
News / Bristol Nightlife
Celebrated queer club night announces it’s ending
Organisers of a queer dance party that has been running in Bristol for 11 years have announced they are calling it a night.
PLU (People Like Us) will be hosting just two more club nights before bringing the party to a finish for good.
Announcing the news, PLU said the decision comes after much inner soul searching as they thanked all who have made the last 11 years possible and created a “beautiful community”.
is needed now More than ever
Chris Collins, who organises the events, reflected on PLU’s humble beginnings and how the club night has evolved and changed throughout the years.
Chris and James, who also helps run the events, began DJ-ing at events around London.
“I was out every night. The straight club nights delivered great music, but we didn’t always feel safe,” said Chris.
“We went to queer nights, which were beautiful and loving, but we weren’t as into the music.”
It was then that the pair decided they wanted to create a safer space to enjoy cutting-edge electronic music.

Chris Collins created PLU as safe space for queer people to enjoy cutting-edge electronic music – photo: Chris Collins
They had to think of a name for a night, and it came about from an earlier memory Chris had with James.
Chris explains: “We used to sit in Broadway Market in London, sipping beers and people watching on a Friday night. It was a mix of Shoreditch hipsters, and I used to mock them, but James came up with the term PLUs. They were people like us, we were one of them whether we liked it or not.”
When Chris moved to Bristol, PLU became more of an established event. Initially, the night was run at a venue called The Looking Glass, which has since closed, by St Nick’s Market.
Chris and James relied on a group of around 30 to 40 of their friends to keep the party going. Jaye Ward began DJing as part of PLU, which helped the night become more established. The club night reached new highs when they ran a closing party for an esteemed Bristol venue.

Chris Collins and Jaye Ward – whose DJ skills helped to establish PLU – photo: @peoplelikeusdjs
Chris explained: “There was this night called Dirty Talk, run by the people who now own Strange Brew. It was at a venue on Stokes Croft called Motorcycle Showroom, it was the best venue in Bristol. I saw some of the best DJs I’ve ever seen upstairs there, with the rain coming through the roof.”
When the venue had an eviction order, they asked PLU to run the closing party. It was here that Chris booked their first DJ.
“We had Daniel Wang, one of the best Disco DJs. We sold about 400-500 tickets in the first half hour and it went until about 10 o’clock in the morning,” remembers Chris. The event had a huge catwalk going up to the DJ booth with dancers, and all of the artists resident in the studios upstairs created decorations.
Chris said: “Before that event, no one knew who we were, but after that we’d been exposed to 500 people and another 500 people who couldn’t get in.”
PLU then moved around venues until they were offered what is now Dare To, in St Phillip’s Marsh, as a venue.
Chris explained that this was probably the most significant thing about PLU’s longevity. They ran around 20 parties over six years at Dare To. Before it was Dare To, it was a gay sauna. Chris said that within the history of house music in New York and Chicago a lot of the black, queer DJs played in gay saunas.
“I was so excited to run a party in a sauna. Annette, who used to run the building, showed me the roof terrace. I had a big lightbulb moment that this space was going to be amazing. For three years, we had complete exclusivity, and that established us,” said Chris.

PLU’s rooftop parties helped build the club night’s longevity – photo: @peoplelikeusdj
PLU ran three rooftop parties in June, mid-July and September. They sold out in five minutes every time. These events ran for around six years.
Chris said: “We persuaded guests from all over the world to come and play this roof terrace in an industrial estate to 180 people. Jonny Rock, Jayda G, Ivan Smagghe, Paquita Gordon and Diamin, huge DJs who have gone on to do amazing things.”
How Bristol’s queer nightlife has changed
Looking at Bristol’s current queer nightlife landscape, Chris said: “It’s changed hugely. I think there was a perfect storm. Before Covid, young queer creatives left Bristol for London. We’d lose an incredible amount of talent and a huge amount of attendees for events as well.”
A few parties existed, including Horse Play, which was a mainly male-centric party, and Thorny, which was a performance art-based night.
“A lot of queer people used to go to Dirty Talk as well. You saw the same people every week. There wasn’t a choice, and there weren’t any venues,” said Chris.

PLU would soon become a renowned queer party space – photo: @peoplelikeusdj
After Covid, new venues opened including Strange Brew and Lost Horizon. “Young, queer people started to look at London and think ‘it’s not quite as attractive as it used to be’. I started a Whatsapp group with all Bristol’s queer promoters. We’ve got about 45 promoters in there at the moment.”
The queer collective Crotch ran an event where they did awards for queer nightlife in Bristol. The list of events went on for about half an hour and Chris described how joyous they felt to see this
“I’m really thankful. I describe myself as a sponge. When you get to my age, you hear a lot of misunderstanding about younger people not knowing enough. But I find it really inspiring, and it got me to up my game. You can’t stay the same, you have to move with the times,” said Chris.
Chris prides themselves on booking DJs that are emerging on the scene. Never wanting to stick to one genre, they preferred people to come for the sense of community, rather than just the music.

PLU’s events created a strong sense of community – photo: @peoplelikeusdj
“When we ran the roof terrace parties we used to throw black bags into the crowd and ask for a hand. We’d blitz the place in around half an hour. People would help carry our sound systems down,” said Chris, adding that this gave the nights a community-minded spirit.
Social media has now become a big part of advertising nightlife.
Chris explains: “I think that, if you’re told to go to a party through social media, you’ll probably go. But you might not go a second or third time. Whereas if you find a party, being told by a friend, you haven’t been told to go. You’ve made your own choice, so that party, in a small way, belongs to you. As well as the people who run it.
“When I announced these would be the last few parties, I received a lot of love and messages. People said the events had changed their lives. There was a theme in those messages. PLU’s club nights belonged to them as well as it did to those of us who started it.
“In my experience, most parties come to an end because no one goes anymore, and I don’t want to get to that stage. It would be a really sad way for it to end, we’re not there yet, so I want to go out on a high.
“It’s challenging, because I know the last few parties will be great, and I’ll ask myself why we’re stopping it. But I like nice endings, and I think it’s good to go out on a high.”
PLU’s penultimate club night is happening on Saturday at the Loco Klub. Tickets can be purchased via: www.headfirstbristol.co.uk/whats-on/loco-klub/sat-17-feb-plu-with-rrrkrta-brutaz–100367#e100367
PLU will continue to run live music events and their Summer Camp festival, for more information, follow this link. If you check the bio on their profile, you can apply to attend the camp there.
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