Following a viral launch that saw hundreds of lesbians take over Broadway Market, Dazed spoke to the owners of La Camionera about their plans to open a permanent space
Two weeks ago, a new bar, La Camionera, opened its doors, taking up residency in a basement on London’s Broadway Market. The night started with drinks flowing from a menu that included negronis, natural wines and vermouth, with Gilda pintxos on the side. Candle-lit tables with branded bottle opener keychains and bar mats became quickly occupied, with full capacity reached in less than an hour. Soon, the standing room became one-in-one-out, and before long, there was hardly a drop of booze left and the speakers had blown. Upstairs, the street buzzed with hundreds of attendees.
In what has since been dubbed ’Winter Pride’, La Camoniera’s opening turn illuminated the sheer demand for more inclusive lesbian spaces. It should come as no surprise, considering London boasts just one other, She Soho, with only two more across the entire country.
Murmurs of the bar began circulating in late January, as hazy images of underwear-clad reclining bodies among carabiners, cocktails and card games appeared on their Instagram, quickly gaining them thousands of followers. La Camionera was offering the promise of an alternative to the typical one-off night or club environments: something sexier, more intimate, a place for long conversations over good drinks, for dates, or to meet other faces from the community.
Lesbian WhatsApp groups spoke of little else (”Do you know who’s behind La Cami?” ”I’ve heard it's Arlo Parks”). These conspiratory murmurings proved to be a surprisingly effective marketing technique. People across the city received the nod as the account began following and interacting with the community. Friends told friends, and the lesbian web did its thing.
Now, founder Alex Loveless is on the precipice of opening the capital’s own above-ground, FLINTA*-backed (women, lesbian, inter, non-binary, transgender and agender) permanent space. Loveless, a musician, DJ, writer and food obsessive, brings nearly ten years of nightlife experience, having hosted club nights like Nice Mover and Body2Body. Working alongside girlfriend Clara Solis, an artist and sustainable jewellery designer, as well as a ”Charlie’s Angels” style team of co-collaborators, the group has raised a staggering £40k and counting in additional crowdfunding and will soon hold the keys to a bar on Hackney’s Well Street.
Below, we catch up with Loveless and Solis about what you can expect once La Camionera opens its doors again.
Where did the idea for La Camionera come from, and what does it actually mean?
Alex Loveless: I just wanted a name that screamed Spanish lesbian bar. I hate explaining things or being too verbose; Clara said ‘La Caimonera’ meant a female truck driver, and that was it set in stone.
Clara Solis: Yeah, it means female truck driver and butch lesbian. Alex and I spend a lot of time in Madrid and my visiting family.
Alex Loveless: Initially, the concept was drawn up from the basement residency and the space we had, which was great. With the new space, it’s almost the opposite – dark becomes bright, still a cave-a-manger, just less… cave.
Did you expect that many people to turn up for opening night?
Alex Loveless: No… I was just really stressed and wanted more than anything to not piss off the owner of the bar or get them in any trouble with the council. It took a few days of fear before I could really realise what had happened, but that fear of letting everyone down was what drove us to find the new space.
What were you two up to whilst hundreds of people lined the streets of Broadway Market?
Clara Solis: We were in the basement running the bar, and at one point, our housemates came down and were like, have you seen how many people are outside? I thought they were exaggerating – then I went upstairs…
Alex Loveless: We were just behind the bar. It was only meant to be me and Bruno working [Clara’s brother], but at one point, I had three ex-girlfriends behind helping out.
So, the initial idea for La Camionera was a residency; how did you go from that to a permanent space?
Alex Loveless: Well, after so many people turned up I wasn’t sure if we could do it at the same place again. There was some trouble with the police and the council, so we had to cool off for a few days and put some precautions in place. In the meantime, everyone was asking about it, and rumours were flying around, so I thought we had to find somewhere as a backup – we didn't want to disappoint people. Then I found somewhere and the stars aligned…
Clara Solis: And it was just too perfect to say no to. We had to make it happen.
Alex Loveless: I was looking online and found this place on a random website. Cloda, a friend of mine who is working on the bar with us, knew the owner, so we went in for a chat.
How did it feel when you saw the space for the first time?
Clara Solis: When we saw the place, we knew it was the one. The garden sold it for me. I was immediately picturing a hazy summer evening tableau – loads of plants, hot lesbians by candlelight and a little cat.
Alex Loveless: It was daunting, but we knew that with work, it could be something special.
When are you hoping to open?
Clara Solis: We will know exactly when soon, and then we will let everyone know.
You are both taking out serious personal loans to make this happen; what makes you willing to take on the risk?
Alex Loveless: I think you get a few chances to run with stuff in your life, and this was obviously one of them.
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And if someone told you 12 months ago you’d be opening a bar, would you have believed them?
Clara Solis: No way – I wouldn’t have even believed it two weeks ago.
Tell me what’s happening if I walk into La Camionera for the first time.
Alex Loveless: You are drinking vermouth and being hand-fed steak by someone you have just met.
If one drink could define the bar, what would it be?
Alex Loveless: Sex on the beach, but it’s just a nice cold beer.
And a song?
Alex Loveless: “Previsão do Tempo” by Marcos Valle.
Okay, you’re behind the bar and turn around to see your dream regular; who is it?
Alex Loveless: This beautiful older woman who no one knows anything about, but she calls all the bar staff by name, has her regular table and travels from Highgate on Sundays to sit and read whatever new Paul B. Preciado book there is out.
What does success look like for La Camionera?
Alex Loveless: Being able to stay open, seeing people enjoy themselves, a full garden in the summer and friends at the bar.
Why is it important that the space is also open throughout the day?
Alex Loveless: One of my weaker points is daytime trade. I am more of a bar/restaurant kind of guy. We have someone on the team who is a coffee genius, so with their expertise, I feel comfortable going forward. It is also nice to have the option to go somewhere and not be expected to drink. Maybe you come to La Camionera to do some work on your laptop, or maybe people under the age of 18, people with children, the list goes on – we are keen to help support everyone in the community – not just the late-night bar types like myself.
You both have your individual projects and creative practices already in motion. How will you manage that alongside running a bar?
Clara Solis: It is a lot to take on, but also, I am seeing the project of building a really beautiful environment with a team of lesbian carpenters, electricians and artists, doing it all ourselves, as an extension of our creative practices. I mean, we want the bathrooms to be a literal artwork, where you walk in, and it is just like, wow, this is the nicest bathroom ever, you know?
Alex Loveless: Everything is symbiotic. I probably wouldn’t have been able to open the bar without all the people I have met and the things I have learnt through other projects… I can’t help but work on multiple things at once. I don’t even really see a lot of it as work; it is just built into my day-to-day. I know that running the new place is going to further what else I am working on, too – especially cooking and writing.
A lot of the draw is the fact it’s a lesbian bar, but in labelling La Camionera as such, there have been some questions about who the bar is for. Why is it so vital for both of you that this is an inclusive space for everyone?
Clara Solis: Yeah, that is really important to us – we wanted the bar to feel welcoming to anyone who felt it was a space for them.
Alex Loveless: Of course, it’s an inclusive space. Whenever anything is women-led it comes with all this extra dialogue around who’s allowed in etc., we never even thought about that. It’s FLINTA-forward and focused, and that’ll naturally be reflected in the venue’s programming and clientele. I hate having to constantly explain myself. I don’t have a word for it… in fact, can people just stop asking?
You set up a crowdfund. What did you want to achieve with that?
Alex Loveless: We wanted to ask people to buy a drink in advance to help us out with the massive costs of starting a bar. People can then exchange that in six months down the line, which helps us enormously. The support has been amazing, and it looks like we will be able to open up sooner because of it.
You generated an impressive £30,000 in about 24 hours. How did that feel?
Clara Solis: It really reinforced the fact that this is so desperately wanted.