We love this legacy art project from this year’s Portsmouth Pride and wanted to share a bit more information about the eye catching magenta coloured hoardings.
This year’s ‘Everybody’s Pride’ mural is a collaboration between Portsmouth based artist and trans activist Mister Samo and local creative studio FORM+FUNCTION – whose work in the city looks to connect communities through creativity.
The 45+ foot long hoarding close to the Queens Hotel car park, was beautifully positioned to be visible for attendees of the Pride Main Day Event.
And now it will be a prominent (hot pink!) legacy artwork – emblazoned with Mister Samo’s iconic ‘YOU ARE LOVED’ message – for residents and visitors to the city to appreciate.
The mural and its messaging demonstrates the power of collective, creative collaboration in support – and celebration of – Portsmouth’s wonderful, growing and PROUD rainbow community.
Portsmouth Pride 2023 was full of colour, fun, laughter, happiness and lots and lots of love.
It was such a joyous day and we were extremely proud to once again be the official hotel of Portsmouth Pride. This exciting partnership allows us to celebrate love and promote inclusion and kindness.
The main Portsmouth Pride event was held on Southsea Common. There was also a parade around the city to kick off the celebrations.
Here at the hotel, we officially opened our garden for the summer on the day of the Pride celebrations. We also served up our exclusive Pride cocktail – the Rainbow. £1 from the sale of each cocktail went to Portsmouth Pride.
What’s more, we were lucky enough to host the VIP Meet & Greet, which saw lots of Pride goers coming to the hotel to meet their favourite acts – Black Peppa and Danny Beard, both of whom were both friendly and hilarious.
The garden was kitted out with Pride décor, including a fabulous balloon arch from Boujee Events Hire and some Pride signs from Victory Events. The sun shone all day too, which certainly helped provide a fun, summer atmosphere.
What a day it was. We’re looking forward to next year already!
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Stephen Tennant stayed at The Queens Hotel!
As the official hotel for Portsmouth Pride, we have thoroughly enjoyed the LGBT+ History month posts from Portsmouth Pride celebrating key figures.
Accordingly we’d like to add our own favourite queer icon, Stephen Tennant.
A British socialite known for his eccentric lifestyle, Stephen was a member of the so-called ‘Bright Young Things.’ They dominated the headlines in the 1930s due to their extravagant behaviour.
In the post war years, he was a regular guest at The Queens Hotel. He was well known for holding court in the lobby, cutting quite a dash with his stylish flair.
In his book Serious Pleasures: The Life of Stephen Tennant, celebrated local author Professor Philip Hoare, described how Stephen was a much loved guest at the hotel.
“The hotel was Southsea’s best, with its impressive marble pillared hall, and stained-glass domed ceiling. It had, like all of Stephen’s favoured hotels, a quiet hushed air of untrumpeted luxury.
“He would take one of the first-floor rooms, with a balcony looking out over the promenade and green of Southsea, its castle and cannons and strolling sailors.
“One of the porters at the Queens, Charlie Taylor, remembered Stephen sitting in the lounge, gazing at the dome. ‘When I first saw him he was wearing a long fawn camel coat and a pixie hood!’
Stephen quickly had the staff under his spell.
‘He used to have his hair done at the ladies’ hairdressers in town – brilliant blond – and he wore crocodile skin shoes. One day he was sitting in the hall, and called me over. He asked me to take them round to the shoe shop in Castle Road and get them dyed pink!’”
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We just had to share more of the stunning images from Portsmouth Pride UK. These were taken by the hugely talented Goble Photography featuring RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs The World winner, Blu Hydrangea ,and drag queen Cherry Liquor
It was the first Pride event the Queens Hotel has been involved with – and we loved it.
As the official hotel for Portsmouth Pride, we loved welcoming our drag queens and drag king Brent Would. Guests and visitors passing through certainly enjoyed saying hello.
Our partnership means we will be working closely with them to support their work throughout the year. We look forward to announcing more exciting collaborations in the months ahead. This partnership allows us to underline our commitment to being a hotel that welcomes everyone.
For more details on forthcoming events follow our social media & visit our Events page.
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We are proud to announce that we are now the official hotel of Portsmouth Pride. Following the bonding of this new partnership, we celebrated with the face of Portsmouth Pride, drag queen Cherry Liquor.
With Portsmouth Pride due to take place on Saturday June 11, the Queens Hotel General Manager, Paul Playford, was delighted to welcome members of the event’s management team and their giant flag too.
“We are really excited about our partnership and to announce that we are the official hotel of Portsmouth Pride. We see the Queens Hotel as being a place that offers a warm welcome to everyone.
“Our team will take part in the parade ahead of the main Portsmouth Pride event. Plus, we look forward to welcoming attendees as we will be opening our newly designed garden on the day.
“This is just the start of our partnership with Portsmouth Pride. We look forward to working closely together during the coming year,” he said.
Anyone attending Portsmouth Pride will be welcome to keep the party vibe going by joining us in the Queens Hotel garden.
Commenting on the partnership with the Queens Hotel, chairperson, Tally Aslam, said: “We are so looking forward to building a close working relationship with the Queens Hotel. It is great that they will be joining the parade and supporting our Portsmouth Pride main day event too.
“We are a charity and rely on support from businesses and organisations like the Queens to carry on the good work we do. As a result of this partnership, we also secured a partnership with Hovertravel who work closely with the hotel too.”
Portsmouth Pride is set to make a triumphant return in 2022. This is after two years of not being able to run its iconic event for the LGBTQ+ community in Portsmouth.
It is a completely free and open event for the whole community, including allies to the LGBTQ+ community. It brings together people from across the south coast to enjoy a full day of celebrations on Southsea Common.
The emotive and inspirational day starts with their highlight parade. This includes representatives from local community groups, youth groups, trade unions, activist groups, religious organisations, local businesses, and many more. It is also open to individual community members to join on the day.
The parade takes in Southsea Seafront before entering the main Pride area. Here, visitors get to experience entertainment all the way through into the evening. Entertainment will be spread across two different stages and will include their 2022 Headliner, RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs The World winner, Blu Hydrangea.
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