“It’s the kind of place where you can go in alone and leave with a load of new friends.”
Superstar Boudoir’s assistant manager Dawn with bar staff Jay and Joe(Image: Liverpool Echo)
A legendary nightclub tucked away in a basement is celebrating a milestone year after standing the test of time for a quarter of a century. Down a steep set of stairs on Stanley Street in the city’s Pride Quarter lies Superstar Boudoir, a venue that you’ll hear all sorts about before you’ve even graced the doors with your presence.
The space’s reputation is laced with wild and chaotic nights, eccentric characters, and the best nights out you’ll ever have – in no small part due to the family at its core. Superstar Boudoir opened on July 4, 2000, with a red carpet welcome for the LGBTQ+ community. Fast-forward to today and the company is celebrating its 25th birthday by being “as fabulous as ever”.
Manager Kevin Kirby told the ECHO: “It’s an achievement for all the staff past and present for keeping the venue a valued safe space for the community. Let’s hope it continues for another 25 years.
“It’s not just a club, it’s one big family where everyone is welcome. It’s the kind of place where you can go in alone and leave with a load of new friends.”
Silk Tray (second right) is one of Superstar Boudoir’s founding members(Image: TRINITY MIRROR COPYRIGHT)
Over the course of two-and-a-half decades, Superstar has welcomed thousands of customers and has employed more staff members you can shake a stick at. Take DJ Silk Tray for example.
Known at the time as Madame Boudoir, she cut the ribbon to a brave new world of colour, glamour and glitter before hitting the decks to entertain the masses. The venue launched with a litany of themed nights including Sunday School, a drag-heavy night aimed at “spicing up the weekend even if you had work the next day.”
On Saturdays, clubbers could dig deep in a “big dress-up box and a menu of icons that you can become with a superstar team giving it the old Stars in Their Eyes treatment.”
Superstar Boudoir once boasted a sister nightclub on Lord Street, Southport
The scene has Silk Tray to thank for the launch as she’s been a part of the furniture long before the paint was even picked. Many know her still today as the literal superstar DJ playing everything from throwback classics to modern bangers in venues across the city.
She was asked by members of the management team to help them with the launch of Superstar Boudoir – which didn’t even have a name at the time. Silk previously told the ECHO: “I was at Garlands back then where I had my own room called Boudoir. I was asked to have a look at this new place and as soon as I walked down the stairs before anything was moved in, I just got a rush.
“I thought, ‘Yes, this is going to work’. I just felt it. There was a glass staircase with lights on so it was like coming into a movie set. So I told Garlands that I was going to work in both. They said I couldn’t, so I jumped ship and brought the Boudoir name with me.
The Stanley Street club once had an outdoor seating area(Image: Liverpool Echo)
“Superstar was added because that’s how I wanted everyone to feel when they walked in. So Superstar Boudoir was born. There was nothing like this at the time. Yes, there were inclusive venues, but nothing like this.
“They were all up the side alleys with nothing on the main road. We were sick of being isolated on back streets and closed-in venues so we got the drag queens on the door and made some noise because the main appeal with this place is drag.”
Superstar Boudoir “hammered” the promotion in the early days, with staff in the street handing out flyers. Before they knew it, the understated little basement club was the centre of Liverpool’s LGBT+ nightlife. In order to get through the doors, guests were told to abide by a single rule.
Silk explained: “There was only one rule and that was to be nice or you’re not getting in. It wasn’t just for people from the LGBTQ+ community, it was for everyone who was nice whether you were gay, straight, black, white or purple with polka dots.
“If there was ever any violence you were out and told to fight somewhere else. That’s it. Be nice. And that hasn’t changed even 20 years later.”
Drag queens at the Superstar Boudoir comedy roast(Image: Christopher Megrath)
The business was so successful the company even opened a second Superstar Boudoir in Southport in 2008. With a £500,000 refurb and Eurovision star Sonia at the launch, as well as DJs Silk Tray, Ste Ep and Mark Pickup, the club became an integral part of the Merseyside LGBT DNA. While the Southport location was short-lived, the Stanley Street bar continued to thrive.
Manager Kevin has continued the venue’s success, arguing he doesn’t need to fix what isn’t broken. He did say, however, that customers might notice one change moving forward.
The venue is hoping to give back more to those around it by hosting charity events – the next being Sahir’s Comedy Roast Battle. Held on Thursday, July 24, the event will see two groups – made up of everyone from Brenda LaBeau and Minnie to Shania Pain and Carmen Sutra – battle it out in a RuPaul’s Drag Race inspired challenge.