London Pride - July 2009

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Saturday 4th July 2009

Wow what a fantastic day, the sun was shining, the boys were out partying and everyone came together making a fantastic gay pride festival to remember for a long time to come. We started off the day walking the parade route through the streets of London. It left Baker Street at 1pm, proceeded down Oxford Street and Regent Street, then through Piccadilly Circus, finishing in Trafalgar Square. Then in Trafalgar Square the main stage had a an eclectic mix of speakers, performers and colourful entertainment. There was also a smaller Pop Stage hosted by Ku Bar in Leicester Square. And over in Soho the streets were closed to traffic to allow for one big street party. Soho Square was taken over by Fire nightclub and packed full of ravers. There was truly a place for everyone at this fabulous free event. With stages and bars dotted all around there was plenty of entertainment or a place to chill with mates or space to make new friends.

The festival then finished around 8pm. As the sun set there were then many parties to choose from. The biggest had to be SuperMartXe @ The Coronet Theatre in Elephant & Castle. London’s finest muscle boys packed out the venue which had an army commando theme. A PA from Therese was the highlight; she sung her new track “fallen angel” along with a spectacular laser light show and pyrotechnics.

The turn out this year was an estimated 1 million, the London Pride committee says a big Thank You to everyone:

“We campaigned, we debated and we even had a little bit of a celebration. Pride London had many firsts this year, 40 years after the start of the Stonewall gay rights movement in the USA, including the very first Downing Street reception, first political debate, and a new and refreshed Arts Festival, and we look forward to building our event up more in the build up to WorldPride 2012. The figure for this year, which is 1 million (1,000,000) people, compared to last year's figure, which was 825,000, shows that as an event we have increased in size by 175,000 people attending this year's pride. This makes Pride London the largest LGBT Event in the UK.

Pride London in 2009 was an amazing success and is now over for another year. We would like to thank the hundreds of thousands of people, community groups and businesses who turned out to support our event, as well as say some very special thank you's  to our sponsors and supporters. Above all however our biggest thanks goes to the 600+ volunteers who without their time, energy, and effort, that gets put in all year round, Pride London simply wouldn't happen. - Thank You

If you enjoyed your time with us on the parade or at any point during the festival, and didn't get a chance to donate to the Pride London Charity please spare a little something and donate online using this link.

Finally we are looking forward to welcoming you all back next year with our festival, and planning and preparations have already begun! Next year we are provisionally scheduled for 21st June - 4th July 2010, and Parade Day on Saturday 3rd July. See you next year!”

 

Check out the Pride London web site: www.PrideLondon.org