A daily operating lesbian (FLINTA) bar and cafe in the heart of Hackney, no more basements!
N.B important note about paying via Apple Pay at the bottom – also when you click on the ‘perks’ they are explained in more detail <3
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So, big news.. We’re opening a full time bar and café in Hackney..
Last Thursday was a dream, so naturally we took out tens of thousands of pounds in business loans to buy a bar.. above ground..
Our story so far
We launched La Camionera as a residency on Broadway Market, London. Something initially intended as a lowkey tapas bar for 25 covers that ran Sunday to Thursday had soon turned into hundreds of people hanging out outside trying to get in. We had a good night and went viral on TikTok (in no small part thanks to musician @lleoworld ), were also featured in numerous press articles, and even on Gay Times! We then read every one of the comments – good and bad – online and thought,
Why *are* we always in the basement?
I hope this post, and the revealing of who’s behind the bar is testament to the fact that anyone who feels like the lesbian bar is a space for them, is. As time moves on, this will become increasingly apparent through our programming and images surrounding us. As a trans person, I can’t help but feel othered when spaces tack on whether I am / am not welcome. Let’s not let a minutiae of people control the dialogue – we’re stronger without them.
What’s next?
My partner Clara and I have managed to scrape together about 70% of what we need in personal loans and gov start up loans, and are perpetually looking for more avenues of funding. We’re turning to you lot to see if you’d pay for a coffee, pint, or cocktail in advance to help us get up and running as quick as possible – we get the keys on March 1st. There are also a few more fun options on there you can take a look at – t-shirts, plaques, cats, and tickets to a very, very special party. We also have so many exciting things lined up that we can’t wait to share with you.
What is La Camionera going to be?
Since being with Clara for the past few years and visiting her family in rural Spain and Madrid we have wanted to bring some of that back here – simple tapas, vermouth on tap, frozen glasses, and the right amount of salt, lemon, butter, and ice… La Camionera is going to be a daytime through evening bar and cafe, experimenting with small pl*tes food and rotating pop-up chefs that are ready to go. Our venue is laid out in three – a kitchen/bar area, a quieter cosy date spot, and a decent sized garden at the rear. Our new spot also has high ceilings and windows throughout.
We’d like to be an alternative to busy club nights with warm beer in plastic glasses where you’re forced to pay for something crap and expensive as a captive audience. We want to have somewhere we can lounge about, talk, and just spend time in a laid back setting. Through years of experience working just enough to make rent each month we have developed expertise in the art of living (read: eating and drinking) well for less, and we are bringing the same energy to La Camionera. With daily specials and happy hours, it’s never going to price anyone out of a well made drink and something to eat, though we’ll have enough natural wine behind the bar and in our bottle shop for people wanting to flex on their date.
If you’ve had an idea for something you’ve wanted to do, whether it’s a supper club, pop-up, speed dating, book launch, sewing circle, exhibition, you name it — get in touch when we’re up and running, we want this to feel like an exciting space where people can get involved.
A bit more about me
As some probably know I, with the indispensable help of my brilliant friends, have been putting on club nights around Hackney for the best part of a decade. If you’ve been, you might remember how we’d manage to squeeze the most out of a student loan, an iPhone, and CDJS that only worked on one side if you knew where to hit it. I cut my teeth in the industry at VFDalston (f.k.a Vogue Fabrics), a venue run by Lyall Hakaraia that is constantly showing up for the community in supporting and giving a space to a wide range of cultural endeavours, not only within the club but the wider local community too with initiatives such as Open Doors. I started there in 2019 at the same time as one of my oldest friends Lucia Blayke when she started Transmissions there and later London Trans Pride. Since then we’ve also had residencies at Dalston Superstore. Some of the parties I’ve run have been Nice Mover, Dirty Mind, and Body2Body, as well as regularly DJing at other nights at the same clubs. Over the past year I have also been writing a lot about food and drink in general, getting my first big piece in London’s Vittles Magazine writing about HRT, steak, and cocktails. I have also worked at many bars, pubs, and cafes in the area such as The Spurstowe and Sebright Arms.
What is the £50,000 for?
The money is going towards the £70,000 premium on the place from the old owners, which basically means everything they’ve invested in it – equipment, furnishings, and most importantly – the premises license for selling alcohol and hot food, which can take months to get and can often be denied. On top of that we have a deposit to pay the landlord, business rates, utilities, minor refurbishments, and all general expenses in running a bar. We’re hoping that as this campaign is offering redeemable rewards that it will help us with cash flow for the first few months on top of all of this. We are also paying our staff a living wage and giving staff members the opportunity to have equity in La Camionera so it is run by the people who work there – typical outside investment from industry would not allow this as labour is often the first place people cut down when making cost savings.
We will also be the first FLINTA owned LGBT+ space in London for over a decade!
Every bit of support for this counts, so if you’re unable to pick a perk from this campaign, sharing it really helps too! Please only contribute what you feel able to, we’re going to be celebrating our opening all week and will be doing giveaways to make sure everyone who wants to be involved is involved in some capacity – whether able to pay for perks or not! We are obviously super excited about this and believe it can really become something special in a bleak period we’re all going through. We have been consulting community leaders, specialists, and other similar spaces around the world to help guide us with industry leading operating ethics to make sure this place works for everyone involved. We appreciate any and all feedback too.
Thank you for your support.
Alex and Clara <3
*if you are paying via Apple Pay please ensure your billing address (found in card settings in your apple wallet) matches the address associated with your physical card before proceeding with payment, otherwise the payment may be unsuccessful or reversed. If in doubt please use card, thank you!
Some more info and press surrounding the opening:
https://www.nonchalantmagazine.com/the-founder-…
https://www.sensuali.com/b/londons-sexiest-lesb…
https://romanroadlondon.com/la-camionera-lesbia…
https://www.nonchalantmagazine.com/new-lesbian-…