When Ghislain Pascal opened Boys! Boys! Boys! Gallery Cafe a year ago, he knew he was creating a unique space. Located on a lively street in Fitzrovia, Pascal’s venue is a stylish hybrid: an unpretentious art gallery you can pop into for a coffee or something stronger, and a place for weekly meets with anyone Pascal finds creatively interesting. Upcoming guests include Charles Moriarty, the photographer who shot Amy Winehouse for her Frank album cover, and radio DJ and comedian James Barr.
“Too many galleries now are white boxes with no personality, and people find them intimidating to walk into,” says Pascal, who also co-owns The Little Black Gallery, an online hub for contemporary fine art photography. “I wanted this gallery to feel more relaxed and act as a social space for the queer community and anyone interested in queer art.” Though Boys! Boys! Boys! serves its own brand of French wine and London-brewed lager, Pascal stresses that “we’re very much not another gay bar”, pointing to the venue’s daytime hours: it’s open from 2pm to no later than 8pm Tuesday through Saturday.
The weekly meets – informal Q&A sessions every Wednesday, welcoming everyone from activist Peter Tatchell to ’90s pop star Kavana – serve a dual purpose. “We want to start a cultural conversation, but we also want to attract people who might not normally visit an art gallery,” Pascal says. In a way, his bespoke venue is a shop window for the entire Boys! Boys! Boys! brand, which also includes a queer cultural podcast, coffee-table books and a biannual magazine dedicated to gay fine art photography. “The artists we work with are always asking for an exhibition, but those cost a lot of money to put on,” he says. “But now, we have this permanent space to showcase their work. To an extent, everything we do is a marketing tool for queer art.”
But because Boys! Boys! Boys! is a global brand – the magazine is stocked in US book chain Barnes & Noble – the gallery cafe has also become a destination for international visitors. On any given day, they’ll share the space with locals and collectors eyeing up the artwork. “I’m so glad we’re attracting different customers, because we didn’t make this space on the cheap – these are onyx marble tables!” Pascal says with a laugh. “Opening this space was a risk, but it really seems to have clicked with people who like what we do.”
Boys! Boys! Boys! Gallery Cafe
30C Warren Street, W1T 5NF
Hours:
Tuesday, Thursday & Friday 2pm–7pm
Saturday 2pm–8pm
Wednesday & Sunday 2pm–6pm
