Screaming Alley’s new members bar “genuinely an invitation” to “shape” performance in Thanet

So new the paint has barely dried, The Alley Bar, a snug den and performance space underneath Salt House Barbers in Ramsgate, is a tiny bar with big ambitions. 

As the name suggests, The Alley Bar is an extension of Screaming Alley, the Ramsgate-based cabaret production company founded by theatre marketer and cabaret producer Lara Clifton. From the outset, the company has had a strong community-focus and a commitment to making working class, queer, feminist work.

In line with the theatre company, The Alley Bar will host “radical, queer, feminist and inclusive live art” that will take the shape of open mic nights, workshops, cabaret shows and performance by new artists and Thanet-based performers. The venue will also welcome big names in the alt-cabaret scene, like ex-Glory Hole owner and drag queen Jonny Woo and cult drag hit Diane Chorely, who performs tonight, Saturday, December 6. 

The Alley Bar also endevours to be a creative incubator, a space in which performers can develop longer works and develop professionally, supported by the bar’s membership programme. 

Speaking at the venue’s pre-launch, an exhausted Lara said: “The idea of The Alley Bar is that we've got this little bar - a members bar. We want people to eventually pay a rate that they want to pay to be members, so that [the bar] can be a place for performers to try out new work, to rehearse in the day, so it's a resource for everybody.

“I believe that art does help people, and I think that we all need it. And a sense of community and a sense of belonging is really important. And I think that we all need to make that happen in Ramsgate.

“The idea is that we all help this bar survive, so we can help all these brilliant things happen.”

On Lara’s count, Screaming Alley has created professional development opportunities to between 55 and 60 artists. The production company’s initiatives include the Screaming Marys - a cabaret troupe made up of people from a range of backgrounds - open mic nights, workshops, mentoring, buddy schemes, skill-sharing sessions and “zero-presure” performance events open up theatre to untrained performers and community members. 

In opening the bar, Lara hopes to support artists even further, with a new artist management initiative, Screaming Alley Management (SAM), set to launch next spring. The venue provides Screaming Alley with a physical base and regular programming, which means the organisation can “begin working much more meaningfully on artist development”, Lara tells me, adding: “Screaming Alley Management will support independent performers with bookings, production, touring guidance, marketing, and professional development.

“Many cabaret and alt-performance artists have no access to management structures; they’re used to doing everything themselves. They have to be producers, directors, writers, tour managers, costume makers - as well as outstanding performers. 

“That means success often depends less on artistic brilliance and more on who can manage admin and self-promotion. As a result, many incredible artists end up underpaid, overworked, or invisible to the wider industry.”

It’s hoped that SAM can change this for the artists it works with, offering advocacy, a base and a pipeline of opportunities so performers can focus on making work.

With the opening of the bar, Screaming Alley also aims to gain some financial security instead of relying on a “patchwork of income” made up of Arts Council project grants, local funding, ticket sales, workshops and community commissions. 

“We’ve missed out on funding a couple of times over the past few years, and when that happened it became very hard to put shows on,” Lara says.  

“Last year we even had to close for three months because, without funding, we all had to take other work just to pay the rent.

“The constant cycle of applying for grants just to survive is exhausting, unsustainable, and pulls us away from our mission.” 

The decision to open The Alley Bar comes off the back of a business consultant’s advice, who advised Lara that a bar would help her support artists and carry out the work she wanted to do.

“Our consultant highlighted that Screaming Alley pays artists and crew while generating income for other bars, and that if we want to secure our future, we need a reliable earned-income base of our own. 

“Opening a bar is part of that solution - it allows us to keep Screaming Alley running and thriving without living or dying on whether a grant comes in.”

Opening a private members bar in a coastal community that swells and recedes like the tides may seem like a particularly risky move - members bars are inherently exclusive. However, Lara sees The Alley Bar as something that fortifies Thanet’s creative community, shaped by the one it serves.

“We’re actively talking with [artists] about how to make the model as accessible as possible… We’re exploring a scheme where artists who donate a performance or run an event at the bar receive a full year of free membership in return. 

“The Marys are helping us build the bar, they’ll have their weekly sessions down there, rehearse there and run their own performance nights. There will also be opportunities for people to volunteer or work at the bar if they want to see performances but can’t commit to a membership.

“Importantly, our community understands that by becoming members they’re directly helping Screaming Alley extravaganzas happen in Thanet. The more members we have, the more ambitious work we can deliver at places like the Red Arrows Club, Ellington Park, and beyond. So rather than shutting people out, it’s genuinely an invitation to get involved and help shape the future of performance in the area.”

As far as the ins and outs of how the bar will run and what membership will look like, that is all yet to be set in stone. Membership will be free for the first three months, in which time Screaming Alley will consult with punters to see what they want, through casual conversations, a suggestion system, questionnaire and monthly “town hall-style” chats. 

This will all inform programming, opening hours, accessible pricing, membership structure, community needs and “the general vibe” so The Alley Bar is a welcoming, creative venue that is put to good use. 

Wrapping up her pre-launch speech, Lara said: “We're going to take feedback from everybody to find out what members bar you want; how you want it to run, what you're willing to pay and what you want to support. So, if you can all help us, we'll make this thing a thing that actually really lives and is good and helps everyone.”

The Alley Bar starts with weekly ticketed events, with Diane Chorely performing tonight, Saturday, January 6 at 7pm, which has sold out.

Singer and actor Amy Lennox will perform on Friday, December 12 (tickets £10) and drag act Pat Riarchy will put on a special Christmas show on Saturday, December 20 (tickets £10).

For more information and programming, visit ​​screamingalley.co.uk