If like me you’re a fan of traditional leather bars, you’ll definitely want to take a look at Mastery, a regular party for likeminded leathermen at London’s The Backstreet.
In case you don’t already know it, The Backstreet is London’s longest-running leather bar and it’s barely changed since it opened in 1985. Mastery started about a year ago, running roughly quarterly, and each party attracts a bigger crowd than the last. There’s an emphasis on old-school dress codes and the atmosphere of the traditional leather scene.
Plus, unlike any other fetish club in London, The Backstreet has a totally private outdoor smokers’ zone, where you can puff away in your leathers. So expect plenty of Tom of Finland types chomping fat cigars at this one. In fact, October’s party is a Tom tribute, marking the Finnish postal service’s release of a special set of stamps that commemmorate gay erotica’s most famous artist.