10/10/2020
There was a surprise for fans of LGBTQ history on Friday afternoon, when the television station Talking Pictures, a small business channel which specialises in the rich heritage of British film from the last 120 years, broadcast a rarely seen movie from 1963 called Some People. Starring a very young Ray Brookes, alongside Anneke Wills before she was in Doctor Who, and Kenneth Moore, the movie was filmed in Bristol during 1962. In one scene, Brookes's character visits the Gin Palace in the heart of what is now Bristol's gay village, but nearly sixty years ago was a down at heel part of town struggling to find its feet again after the Second World War. Around ten minutes worth of scenes were filmed within the Gin Palace, and to everyone's delight, the inside is instantly familiar. The Victorian fixtures and fittings familiar to the gay and trans communities from more recent incarnations of the bar are clearly in position. The only additions in the greater half of a century to be added are the stage and the removal of a honky tonk pianoforte to make way for a more modernised sound system. The Gin Palace has sadly been closed for a couple of years, but rumours persist of a new LGBTQ buyer ready to relaunch the venue as a central part of the city's gay scene. Talking Pictures Television in the meantime, can be seen on Freeview Channel 81 plus on Sky, Virgin, BT and other cable television platforms.
