The Cossack RIP

At the tender age of 17 i joined the Sheffield Lesbian and Gay Youth group, it was my first opportunity to meet with otehr baby gays who were going through similar stuff to me. We met on a cold and dark morning outside the Crucible Theatre , there were about 10 of us, we were having a joint social event with the Young Lesbian Group. We piled into 2 cars and headed up to the Bowling Lanes in Hillsborough, It was great fun and i laughed a lot, everyone made me feel great, like i could really be myself.

After the bowling had finished everyone suggested that we head to a gay bar in the city centre called The Cossack, this filled me with fear and dread. In the playground and corridors of school, the rumours of what went on in the cossack were hideous, these included the stupid rumour that pound coins were stuck to the floor so when you bent down to pick it up you got royally buggered by some hairy backed mary!

I reluctantly went in to find out that it was a regular pub, like a proper old fashioned pub, i became quite the regular - until i felt confident i had to wait across the road to make sure no one saw me going in but after a few years i would stand outside in the summer bold as ass with my pint.

After being badly mismanaged for many years the bar closed down and it was with a tad of sadness that i heard recently that the whole bar had been knocked down to make space for regeneration projects. There was a whole lotta history in that bar, lots of kissing nice men and a few not so nice! The occassional lesbian bar fight, the grand old pound a pint night on tuesdays - happy days.

The gay scene had a much better feel in those days, a sense of community and solidarity. Now i go back to sheffield or most gay scenes around the country and that sense has long gone, maybe i am getting old or maybe i am just in love with the past but it was a great past and i for one am sad to see it go.

xx