to lotion things up. Ah, alcohol. The ultimate social equaliser. Although I'm pretty sure the boys she picked wouldn't mind bearing their bums for all any other day of
the week. Actually, there were plenty of bare bums on display amongst the crowd during the day. Adding to this were the boobs flashed on stage, to gain the handicap in the sculling competition between nations. Artistic skill by the cameramen however, meant a quick flash was no longer a flash, more a 30 second freeze captured on the two screens in the theatre.
Then, faster than we knew it, it was 3:30pm. The lights came on and we ploughed through the sea of empty cans and plastic bags on the floor towards the door. A London travellers institution, and how well they have have planned it. As you emerge outside onto the footpath with your inebriated fellow countrymen, you realise The Church really does look out for it's community. As even though it's still mid-afternoon in London - it's already dark!
Item 14: The Church? Check!
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