It’s been another really successful year for the Ku Group with their busy venues across Soho. We asked Ku’s PR and Host Manager Stefanos Dimoulas to tell us about their highlights of 2019 and their plans for 2020.
Hi Stefanos, how has 2019 been for the Ku Group?
Such a treat. We have had more events arranged, more new faces and more new partnerships! From our Valentine’s Day 2019 and Halloween 2019 to our 24th Birthday Party this month, all the events have been successful! New staff (topless on Fridays and Saturdays of course!) and new customers joining! And of course not to forget our partnership with the clothing brand Addicted & ES as well as the online store ES Male who have sponsored our uniforms.
Can you pick a highlight of the year?
Our World AIDS Day event I would say. A massive line-up of back to back drag acts and the amount we raised for 56 Dean Street and Chelsea & Westminster trans-led health and wellbeing initiative, ‘Bootcamp’, fronted by trans HIV activist Rebecca de Havilland… £11,530.64!!
The Ku Group has embraced diversity on the scene even more this year, you have drag nights, a non binary club night, and your team has expanded to include more of the LGBT+ community, can you talk about this?
You are so right. We have been having weekly club nights for every taste. Our non binary night the ‘MX Klub’ on Tuesdays, our fashionable and friendly club night for TV/TS Admirers & Friends the ‘Bombshell’ on Wednesdays, our Throwback Thursdays with a vintage pop genre and of course our successful ‘Man I Feel Like a Woman’ Sundays with drag acts welcoming all types of people in the drag world! We are doing our best to support and hire people from all around the world and give opportunities to DJs and performers to make a living through their passions. At the same time we are striving for perfection in customer services always bringing new products and drinks offers on the table.
How important is it to retain your core values and image of a fun place with sexy guys?
Very important. Our values stay the same: pride, responsibility, fun! We want the people who come to enjoy a drink in our venues to have a proper experience not just ‘a drink’. We want their eyes to be pleased with our Ku bartenders, with our huge TV screens and our artwork around them, their drinks to be tasty and the music to be enjoyable!
But most importantly we want to maintain having a safe place for all the LGBTQ+ community and secure a fun environment for not only our customers but also for the people who work for us. We want our staff to feel comfortable to chat, enjoy and be part of the Ku Group to their fullest.
We are heading into a new decade, what challenges do you think face the LGBT scene especially for an independent business?
The challenges for every business are pretty much the same but for an LGBTQ+ independent business challenges can be a bit more… challenging! Gay businesses expect their support from our community which sometimes is tricky although I must say we cannot complain. Additionally, as a privately owned establishment the progress of the business is based on the opinions of a few people and any issue is dealt free from outside control which give us more responsibility. Thankfully we are a strong, kind and clever bunch of professionals in our offices and we all have the passion to see the Ku Group thriving! Our key points are to stay loyal to our values and expand our clientele and ambitions.
We are very positive that our community will keep supporting us as they have fabulously done until now and will be giving us feedback on how we could improve. You never learn without listening so we do value our customers’ feedback and input.
What are your hopes and dreams for 2020 for the Ku Group?
To bring more people into our venues – both as employees and as customers! We have been putting so much effort to ‘refresh’ our venues in 2019 with new decorations, new themed nights, new terrace, new vibes so we really hope 2020 is going to be fruitful. We so wish the same to our LGBTQ+ press partners like you which have supported us throughout these years and to any business out there who has the same passion as we have for our little gems – Ku Bar, Little Ku, She Soho and The Light Lounge.
Ku Leicester Square, Klub and Light Lounge, 30 Lisle Street WC2.
Little Ku, 25 Frith Street, Soho W1.
She Soho, 23a Old Compton Street, Soho W1.
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