Photo: The Divine, owner-submitted via Google Maps
The Divine
Jonny Woo and John Sizzle's queer drag hothouse, built where The Glory left off.
Published
Reasons to check it out
- The Divine occupies 33-35 Stoke Newington Road, Dalston, a short walk from The Glory's old Haggerston site.
- LIPSYNC1000 and MAN UP, the drag contests The Glory made famous, both transferred here intact.
- Nearly every night carries programming — cabaret, club nights, comedy heats, drag-king battles — not a weekend-only booking.
“The Glory closing could have scattered LIPSYNC1000 and MAN UP into memory. Instead they moved down the road intact, competitors and all, which is the rarer outcome and the whole reason to run this pin now.”
— STEFAN, byline
The Glory closed in Haggerston; Jonny Woo, John Sizzle and Colin Rothbart reopened a short walk away in Dalston as The Divine, and — unusually for a scene where a closure usually just means a closure — brought the actual competitions with them. LIPSYNC1000 and MAN UP, the lip-sync and drag-king contests The Glory built its reputation on, run here now, continuous rather than revived.
Attitude called it The Glory's "naughty little sister," which undersells the scale: 200 capacity across two floors, upgraded stage and lighting, and a booking calendar that runs cabaret, club nights, comedy heats and drag-king battles most nights of the week rather than saving the good stuff for Friday and Saturday. The venue's own listings show that density directly if you want to time a visit around something specific.
The room itself splits opinion. One Google reviewer with the former Glory as a direct point of comparison called The Divine "a bit more sterile... and much less character, but very friendly staff." Others flag the practical friction of a busy queer venue: a queue to reach the smoking area, no re-entry stamp, water hard to get to on a packed dance floor. None of it reads as a reason to skip the room — the friendliness of the staff comes up unprompted in more than one account — but go in expecting a working club on a full night, not a curated lounge.
For the rest of Dalston's queer cluster — locals still call this stretch the "pink triangle" — see Dalston Superstore, a few doors down and open considerably earlier in the evening.
Sources: Time Out — The Divine, Attitude — The Glory team announce The Divine, London the Inside — The Divine, The Divine — official site, About, The Divine — official site, What's On, The Divine — Instagram, r/downloadfestival — DRAGLOAD at The Divine
