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Bristol Fetish Crew - EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

LeatherWest’s features writer Chris Malford talks to James and the organising team behind Bristol Fetish Crew, who are about to launch regular fetish nights with opportunities for Leathermen at their very own venue in the centre of Bristol.

Billed as a “pioneering new private members club”
Bristol Fetish Crew (BFC) hits the Bristol circuit at Easter, opening with a launch party SiN on Easter Saturday.

BFC will be running men only events, aiming to be ‘play parties’ rather than ‘club nights’ where the emphasis is on play, mutual respect, fun, socialising and a place where an ‘attitude’ will be frowned upon.

The team is certainly ambitious, looking at the messages appearing almost daily on their Facebook
Group and Page and with some great tweets too. “We’re setting a new benchmark for quality and style”, says James Rennie, one of the team behind BFC.

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The new venue, the location still a secret (despite LeatherWest’s best efforts to prise it out of BFC), is located some 10 minutes walk from the Old Market Quarter. Unit 35 will boasts two airy arches with large and ample play areas with a dungeon theme, changing rooms, relaxing bar area and chill out spaces. “Owning our own venue allows us to be flexible with the space we have. By listening to what our members want and like we can react quickly.”

Looking after the members seems to be uppermost in James’ mind, adding: “ We want our members to have a high quality experience with well-equipped dungeon theme areas. We are really going to try and look after our clientele.”

And for local leathermen? Does BFC’s Unit 35 provide a new permanent venue to add to leather life in Bristol?

Learning that James was once the manager at
The Colherne is certainly impressive, a now long since closed leather bar in London’s Earls Court and a world famous venue packed wall-to-wall with Tom of Finland look-a-likes every night of the week. “When you work in a leather bar like that, you get to know exactly what leathermen want. We’re trying to create a space and feel that will make any leather guy feel at home and just be comfortable to chill, play, socialise and join-in the fun.”

Since leaving The Colherne, James has worked organising and promoting fetish events in Australia and California. Arriving in Bristol he spotted an opportunity to develop a venue safe from leasehold changes and provide a permanent home to launch and develop a venue to provide “a safe and comfortable environment for the the fetish community in Bristol”.

Certainly the launch of BFC’s Unit 54 is a big vote of confidence in Bristol as a growing fetish destination, “There’s certainly potential here as a big regional hub. We saw what happened a the BLUF launch in October. You can sense a growing confidence in the Leather men’s community here.”

Grinning now, James adds, “There’s a lot of full leather tops and bosses about and already we know of plenty of leather lads in their chaps licking their lips of meeting these sort of guys in an environment like ours, with the dungeon and leather equipment leather guys should expect. Our venue will at last provide an environment to relearn the art of cruising.”

BFC report that they are getting enquiries from outside the region, with some keen interest from London. This is an emerging trend that started last year. A permanent venue like Unit 35 gives local leathermen more confidence to get up, gear-up and get out to meet other men and help build a vibrant leather community right here in our own City. The idea of a venue where the art of cruising is required certainly provokes any leatherman’s interest.

Launch party
SiN is on Easter Saturday, April 7th with a strict dresscode of leather, skin, uniform or failing that just boots (there’s no middle ground here guys). Doors open at 10pm and play lasts until 4am.

BFC is a men only members only club. You’ll need to
register at their website for membership. Tickets for events will only be available by purchase via the BFC website. Entry is between 10pm and midnight on the night. There’s ample free, safe and well lit parking with a large covered, private outdoor social and smoke area.

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In conjunction with Bristol Fetish Crew, we’re pleased to announce a limited number of BFC memberships at a specially discounted price of £10 (from the usual £20 per annum) for LeatherWest supporters.

To qualify for the free draw, you must be registered at LeatherWest’s
newsletter mailing list and be resident in the UK. Closing date for entries is Saturday April 1st at midnight. Winners will be advised on Sunday April 2nd with a code they can use at the registration page on the BFC website.