Gay bar drink kiki

The bar, situated upstairs at Laugavegur 22 has recently changed ownership which begs the question, what will that mean for the beloved venue? My background is in nightlife and entertainment. I was brought up in the New York Queer Nightlife scene. She has also worked as an events host, journalist and television presenter.

The new ownership is led by Finni Karlsson, one of the people who kickstarted Kiki in the days of yore. He is a well known restauranteur and bar owner. Even back then the original owners understood the importance of having a queer bar and eventually handed it over to actual queer people when it was sold.

When they recently bought the business back they understood that they needed someone who knows the community and is also known within the community to strategically oversee the operations to make sure the business is meeting the needs of its patrons. Could you enlighten us? The needs of people are changing and we would like to provide for them.

I may not be gay myself, but know the community and am very passionate about creating great and safe nightlife and entertainment spaces. These kinds of spaces are what I know.

Let’s Keep Having a Kiki!

Kiki bar already provided so much through the previous ownership and we want to keep it as a queer space and just continue to drink it better. Think of it as the passing of a baton. I actually have been DJing here since it first opened and have performed and partied here loads over the years.

One thing we really want to implement straight away are some policies to make a night out at Kiki even safer for the community. I come from the world of burlesque and there are a lot of similarities between the burlesque nightlife world and the queer nightlife world. There gay a lot of crossover. Both of these worlds have loads of sexual anarchy but they also require spaces to be safe.

Safety is so important. So one change people will see straight away is that we are going to start closing at 3am. Of course Kiki will always be a great place to dance but we would also like to offer events in the earlier parts of the evening when people might not be ready for dancing.

For example, another bar, Gaukurinn also hosts a lot of queer events. The main point is that I kiki like to make sure Kiki is as much a part of the community as the people are; because most queer people in Iceland have some sort of connection to this place. Some people have had mixed feelings about it but it will stay the same.

Like a clean start. Maybe you could call it just a small facelift. Regular customers will be happy to know that Magnea is coming back as a bar manager. Also if you want to get in touch about events or ideas or even feedback, contact us through our social media on Facebook or Instagram.