Have a G-A-Y old time

G-A-Y Bar: now there's a thought that will have you either jumping with glee or shuddering to the very fibre of your being. Like it or not, the Old Compton Street site, most recently home to Manto's, has been given the Jeremy Joseph treatment and has emerged as a video bar.

Parent company Mean Fiddler, currently developing the G-A-Y brand through albums and other merchandise, expect the bar to be a 'feeder' to the Astoria night - G-A-Y lettering is plastered 10ft high over most of the walls and floors, and even the signs for the toilets have the familiar logo.

Unlike the boys of Manto's, a new, rather shiny crowd has already descended to watch the music videos on plasma screens that are mixed with the brightest pink light boxes imaginable. Waiting to be served, however, was a bit like catching a bus during a Tube strike: you wade through crowds of overly warm boys with the thought that you could handle the job much better yourself. And there's no room here to hide in the shadows as the lighting is clearly not designed for the faint at heart - these boys are here to be seen and under these lights every neatly sculptured hair is on parade.

Certainly on the opening night, the shiny of Soho had turned out in force to judge this new offering. Different? Well, yes. Better? You decide.