ABOUT THE GLORY …

The Glory is an East End pub and LGBTQ+ performance venue, with a basement disco at weekends and shows throughout the week.

We are The Glory! East London’s famous gay bar, drag hothouse, LGBTQ+ performance venue, nightclub and curators of major events and festivals. Proudly owned by iconic London drag queens Jonny Woo and John Sizzle, plus legendary party-starter Colin Rothbart. Many of our staff are influential East London creatives, and our regulars are like family. Join us for drinks, buy a ticket to a show, come for a dance in our basement club at the weekend, and help us celebrate EIGHT glorious years!

Where are we?

The Glory is located in Haggerston, close to where Kingsland Rd crosses the Regent’s Canal, close to what has been tongue-in-cheek named ‘The Haggerston Riviera’.

The Glory is just a 2 minutes walk from Haggerston Station, or a 10 minutes stroll down from Dalston or up from Shoreditch. (Some people refer to this whole area as Shoreditch)

From Liverpool St station both the 242 and 149 heading north stop right outside the pub (Laburnum Rd stop)

Alternatively you can take a leisurely stroll or cycle along the canal from London Fields or Angel.

A club on weekends

Weekend discos are every Friday and Saturday on two floors, closing in the early hours revellers can go-on to East London’s super late clubs or home on the night overground.

Our main pub is free entry during the week, and free before 10pm on weekends – with an £10 door charge kicking in after. Ticketed shows happen downstairs most evenings (see What’s On), turning into a disco afterwards at weekends with DJs and surprise drag numbers!

On Sundays The Glory opens at 2pm and closes at midnight.

Drag Shows?

There are drag shows and LGBTQ+ arts events here most nights. Friday nights are always a drag-fuelled disco with an early ticketed show downstairs (see What’s On) and then a party after with drag surprises and DJs playing on both floors till late.

Saturday nights usually include ‘Glory Lates’ – a weekly in-house show at 10.30pm downstairs from a major cabaret star that we book ourselves.

Sunday Sermon is a regular ‘salon’ hosted by original 1980s ‘Blitz Kid’ Princess Julia & other East London Icons and there’s always a special performer guest, often a drag queen or king.

And there are some great regular monthly variety shows to look out for. These include ‘Man Up XL’, ‘Top Of The Slops’, ‘Werk In Progress’ (a new acts night) & ‘The Weakest Twink’ (our weekly quiz night).

Team Glory

The Glory employs around 25 members of staff, as well as hiring a wider pool of LGBTQ+ set designers, technicians, poster designers and stage hands.  Most of The Glory’s bar staff are creative professionals studying fashion, art, photography theatre or dance. If you’re lucky sometimes the bar staff will drag up or throw a look! Our staff all have a good inside knowledge about the gay scene, the best parties, the best places to eat, and all the gay scene gossip – they’re always happy to help!

Any cash tips are greatly appreciated and are shared out at the end of each shift equally between all bar staff who have worked on that shift.

If you’re looking to work at The Glory yourself please hand in a one side CV and we’ll get in touch if a vacancy pops up. 🙂

LIPSYNC1000

The Glory creates one of London’s biggest, most respected, and most-talked about drag contests LIPSYNC1000! Established at Bistrotheque in 2004 under a different name, this dazzling contest was created by Jonny Woo fifteen years ago.

Currently about 150 drag performers enter the contest each year which culminates in a big cash prize Grand Final judged by celebrities. It’s very simple – contestants at a heat present one number – they are judged on their lip-syncing, their drag look, and their overall impression. Guest judges, helped along by the cheering crowd, pick two winners each week and they win a place in the humungous final with big prizes. The Grand final is similar to a heat – but supersized – each Heat winner performs one number, and there is one winner, with two runners-up.

Recent winners: Bolly Illusion (2019), Rhys’s Pieces (2018), Sue Gives A Fuck (2017), Rodent Decay (2016), Ellis D (2015)

Find out more on our FAQs page.

Follow 2020’s tournament on The Official LIPSYNC1000 Facebook Page

MAN UP

We created the world’s biggest and most exciting drag king battle MAN UP, founded by The Glory in 2015 and originally hosted by Jonny Woo with drag king Adam All.

Since its inception Man Up has grown in numbers, with last years 2021 final being held at The Clapham Grand to an audience of 1200 king fans!

Man Up will return in the spring of 2023! Follow the Man Up Instagram for updates & events! @manupldn

The creative team includes John Sizzle (producer), Mads Street (producer, tech and oversees guest judges), Josh Quinton (art and graphics), Lyla Johnson (photography) and Gia Jenkins (stage manager).

The Glory on tour: as a pioneering LGBTQ+ performance and party brand..

Watch us at the National Theatre

As well as being open seven days a week, The Glory create external events around the year. These have included:

  • A National Theatre takeover weekend in July (2015 – present)
  • The cabaret tent at Latitude Festival (2015 – present)
  • The Glory stage at Sink The Pink’s festival Mighty Hoopla (2017 – present)
  • The Man Up Final, currently held at Earth, (2016 – present)
  • The LIPSYNC1000 Final, currently held at The Clapham Grand, (2014 – present)
  • TimeOut’s 50th Birthday (2018)
  • Kaleidoscope festival (2017)
  • The Gay Bingo Boat Party (2015 – present)
  • Milkshake festival (2016)
  • Un-Royal Variety (2015 – present)
  • The Glory’s Halloween Ball (2018 – present)

Jonny Woo also takes shows to Edinburgh most Fringes and tours the world with ‘A Night At The Musicals’, a highly successful comedy-cabaret show he makes with operatic drag star Le Gateau Chocolat.

The Glory also curates, under Jonny Woo, the drag talent and gogo dancers who appear in Block 9’s notorious gay club NYC Downlow at Glastonbury.

There are close links and crossovers between The Glory’s performer family and other London drag parties and collectives like Sink The Pink, Mariah & Friends, Little Gay Brother and Winter Pride. Several breakout performers from LIPSYNC1000 have gone on to win Miss Sink The Pink later on in the year, including ShayShay, Grace Shush, Georgie Bee and Bimini.