Drag Kings and Alternative Drag in Blackpool
Blackpool's drag scene is dominated by queens, but kings and new-wave performers have a real, if smaller, history here. This is what we could verify.
A long tradition of male impersonation
Drag kings have a much older claim on Blackpool than most people realise. In the 1890s and early 1900s the male impersonator Vesta Tilley, who played swaggering dandies, soldiers and sailors, was Britain's highest-paid woman and a regular Blackpool headliner. A 1909 programme for the town's Palace Theatre billed her as "The World's Favourite Artiste". Her mostly female audiences loved the way she sent up masculinity. See our Blackpool drag tradition page for more.
Kings: a bar for drag kings
In 2015 a bar called Kings opened on High Street, in the guest-house streets between Blackpool North station and Dickson Road. It was billed as the UK's first venue dedicated to drag kings and described itself as owned by women, for women, including trans women, though everyone was welcome.
The bar was run by a couple, one of whom compèred in drag as her male alter ego, Rogue, described as an internationally known drag king and DJ. Kings ran karaoke aimed at male impersonators, handed out free moustaches to women who fancied joining in, hosted kings from around the world and ran drag king workshops. Its official launch was planned for Pride weekend in June 2015. The owners chose Blackpool because, as they put it, it's the Vegas of the UK, and because they felt kings deserved the same respect as queens.
We have found no recent listings for Kings, so it should be treated as part of the scene's history rather than a place to visit today.
Where things stand now
We have not found a regular, advertised drag king night in Blackpool's LGBTQ+ venues in 2025-26. The resident line-ups at Funny Girls, Garlands and the Flying Handbag are made up of drag queens, hosts and DJs. If you know of a king who performs in Blackpool, or a night that books them, we would love to hear about it.
The best places to watch for king bookings are the Pride line-ups in June, the Rainbow Weekend in February and the quarter's weekly what's-on pages.
Mr Blackpool and the new wave
The most exciting alternative take on Blackpool drag in recent years comes from Harry Clayton-Wright, a multi award-winning theatre maker from Blackpool and co-founder of the town's LGBTQ+ heritage project We're Still Here!. His show Mr Blackpool is billed as an end-of-the-pier show at the end of the world. It turns autobiography, local legend, class and politics into cabaret and variety acts: drag, dance, magic and sideshow, in lurid technicolour.
The show is rooted in Blackpool performers. Its cast has included the Blackpool-based married dancing duo Aysh De Belle and Sam De Belle, and Blake Rainey, a young dancer trained by the De Belles at House of Wingz in Blackpool. The sound designer, Miss Titty Kaka, began their career at Funny Girls.
After pilot dates in Newcastle, Liverpool and London, Mr Blackpool played Salford and the Brighton Festival in May 2026, with a homecoming gala at Blackpool Grand Theatre.
House of Wingz
House of Wingz, the Blackpool dance school where the De Belles train young performers, also crops up around the quarter's streets: it designed the planters installed on Lord Street, Queen Street, Dickson Road and Springfield Road as part of the council's LGBTQ+ quarter improvements.
Documenting the scene
The 2025 documentary Queering Blackpool features interviews with a range of Blackpool performers beyond the big names, including Indiana Aphrodite Isherwood and Shirley Knot, and is one of the few records of the town's newer, more varied drag.