Queer stories at Hampstead Town Hall
by Wac Arts and Chris BarlowHampstead Town Hall was opened by the Vestry of St John in 1878 with two assembly halls inside. The Town Hall hosted meetings by groups such as the Hampstead Antiquarian and Historical Society and in 1900 it became the head offices of the newly formed Metropolitan Borough of Hampstead. The assembly halls became the site of many radical political gatherings as well as weddings and dances, including some of the first LGBTQ+ discos. Since the late 1990s, arts charity Wac Arts have been custodians of Hampstead’s Town Hall.
Hampstead Town Hall was opened by the Vestry of St John in 1878 with two assembly halls inside. The Town Hall hosted meetings by groups such as the Hampstead Antiquarian and Historical Society and in 1900 it became the head offices of the newly formed Metropolitan Borough of Hampstead. The assembly halls became the site of many radical political gatherings as well as weddings and dances, including some of the first LGBTQ+ discos. Since the late 1990s, arts charity Wac Arts have been custodians of Hampstead’s Town Hall.
Dancing at Hampstead Town Hall
Between 1947 and 1955 Hampstead Town Hall hosted a series of fancy dress balls arranged by the Hampstead Arts Society. The first one was announced in the Sphere newspaper under the headline “Hampstead Goes Gay.” A British Pathé news reel of the 1951 fancy dress ball shows a bare-chested man wearing tights and glittery eye makeup, a man in a shimmering dress and a panning shot of some fish net stockinged legs which travels up the body to reveal the person you are looking at is male.
“...and if any of you girls want to know where to get stockings like that, we don’t know his address!”
Narrator of British Pathé newsreel covering 1951 ball at Hampstead Town Hall
Sadly, the final ball was held 11th March 1955 after Hampstead Borough Council stated that, “We are taking steps to ensure that in any future use of the Town Hall, there will be no repetition of certain circumstances and incidents which occurred on that occasion."
Given Hampstead's rich LGBTQ+ heritage, were these balls a daring and potentially dangerous opportunity for the LGBTQ+ community of Hampstead to express themselves?
In the early parts of the 1900s, life was extremely dangerous for the LGBTQ+ community, with few opportunities for safe expression. Expressing your sexuality in public was a risk which could lead to prison, as until the Sexual Offences Act of 1967, homosexuality was illegal in the UK.
The balls would have been an opportunity to express yourself in a safe environment, to show the world who you were and to play with the thrill of playing with expectations and shaking up societal norms. Given Hampstead had proved such a fertile and safe ground for the development of the Suffragette movement, one can also imagine that politicised Hampstead women, keen to continue with their social reform activity, might have felt a worthy cause could be found in supporting the LGBTQ+ community.
Even though the Council refused the Hampstead Arts Society’s request to hire the Town Hall in 1956, in many ways it continued to be a place supporting change. In 1974, just 7 years after the 1967 Sexual Offences Act was passed, Hampstead Town Hall hosted a Gay Liberation Front Disco.
In recent years, Wac Arts has honoured the building’s rich queer history by organizing their own Liberation Front Disco, featuring performances by Ana Matronic of the Scissor Sisters and cabaret acts from Dolly Trolley. Wac Arts provide an affordable and accessible Arts Programme offering classes, workshops and performances for children, young people and their families. They are committed to nurturing the creativity of children and young people, of all gender identities and sexual orientations, offering them a safe and supportive space for self-expression.
To see the British Pathé Film of the fancy dress ball
to learn more about WAC Arts and Hampstead Town Hall heritage
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