The SQ CLUB POLL 2011 is closing soon and it has been the most surprising poll of all!
European clubs are outdoing the London clubs…perhaps a sign of the times? And sophisticated Soho is out stripping clubbing Vauxhall!
We have made it so easy for you to vote…and using the power of FACEBOOK to insure no tampering or cheating (not that you do!)…and now we are making it easier!
See the clubs name’s on the right? CLICK ON THEM, and that will bring up the club’s flyer. Click on LIKE underneath and you’ve voted.
With this new format and tight security it seems clubbers are saying no to Vauxhall and yes to Europe & Soho. Or the clubbing in Vauxhall has gone down such a path that SeenQueen.com site visitors and Vauxhall clubbers are no longer the same people. Whether they don’t care, are sending a message to the promoters, exercising apathy (what’s worse, being disliked or people feeling nothing) or treating the clubs like a product you buy, use and dump (so why vote?) we don’t know. Any of those messages would not be good news to a promoter.
The SeenQueen.com club poll is important because we are not supported by clubbing revenue…so we remain in the middle. Trust in a poll that comes from a place that is financed by the clubs in that poll is a leap of faith in trust and credibility?
Just in case you haven’t visited FACEBOOK here is your chance to VOTE DIRECTLY FROM THIS PAGE.
1. CLICK ON A CLUBS NAME
2. A NEW WINDOW WILL OPEN WITH A FLYER FROM THAT CLUB.
The category the club is nominated in is indicated on the right. The club with the highest votes overall will BEST BRAND irrelevant of the nominated category.
If you want to vote by email, visit the CONTACT FORM and write a list of your favourite clubs.
AM ICE: It’s an annual event at AM when they kiss goodbye to winter and place thier lips on spring. Here is a collection of images from this party on 25.3.2011, given to us courteously of AM promoter Oliver M.
You were born fabulous so be fabulous! Celebrating London’s vibrant gay scene, here is a video put together of various Internet clips, our own clips and featuring fliers from some of London’s award winning clubs. Yes, you were born this way and you deserve SeenQueen.com…because you are worth it!
Featuring clips and images from A:M, Beyond, SuperMartXe, LoveChild, Hard On, Onyx, Area, Fire.
What a fantastic club poll we had this year! Our security measures, people willingness to respect the rules and the fun and anticipation factor helped us to create a club poll that truly reflects the choices made by London and the world’s gAyLIST. You voted. Your Disco Needed You. And here is the result.
THE WINNERS & RUNNER-UPS
The Best Clubs of 2010
Seen Queen Club Poll XTRA: Focus on ALEX ERFAN & ALL THINGS ORANGE
The global clubbing scene has not really had its best year perhaps affected by the global recession, internet cruising and the changing gay scene over the years from a social based to profit based business. The increase of gay acceptance in the West also sees many homo-discoers choosing other clubs and activities over the ‘gay scene’ where the need to ‘herd’ for safety and acceptance decreases each year. Saying that, London still stands heads and shoulders above the rest for variety and clubbing from Monday to Sunday. Winning an award on SeenQueen.com not only means that club is the best in London, but also the globe.
2010 has seen mixed fortunes for one of the scene biggest suppliers of club brands…the All Things Orange Group who own clubs at two venues Fire and Area. The changing club environment may have seen cut back across the gay scene, but Fire injected an untold amount of money into redeveloping the main room creating a space worthy of global attention and injecting a new energy into the venue. This renovation alone saw the clubs fortunes change (the Soho club LoProfile also injected money into a new lighting and laser array which impacted on that clubs attendance too. Maybe the way out of a recession is to spend not cut!) The ALL THINGS ORANGE GROUP itself, including independent promoters that utilise their venues, has 6 brands in the top 10 alone. Impressive. And it shows how appreciative the clubbers are of these efforts.
Another change in the groups policy is reinventing their club brands by bringing in different promoters and expanding their club brands…but instead of having everything at Fire, they have started to utilise other venues too. This creates variety with each space able to suite the club that it was intended for and with each new promoter able to inject thier own personality into the club.
Perhaps the single most important person in keeping the club scene fresh, pumping and introducing new brands is Alex Erfan. His name is attached to three of those top 10′s: LoveChild (his own brand, that also won Best Monthly Club), As One (a co-promotion that came runner up in the EVENT category) and WE, the Spanish phenomena that took London by storm in November 2010 and scooped not only the BEST EVENT of 2010 but also the BEST NEW BRAND. You can already see the influence and impact this promoter has had with these three fabulous clubbing brands. Add to that BACK 2 BEYOND (another co-promotion that used the original home of Beyond to create a Saturday night version of this famous afterhours…and the RunnerUp for Best New Brand), THE WEEK (a club he bought over from Brazil to Fire with it’s next event being at the Coronet on 29.1), PERVERT (Italy’s famous club that Alex introduced to London in January 2010), HustlaBall London (the London version of the infamous circuit event) and London Global Dance Festival (the first of it’s kind in London bringing international club brands and DJs to play under all the arches at FIRE)…the impact and influence this man has had is obvious and if it wasn’t for him what would 2010 have been like?
2011 also promises to be an interesting year for Alex. He has introduced Amsterdam bear club Bear Necessity to London, bringing back the Week at the end of January, celebrating LoveChild’s 2nd Birthday at Fire in February and already making plans for HustlaBall London 2010 and London Global Dance Festival 2011.
2011…bring it on!
THE CHARTS
TOP 10 OVERALL:
1. BEYOND AFTER HOURS
Beyond remained the clear favourite from the start of the poll leading most, if not all, of the way. It’s margin continually increased over time and it lead by a clear 60 votes claiming 6% of the entire poll. This is the second year in a row Beyond at AREA has won the not only the Best Weekly Club but Best Club overall it truly remaining London;s biggest and (now literally) the best club.
2. BARCODE SOHO
For a small BAR, Barcode Soho certainly packs a big punch when competing for top spot in the Seen Queen club poll. It came second overall for the second year in a row also scooping the BEST BAR award. It’s down to earth nature perhaps lend greatly to most people nominating it as it’s best bar. It does not fit into the trendy category, or fashionable. It’s to up market to be though of a sleazy or ‘down tempo’, but it’s not up market enough to be considered posh or pretentiousness. A cocktail is as comfortable as a beer, and with some of London’s biggest name DJs, new breed DJs and a small club downstairs that is a favourite with the early evening brigade or pre club posse, Barcode Soho fit’s comfortable with most gay men…which is reflected in it’s winner status.
3. LOVECHILD
LoveChild is a club promoted by Alex Erfan, the man we can salute for being one of the gay scenes most influential promoters, who helped transform and influence London’s gay clubbing 2010 the most. LoveChild was born nearly two years ago at Pacha, but moved to Fire just over a year ago. A monthly club, it helped Fire return to the hearts & minds of clubbers by it’s monthly injection of glamour, attracting a mixed but gAyLIST orientated crowd and used DJs that were outside the main Fire staple bringing a different sound to the club. LoveChild very quickly grew and moved onto Europe too exporting this popular brand to the continent. LoveChild won BEST MONTHLY CLUB award of 2010
4 AM AFTERHOURS
A:M was handed over to Oliver Mohn who was given a free hand at redeveloping the brand. New artwork, a bigger rotation of DJs and a strict door policy saw this clubbing brand transform nearly overnight. The result…AM became ‘gay again’ attracting a hot and hunky, yet still very clubby crowd. This was quickly drawn to our attention, and it was re-listed on SeenQueen.com. This weekly clubbed came RUNNER UP WEEKLY CLUB OF 2010…a magnificent feat considering it has only been about 6 months since it was relisted.
5. WE
What happens when two co- promoters break up…one of them starts his own party with his ‘bigger and better’ ideas and WE was born. This Spanish brand grew quickly and came to London only last November 2010. The opening party was held in the ‘other’ partners former venue ‘The Coronet’. Learning from the mistakes including on how to organise a coatcheck, WE was launched with a big advertising campaign and it attracted the cream of the London scene. WE had something to prove, that they were better than the ‘other brand’…and since this was WE’s only event in 2010, it scooped the BEST EVENT award of 2010, beating overall it’s ‘nearest competitior’
6. SUPERMARTXE
Launched by Logan Presents over two years ago… based on the original Spanish brand… SuperMartXe became an overnight success. With it’s lavish stage shows and big production values it was a gAylisters favourite destination. However, despite the big crowds it has logistical problems which affected the clubs reputation. SuperMartXe came RUNNER UP MONTHLY club…but 6th overall….we believe it’s overall position is reflecting the big problems it had by moving the club to a new venue for it’s 2nd Anniversary…with even longer queues for entry and coatcheck affecting it’s loyal fanbase who loved SuperMartXe but was disappointed by another logistical nightmare and failed on mass to come out and support them in this club poll.
7. AS ONE
The idea was simple….on a bank holiday get together 5 or 6 club brands, make sure they select their best DJS and then come together AS ONE. Queue Alex Erfan (London promoter) and Craig Elder (Fire owner)….and London’s famous Fire club. AS ONE was born on New Years Day 2010 forcing open all of Fires arches to accommodate the thronging party crowd. This club brand was perfect to reflect the variety of gay tribes that love to club, and placing them under one roof. All the AS ONE parties were brilliant, putting club politics aside and celebrating the diversity the London gay scene has to offer. We feel this is reflected in it becoming RUNNER-UP MONTHLY CLUB, RUNNER-UP NEW BRAND* and 7th overall.
*Please note- the award Runner-Up New Brand was mistakenly given to 'Back 2 Beyond' which actually came in THIRD in the 'New Brand' category. We have now corrected this. AS ONE fell into two categories in 2010 those being 'Event' and 'New' although the 'New' label was mistakenly left off the voting form. Thank you to Disco Matt for pointing out AS ONE was a New Year Day party in 2010 and not a New Years Eve event which makes it eligible for the Best New Brand category. If you feel it is not right to transfer the award to it's rightful owner and labelling As One as 'New' in the voting form would have altered your vote then please get in contact with us.What would the SeenQueen.com club poll be without a little controversy!
8. HARD ON
SeenQueen.com includes several ‘fetish’ type clubs in our listing and HARD ON is a consistent top 10 ten overall club. Hard ON recently labelled itself ‘YOUR DIRTY DANCE CLUB’ further integrating clubbing and fetish into a unique environment that encouraged you to explore your sexuality while at the same time offering a modern version of ‘fetish clubbing’. Hard ON has a loyal following and this is reflected in it’s overall 8th position.
9. ORANGE.
Orange is one of Fire’s longest running club brands and it consistently does well in the club poll. Held on a Sunday it has its work cut out for it, but under the guiding hand of the Sharp Boys Orange continues to impress with it’s uplifting main floor, it ground breaking RAW room and FatTonnic lounge. It’s been running for years for a reason….and it came 9th overall in our club poll.
10. PROFILE
Profile was an instant hit with trendy Soho drinkers who also wanted a hip-diner styled dining experience. With DJs on Friday & Saturday, being located above it’s big brother club ‘LoProfile’, Profile was always going to be a favourite pre-club destination. Its popularity has grown over the years and coming in 10th overall shows you it’s success as a bar. The crowd and staff are usually well dressed, nice looking and mixed…perfect for the coctail hour or a beer.
TOP 3 WEEKLY CLUBS:
1. BEYOND 2. AM 3. ORANGE
TOP 3 MONTHLY CLUBS:
1. LOVECHILD 2. SUPERMARTXE 3. HARDON
TOP 3 BARS:
1. BARCODE SOHO 2. PROFILE 3. RUPERT STREET
TOP 3 EVENTS:
1. WE 2. AS ONE 3.TRADE
TOP 3 NEW BRANDS:
1. WE 2. AS ONE 3. BACK 2 BEYOND
TOP 3 INTERNATIONAL EVENTS:
1. CIRCUIT FESTIVAL (BCN) 2. LA DAMENCE (BRUSSELS) 3 .RAPIDO (AMSTERDAM)
A:M Celebrated 10 years of clubbing on Fri 10.12.2010. Now promoted by Oliver M, the club is experiencing a rejuvenation amongst the gAyLIST crowd making Friday the new Saturday!
2. YOU MUST CONFIRM YOUR VOTE BY MIDNIGHT 21.1.2011. Non confirmed votes will be considered as fake/false and the votes from those emails will be not added to the end result and some emails may even be added to our block list depending on the final filter outcomes.
3. THE LAST SEEN RESULT is NOT the FINAL RESULT. After the last few confirmations, we will runs several IP and email checks to catch any duplicates which may have been added to the result. Duplicate votes will be removed and votes adjusted.
4. THIS promises to be our most accurate poll yet. Some of you may have thought there may have been to many ‘hoops’ to jump through, but these are necessary to ENSURE our poll reflects the choice of the true voters. If there is one thing you can be sure of is our integrity and credability to provide you with the most accurate club poll possible.
5. Our attitude is simple…one true vote is worth 10 false ones. If a person can take the time to vote, then they should also be able to confirm thier vote…the large amount of unconfirmed votes implies a lot of the email addresses were made up, dubplictes, fake or otherwise. Why people do this is unknown except winning our club poll can hold prestige for the club and also a back on the back from those that n=matter…you the clubbers….saying THANK YOU for those great clubbing moments. Well done!
6 Final POLL results announced 23.1.2011
Thank you to all those who logged a legitimate vote. Your feedback to the club promoters and other SeenQueen.com site visitors is invaluable.
VOTING TRENDS
Here well will report on voting trends as they occur.
DATA SHARING: These trends are from the votes accepted at the club poll, but data is not shared with anyone and kept strictly confidential. Your vote remains anonymous. The only information revealed is the result and the trending posts below, and nothing more.
20.1.2011: Our confirmation process has seen 288 unconfirmed/fake/false/non existent emails logged for our poll. An unconfirmed vote is an uncounted vote, this strategy providing us with the most accurate poll to date. Saying that, we believe some confirmation emails may have gone to the Junk Mail, but all things being equal and we are reminding people to check…if you can not confirm you vote by Midnight on 21.1.2011, it will be deleted! Unconfirmed votes include Profile (37), Beyond Afterhours (128), DTPM (36), As One (55), Trade (31), Sydney Mardi Gras (15), SuperMartXe (66)…and as you can see some of these figures makes the difference between wining first and loosing first. YOUR DISCO NEEDS YOU. Check your junk mail!
20.1.2011: Europeans are out in full force with ‘strategic voting’ and ‘single club’ voting going on…
18.1.2011: Last year SeenQueen.com randomly selected emails to confirm. This year EVERY email except those auto-recognised need confirmation. This policy has proven effective in weeding out the fakes, false and duplicate votes (why bother folks, we gonna catch you….guaranteed, if not during the poll but then during the final filtering after the poll has closed!). If your email is legitimate, then CONFIRM it…that is 253 votes waiting to be confirmed. An unconfirmed email is worthless to us and a loss for the club you are voting for. This years poll is close, so your vote can make the difference. Check your junk mail…it may have gone there…after the 20th, you will have until the 21.1.2011 to confirm before the voting lockdown and final filters are applied to come up with the most accurate and reflective vote ever!
18.1.2011: Which manager has tried to vote three times using different emails and slight variations in their name? Which club has turned to strategic voting…with votes mainly coming in for itself but mostly from emails that don’t exist?
15.1.2011: Votes are flooding in…but now 175 emails need to be confirmed. That translates to 41 votes for SuperMartXe, 15 for the Sydney Mardi Gras, 55 votes for Onyx, 31 votes for La Damence, 17 for HotWired, 15 votes for the Shadow Lounge, 31 for Matinee and 66 for LoveChild. It is more important more than ever to check your junk mail, then confirm or it won’t be added. That is why this is the most secure club poll yet…if an email is not physically confirmed it is considered as fake/spam/junk.
15.1.2011: While most of the scene DJs have voted, some of the ‘bigger names’ haven’t. In saying that. a few of those who have voted did not necessarily vote for the clubs they worked at indicating they aren’t moved by ‘club politics’….or had a ‘wish list’ of where they would like to play.
8.1.2011: 51 emails are needing confirmation…so check the JUNK BOX. Emails not confirmed will be considered false or fake and will be removed and or block. Stats show those those 51 email contain a potential 15 votes for SuperMartxe, 9 for As One, 21 for A:M, 8 for WE. 10 for B2B and 12 for La Damence….so make sure you confirm or loose your vote…the difference between winning and loosing first, second and even third!
29.12.2010: More tom foolery in our Club Poll, this time quite innocent, but for the more astute of you it was quite noticeable. Our club poll employs the strictest security which means less votes will registered over all as there are more hoops to jump through and cheating has been made virtually impossible. This means a more accurate result but with a lower vote count. Due to this the poll allows at ‘booster’ shot which will equally give all nominations an equal amount of votes. This is so that some nominations will not have a vote of zero and it ‘equally inflates the poll to pad it upwards. Boosters are common on some polls, as it encourages voting. We employed the booster, although by accident, by ticking ‘yes’ instead of ‘no’. Votes have been readjusted back down by exactly 20 votes to reflect the number of votes registered. We have set the boost to ’0′ so it can not be accidentally added again. All births are messy, and with the new security measures we are still learning.
29.12.2010: BEYOND continues to lead the club poll as overall winner and best weekly club, A:M afterhours is a close runner up. The best bar so far is PROFILE, also clocking in 3rd overall beating super clubs like SuperMartXe is just outside the overall top 10 and second in the best monthly club, where the crown is currently worn by LoveChild. The best new event/bar/club is WE which is found at 8th place overall. Coming in at 17th place is the leading best International Party, Circuit Festival Barcelona. Best EVENT is AS ONE which stands strong 4th overall. Perhaps the biggest disappointment is Matinee, when under Oliver M won 3 years in a row, during the transition to Logan, fell from grace and now clocks in at 21 overall. Of course, anything can happen..so get VOTING!
22.12.2010: The promoters at BEYOND must have been jumping for joy when last years Best Overall Winner surged ahead with 100 votes beyond it’s nearest competition AS ONE. Cyber alarms rang wild here at SQHQ, as we run a comparison command between the small amount of votes (so far) that have been registered and the total votes on the poll; and then added filters and found out an input data error added a ’1′ to Beyond’s current vote putting it into three digits…which is not really expected to happen until later on in the poll when the competition heats up. It has now be rectified to reflect the actual vote. If you don’t think Beyond deserves to win again, there is only one way to change that…VOTE!
17.12.2010: Quite a few promoters and DJs are getting their votes out of the way early the overall TOP 5 currently being 1. As One (event) 2. Beyond Afterhours (weekly) 3. A:M Afterhours (weekly) 4. LoveChild (monthly) 5. Barcode Soho (bar)
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