You can party while men wrestle in tomatoes

Gayzpacho, the Spanish-themed LGBTQ+ night that originated at The Glory in 2017, is coming back hard for Pride this Saturday. Turning part of St Martins Lane Hotel into the ‘Costa del Soho’ from 4pm-9pm, Gayzpacho will welcome all-comers with a sun-flecked blend of drag shows, flamenco dance and Eurodisco beats, all produced by East End legend Jonny Woo. The promoters are also promising ‘Spanish madness’, which will almost certainly peak with those go-go boys splashing about in lashings of tomato sauce. It's Gayzpacho’s cheeky, homoerotic take on La Tomatina, a festival held in the Valencian town of Buñol, in which, according to Wikipedia, participants throw tomatoes at one another ‘purely for entertainment purposes’. Well, why the hell not?

‘People often come to Gayzpacho not knowing what to expect,’ co-founder Angel Perez tells us. 'They want to be entertained and I think they’re drawn in by our Spanish nonsense and the absurd party themes we come up with. We constantly try to inject fun and silliness, and I think that comes across.’ However, Perez also points out that Gayzpacho is an intentionally 'democratic’ party which celebrates togetherness and inclusivity. ‘It’s a reminder that to be human is to be a fluid intermingling of cultural, social and environmental influences. Gayzpacho is Spanish, is British, is queer and is pan-European. We want people to feel carefree and laid-back. We want people to play with identity, with themselves and with everyone else.’ Amen to that. 

Entry is free, but you can guarantee your guest-list place by donating a fiver to London’s LGBT Switchboard. Just don’t wear anything that might get spoilt by a flying splodge of tomato sauce.
Gayzpacho is at St Martins Lane Hotel on Sat Jul 6.