Trade

Inarguably one of this city's greatest club institutions of the 1990s, Laurence Malice's Trade gave gay London an off-your-face clubbing and dancing experience pulled off to the Nth degree, unlike any before it. Started in 1990 at the John Newman-owned Turnmills in east London-ish Clerkenwell/Farringdon, the weekly event didn't start until 4am — a first for the scene (and London) — while stimulants, trippy-clever lighting, Trade's signature hard house and techno (care of ace DJs) and a very confident sound system kept Saturday night going well into Sunday afternoon. The crowd was mostly 'sweaty gay male' but stretched further afield in several directions, with guest lists that included Grace Jones and Madonna. It's one of those 'you had to be there' landmarks of gay London history, and remains the byword in 'gay after-hours'. The final party at Turnmills was to be had in 1999, but one-off Trade events have surfaced around London since 2002, continuing in the tradition of "pumping, underground, cutting-edge dance music". Since 2003 Malice has also been associated with his lower-profile dance club Egg LDN [see entry], and in 2014 a commercial block replaced the old building that housed Turnmills. Malice staged his final Trade party at Egg on Sunday 25 October 2015, but in late 2022 announced a return to the scene in February 2023, back at Egg LDN.