Our mission at JAKE is to bring the very best in everything to gay Londoners. Whether it’s an exclusive evening with Dame Joan Collins (you’re going to hear the word ‘exclusive’ a lot, by the way), exclusive cocktails at the members-only Club at The Ivy, an exclusive preview screening of Oscar-winning Moonlight or gay HBO series Looking, an exclusive performance by Josef Salvat on the roof of The Ace, an exclusive restaurant take-over at hot new five-star restaurant Cub, an exclusive evening on the terraces of Somerset House, an exclusive preview evening at Maison Rémy Martin with free cocktails, an exclusive art party with Gavin Turk, an exclusive shopping evening at Coach, Byredo or Bally, an exclusive Soho VIP spot overlooking the action at London Pride with free fizz or an exclusive dinner hosted by Yotam Ottolenghi himself at his Soho NOPI restaurant.
These are just a few of the big – shall we say ‘exclusive’ one more time? – nights out that we organise for the gay and the good. And all you have to do is sign up for the free invites and choose which of them you want to be part of.
Drinks
Something of an institution, these are after-work drinks at a venue where you wouldn’t usually expect to have a gay night out. Think of it as ‘the best gay bar in London tonight’, a pop-up kind of affair. And we’ve done it everywhere: Somerset House, The Ace, The Sanderson, The Club at The Ivy, St. Martins Lane Hotel, Corinthia, Café Royale, The Ned… Even The Gotham in Manchester.
Dinner
We take over a whole restaurant – usually a new and a buzzy one – and members come to eat, drink and table hop. Yotam Ottolenghi himself popped in to say hello at the one we had at Nopi, while Cub in Hoxton went on to feature on the cover – the cover! – of Condé Nast Traveller.
Screenings
Through our contacts we bag free preview screenings of the gay films and TV shows everyone is desperate to see whether it’s the Oscar-winning Moonlight, Call Me By Your Name, Philomena or The Danish Girl or series like Will & Grace (we saw it first when they made their comeback) and Looking.
Theatre
Because there are so many of us, we can take over small theatres and have the night to ourselves including having members of the cast come out to have drinks and chats with us after the show. We’ve done these at small venues like Trafalgar Studios and Kings Head Theatre but we’re looking to grow.
Shopping
When we take over a shop after hours, they get the fizz on ice and the discounts at the ready. With no pressure to buy anything at all, it’s an opportunity for retailers like Paul & Joe, Coach and Bally to showcase in as creative a way as they can, often with a goodie bag and a prize to go with it. Oh and the fizz.
Showcases
Not that Dame Joan Collins needs us to showcase her talents but she did turn up at The May Fair, tell stories, read from her book, submit to an interview by our founder (and her friend) Ivan Massow, take questions from us and then go upstairs to mix, mingle, sign books and get selfies done. Then we had singers Josef Salvat and Peyton all to ourselves at The Ace. It’s just the beginning.
Pride
It's the biggest day of the gay year so why spend it tramping around the streets of Soho when you could be at an exclusive party with free fizz, decent facilities, cool disco and highly flirtable gay men? Not a reason in the world we can think of. Which is why we regularly find the best location to host Jake members for their all their Pride needs.