The Batcave was a club-night that circulated around London’s Soho from 1982-86, paying homage to all things goth and hosting a range of arthouse films, cabaret extravaganzas, and live music nights. Cobwebs lined the ceilings, black bin-liners decorated the walls, and to enter, you had to walk through a (real) coffin with the bottom taken out; its interior could only be described as spooky.
A range of elements make up goth culture: fashion, literature, film, music…The Batcave became iconic because it aided the progression of this movement, rather than copying a mainstream trend that already existed. Maybe it was incidental and merely in the right place at the right time, and it remains difficult to pinpoint exactly where or when a subculture begins, but many accounts suggest that Batcave really was the start of a movement. It forged identities; it provided a sense of belonging and community for those who associated themselves with the subculture. It did this because it originated as a space before anything else, a space that left room for goth to breed and influenced how it’s developed into the vast umbrella it is today… read more >
