Just Purrr-fect!

This is a review of Purrr, a new play club in London for women who do SM with women, including women who live full time as women, and FTM and intersex people who feel that they still have a link to the women's/dyke community - but no male TVs or male crossdressers. To quote from their website:

Purrr was created for women who do SM play with other women. Purrr is unique in that we offer the only regular late night women's monthly play club. Where you can learn, share and explore with other women your interest in BDSM sexuality, based on a consensual exchange of power between partners. It's a safe, relaxed and friendly atmosphere intended to encourage an attitude-free fetish environment.

You'd think that in a city like London there would be at least one decent women's play club, but no. Not until now. Many a club has come and gone, in my time alone One Night Stand, Sticky Fingers, and, though it's still running, Klub Fukk - but none of them have had what it takes, in my view.

Purrr does. I went to Purrr's launch night on Friday 31 March 2006, and was simply blown away. Let's list just some of the things Purrr's got right which no other club in London has so far...

Location and opening hours

Some clubs are too far away or too hard to find. Purrr is just 5 to 10 minutes' walk from Tufnell Park tube, Northern line (zone 2, High Barnet or Mill Hill East branch), and you can't miss the big sign for The Fortress (map), the venue where it's held.

It's open for a decent length of time too, from 9.30 pm to 4.30 am After midnight though the doors shut and you have to phone a number on the door to gain entry. If you're going to be late and want the number in advance you can get it from info@purrr.co.uk.

The local minicab company got a cab there only 5 minutes after I called them from the Purrr phone, so I had no trouble getting home at 4.30 am.

Venue

Other places have been too uncomfortable (remember freezing your butt off at Sticky Fingers?), dingy or sleazy, or lack atmosphere. No such problem here.

The club is in the basement, with the cloakroom and a small changing area upstairs (so you don't have to travel in full fetish regalia - but yes there is a dress code, see the Purrr website).

There are two decent sized main rooms, one for play (non-smoking) and one with seating and a small bar (smoking allowed). There's another room with a big tiled shower area and, in a separate part of the room, an massage bed. I heard there was a small upstairs room with a bed too, but I never got that far.

Sometimes it felt like there wasn't enough room to swing a cat in the play area, but that was mainly because of the huge numbers of women there. Some of the equipment could be further apart, but the size of the room is what it is, and it's certainly as well-equipped as it could be in the circumstances.

Plus, you can actually see what you (and everyone else) is doing. No squinting through dry ice haze here. Which is good not just for voyeurs, but from a safety point of view. Not that the lighting is glaring - it's just nice, as far as I'm concerned, enough for clarity without making you feel that your every move is in the spotlight. Maybe that's why I felt more comfortable there than I have in any other play club I've tried.

Talking about atmosphere,as I mentioned Purrr didn't feel at all sleazy to me. Some people get off on dirty, dark and dingy, but I don't. And remember, being relaxed and at ease isn't necessarily unsexy; quite the contrary.

Gear and equipment

You can bring your own kit if you want to, but truly there's gear galore at Purrr, from the typical sorts of "fixtures and fittings" you'd expect in a well-appointed dungeon, to percussive tools of all kinds. Check out the "our venue" page on the Purrr site for photos and a list (I won't deep link to that page so that readers don't skip over the "Over 18" only warning).

Even experienced players might scratch their heads a bit over what some of the kit there was for, but I'm sure the resident Dommes will be able to explain!

There's also plenty of antiseptic spray and wipes etc, which ought of course to be liberally used (and indeed the Purrr site says "Please clean up after yourself and wipe down any equipment when necessary."). There's a good supply of the usual disposables/consumables too.

Admissions policy

Again, the Purrr door policy wins hands down in my opinion: as I mentioned earlier they admit only women who live full time as women, and also trans men (female to male transexuals) and intersex people who feel that they still have ties to the women's/dyke community. No male transvestites or male crossdressers are allowed in.

Now arguments have raged, and I'm sure will always rage, about what door policies should be: how it's bad to exclude certain groups of people, etc, etc. My personal view is that men already have lots of clubs that they can go to, whether mixed or predominantly men only; but the sad fact is, women don't. Many women, some with very good reason, don't feel comfortable playing in the presence of bio men. So why shouldn't there be at least one club which caters to them?

Certainly, Purrr was packed out on launch night. Maybe a lot of women were there merely for curiosity's sake, and numbers may drop in the future, but my feeling is that Purrr's reputation will just grow and grow so numbers won't fall, and may even rise. Indeed, some people had travelled there from well outside London just to attend.

Privacy

As with other play clubs there are rules - what goes on at Purrr is meant to stay at Purrr. No photos are allowed. There was an official photographer who was rather more enthusiastically trigger-happy than some of us would have liked, but I am assured that no one was directly photographed except with their consent, and that Mistress Vamp has given strict instructions that everyone in the background of any photos has to be blurred out.

(As far as the media is concerned, anyway, I'm sure that Purrr would count as "public property where people have a reasonable expectation of privacy" so that no press photos could be published of anyone there without their consent.)

Value for money

Tickets in March 2006 cost £14 if bought in advance at Fettered Pleasures or Coffee Cake & Kink, or £16 on the door.

Now I've heard that some people thought that was too expensive, but the club opens at 9.30pm and closes at 4.30am; there are free nibbles like cheese and biscuits throughout the night; drinks don't cost the earth (£1 for a soft drink, £2.50 for a beer - you can even get coffee and tea there, how civilised is that?), there's even a floor show, the first one by Painted Lady - so all in all, per hour of fun I think it's amazingly good value for money, and it's only on once a month anyway.

Furthermore, though I only noticed the info on the Purrr site after the event, there was a discount on Fortress products bought on the night (cash only) available to all attendees.

There was also a raffle to raise money for SM Dykes South East, with some gorgeous prizes (see the Purrr Launch Night page on the Purrr site), sadly I didn't win any but I'm trying again next time.

The women

Last but certainly not least, whatever your taste or kink there was probably someone there to match it - a fascinatingly huge range of women of virtually every variety, dressed (or undressed) in almost every type of fetish wear you could think of, from uniform to classic Domme.

Just curious, nervous, both? The Purrr site says:

Purrr welcomes newbies and experienced players alike or indeed women who just want to watch or socialise. There is no pressure on anyone to do anything, so it's an ideal event to just come and see what’s happening without having to take part. However, if you wish to learn new skills or try something new then there are experienced Dommes available to answer your questions and help you.

The resident Dommes, Mistress Vamp (photo at the top of this page) and Mistress Morphia (photo on the right), are also resident Dommes at the famous Torture Garden. As mentioned earlier, they are available to help with unfamiliar equipment or tools (see the Purrr Etiquette page). They and all Purrr staff all wear badges so you can identify them. The temptation is very much to look elsewhere and not spot the badges, but what a very good excuse for peering closely at gorgeous women ("I was only trying to see if you had a Resident Mistress badge on...").

As with most women's club there's a certain amount of diffidence in talking to people you don't already know, but even so I struck up the odd conversation or two and met some interesting new women. However, as an icebreaker the Purrr organisers held a drinks meet the week before Purrr, on Tuesday 21 March, and clearly intend to hold more ("Occasionally we will organise meet ups at either Bar Wotever or Coffee Cake & Kink so you can meet your hosts and other people who attend the club, if you would like to know about future meets then please join the mailing list or e-mail us at info@purrr.co.uk.") - so if you'd like to attend, keep an eye on the Dungeon section of the Gingerbeer messageboard or join the Purrr mailing list (click the Mailing List link from the main page after you enter the site).

I couldn't make it to the March pre-Purrr meet myself, but I stayed at Purrr till closing (by which time it had thinned out a fair bit), and ended the night well content.

Now lest anyone think otherwise, I have no connection with Purrr and I haven't been bribed or coerced into writing positive things about it (I wish - on the bribing front, anyway)! But I do think both Mistress Vamp and Mistress Morphia are delightful yet down to earth - a perfect combination, as far as I'm concerned.

Given the way in which they're approaching this venture, it really deserves to succeed, and I hope it will. I for one plan to attend every event that I can - it's on the last Friday of every month except May (when they're all off to Manchester).

Don't go because you want to support them - go because it's the most fun play club there is for women in London!

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