Inside Bubble Club – London’s Most Inclusive Night: A Club Without Barriers

It’s Pride Week at Community Focus – and we’re throwing the spotlight on one of London’s most joyful, inclusive celebrations of all: Bubble Club!

This week, we’re stepping away from our usual format to dive into the world of Bubble Club – an immersive nightclub in East London co-created by people with learning disabilities, and proudly celebrating its 20th anniversary.

In the lead-up to their most recent club night, we got an exclusive look behind the scenes: from their creative workshop space to the unforgettable night itself. We met the brilliant team making it all happen, including club manager Iona Ascherson, the unstoppable Tilley, and Del (the piggie) – all sharing their love for this groundbreaking community.

Bubble Club isn’t just a night out – it’s a movement. A place where people of all abilities and backgrounds come together to dance, express, and celebrate who they are.

Join us as we celebrate Pride, inclusion, creativity, and 20 years of unforgettable nights at Bubble Club.

For more information on Bubble Club, click here.

To book the next club night (the 20th birthday party), click here.

For more information on Tilley and Del (the piggie), click here.

Huge thanks to the National Lottery Reaching Communities Fund for supporting our Dis-labled podcast. Learn more about their amazing work: https://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk

All enquiries: podcast@communityfocus.co.uk
Website: https://www.communityfocus.co.uk/

Theme Music: Rastko Rasic & the students of Community FocusOther Music: Jazzy Frenchy by ⁠⁠⁠Benjamin Tissot

Transcript

Phillip R 0:05

Community focus. Community focused. We're here for you. Our kid. You're both another A week in with you.

SPEAKER_22 0:24

We're here for you. Yeah. Hooray! Hooray!

unknown 0:32

Hooray!

Jonathan 0:40

Community Focus is an art centre for children and adults with disabilities. We are based in the borough of Barnet, North London, and offer a selection of creative and well-being activities for all ages.

Carol 0:55

This week we're taking a break from our usual format to talk to the amazing Bubble Club, an inclusive and immersive nightclub co-created by people with learning disabilities in East London. In preparation for the Pride event, we were given a special tour of their workshop, met some of the fantastic team who make it all happen. We were blown away by how Bubble Club celebrates inclusivity, diversity, and brings people of all abilities and backgrounds together. Let us tell you all about it.

SPEAKER_10 1:40

So, where are we today, guys?

Carol 1:43

We are in Bobhub in East London.

SPEAKER_10 1:47

And I think we're going to watch them making things for the club, aren't we?

SPEAKER_01 1:51

Yeah, I'll hopefully join in, which would be nice.

SPEAKER_10 1:53

Let's go in. Oh hello Jonathan. Nice to see you, mate.

SPEAKER_13 1:57

Okay, so bubble club. Great. Hi.

SPEAKER_10 2:08

Hi, hi, everybody.

SPEAKER_06 2:10

Great to meet you. One of the teachers from the in-betweeners with grey hair.

SPEAKER_10 2:20

That's literally Does he say you look like Greg Davis? Greg Davis.

SPEAKER_09 2:25

Yes, yes, I'm definitely gonna remember that.

SPEAKER_06 2:35

Hi, my name's Sofia, known as DJ Awesome. I wanted to talk about Bubble Club obviously, because not only am I a DJ and a host as well, I've um DJ'd in Brighton.

Jonathan 2:50

So how did you first get involved with Bubble Club?

SPEAKER_06 2:53

Well, Jonathan um Tyson introduced me to it. And Bubble Club is known for nightclubs, it's known for excessive life for people with learning and disabilities and learning difficulties as well. Obviously, nightclubs don't get expressed enough, so I think they should bring that back and like bring the energy alive. And um, yeah, being in Bubble Club just taught me a lot of being myself, being a DJ, um, gaining that access because yes, I do have moments of like self-doubt, and I think everyone does, especially when it comes to being in a new place or meeting certain people, or either um being put in a position where you don't feel like where they belong, but at Bubble Club you could just express yourself and enjoy being around people, you know, people that you consider friends, or either people that you haven't seen in a while. So that's what bubble club means to me.

Jonathan 4:03

How did you feel when you first started compared to how things progressed as time went on?

SPEAKER_06 4:10

Okay, um, I would say for when it first started, I didn't um know it as much, and it was a lot to build up the confidence because at the time I was going through a lot with emotions up and down and struggling a little bit with finding who I was. If I was at what bottom, I would be at my peak of lowest, like that's where I was, so I would call it a Wafara bottom, but the highest is literally the Mount Wafaro Rossmore of highest moments, and that's where it was. And as for Bubble Club, literally, that's the Mount Rossmore of epicness.

Jonathan 4:54

How do you see things in the future with yourself and Bubble Club?

SPEAKER_06 4:58

Well, anything could happen, really, because literally it can expand, it could like travel over the world, who knows? Bubble Club might even take over space, and no one will know exactly what would happen.

Jonathan 5:11

Yeah, thank thank you so much for Fari. It was nice speaking with you.

SPEAKER_06 5:14

You too, Jonathan, and um it was great talking to you guys too and explaining a lot about Bubble Club.

Carol 5:25

We are talking to John. Yes, at Craig. I did.

SPEAKER_05 5:29

Yeah, I don't mind my name being on the radio, so I'm fine. I'm fine with that. When you first came here Just go for the flow, go for the flow, my friend, go for the flow.

Carol 5:38

Um, how has this place helped you with like confidence or like being around people you enjoy being around?

SPEAKER_05 5:47

Um to be honest, I I do have confidence before I used to be very shy talking to people. No, I was very shy talking to people. But now I got over that shyness. I'm not shy anymore. Yeah.

SPEAKER_13 6:03

What are we doing?

SPEAKER_05 6:05

So um what we're doing, we're decorating the the rings on the hands by the way for the for the next event for I Want to Hold Your Hands. So far, I'm doing me and Carol's decorating the rings together and I'm not explaining to her what we're doing.

Carol 6:21

What's the theme for the next bubble club?

SPEAKER_05 6:24

The theme is like for for the gay community and the bisexual community can come together, just be themselves, have fun, food, music, you know, get to meet people, um, express yourself in the manner if you come at the closet or in the closet.

Carol 6:45

What are you gonna dress up as in at the bubble club?

SPEAKER_05 6:50

Uh well gonna dress up as as well. I've just been gonna be myself. Really? I'm just gonna be myself. My jolly self. I might be getting some hair dye and dye my hair, or I might paint my nails black, like wear something really black and like a gothic theme. And I might be pa and I might be doing my hair like green, like dye my hair green, and that that would be awesome. Yeah.

Carol 7:18

How would you describe this place with one food?

SPEAKER_05 7:22

What food describes this place? Oh, good question. Very good question. Well, my favorite food is gonna be um nuggets. It's like a nugget, chicken nuggets. So, yeah, this place reminds me of that food. I'll tell you why, because the smell of it, the taste of it, awesome. It's out of this world. Like so, I really do love it here. It's very nice, very nice environment. Yeah, it means to be a little bit more. Hannah, do you want to explain a bit about the DJs? Sure.

SPEAKER_18 7:59

There is a DJ workshop that Bubble Club does as well, where we train up people, some of them who are in this room, to uh learn DJing skills, and then at the end of the course they get a gig at Creight Brewery in Hackney Wick. They often call us in to have DJ nights there, and there's other places that hire us as well, and they get to DJ at Bubble Club as well. Um, and it's paid gigs too. British Museums asked us to do a night there where we're decorating their DJ booth, and um some of our DJs are playing there as well for an Afrobeats night. So we're very club night oriented. DJs and artists and props and everything like that. Yeah, so we've got DJ Carly Catastrophic and Tyson and Rafaro as well, they're DJs as well, who were trained up by Bubble Co.

Jonathan 9:01

So, uh Carly Catastrophic. How did you get your name?

SPEAKER_12 9:05

How did I get my name? I think it was from Ollie, I think, my DJing teacher.

Jonathan 9:09

But I uh hey, you've been on a DJing course. Tell us about that.

SPEAKER_12 9:13

Um, yep, it's going great. I'm still doing it at at the at the Create Viewing Hackney Wick with different people, but Ollie's helping out sometimes and DJ Rosin's helping me too.

Jonathan 9:23

And uh what do you end up doing at the end of the course?

SPEAKER_12 9:26

Sometimes I'm on the decks choosing different music, and sometimes I'm on the laptop changing music.

Jonathan 9:32

And what types of music do you like?

SPEAKER_12 9:34

I like Ed Jewan, um Wham by like George Michael and Adele.

Jonathan 9:42

Yes, so uh when when can we hear from Carly Catastrophic again? When can when can we see you play?

SPEAKER_12 9:47

At the bubble cub, at the bubble cub event maybe.

Jonathan 9:50

Yes, thank thank you ever so much for speaking to us.

SPEAKER_12 9:54

Yes, um I enjoy it. I enjoy it a lot.

unknown 9:59

Thank you.

SPEAKER_06 10:00

Just to explain about who Tyson is, uh Tyson goes by the name of T Way, he's been DJing at Bubble Club for a very long time. He's one of the longest DJs in bubble club history. And when I mean bubble club history, I mean like full-on history. He's played different genres of music from hip hop to dance to RB to reggae ton to Afrobeats to Mexican music. Like he's done it all. He's he's a pro at this thing, like a total professional. Um, enough coming for me, it's best to hear from the Legend himself.

SPEAKER_04 10:38

I started uh 17 years ago. Yeah, I'm on I'm on the board of directors for bubble club as well. Uh not only uh I did bubble club, I did a couple of festivals. I was on the same gig as UB40. Scouting for girls. I've been going for years.

SPEAKER_10 10:57

When are you gonna be DJing next? British Museum on Tuesday.

SPEAKER_04 11:02

And then I'm on the 11th as well. That's a good one for the CV, isn't it? I've always I've been in Brighton this year already as well. I did Hobble Cup.

SPEAKER_06 11:12

But we'll be there again, hopefully in the new year, so it'll be really good if you guys come. Iona. How was your first start and getting into Bubble Club and what has it changed for you?

SPEAKER_19 11:25

Right. So I went to school with a guy called Hugo, and we made art together in our twenties, and he started volunteering in this workshop for Poetry and Wood, and met Tina, who was running Bubble Club, who was retiring and looking for people to pass on different parts of her project to. And she chose Hugo for Bubble Club, and Hugo asked me to come and do the workshops, and I was completely inexperienced, I didn't know what I was doing, but loved it as soon as I got here. Instantly thought, yeah, this is where I need to be. And then I like changed my whole work life to be able to do it, and that was seven years ago. And about a year ago, Hugo has moved to Bristol and I took over the management role. And yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 12:16

All for Iona has been a massive hope and a massive impact, not just to Bubble Club's lives, but also mine as well. In a very big way. I know she's trying to hide her most because I could see it. I could see it.

Jonathan 12:35

So last week we were at the Bubble Club Workshop. Now we're at the club itself. So what's your name and what do you think of the bubble club?

SPEAKER_07 12:44

I think it's very uh Um diversive, if that's the right word. And uh inclusive uh and no boundaries we're all accepted for who we are without being judged. Ian, would you like to talk us through the outfit? I got multi-coloured socks on uh and the top I have on I will add the festival last year.

Jonathan 13:20

So do you like it enough to want to come back sometime?

SPEAKER_07 13:24

Yes, uh I'll come back again.

Jonathan 13:28

I have just about finished doing a little um a little statement about the bottom of the kitchen of the previous statement. Yeah, I'm basically giving a little paste for this. A place of this make me feel like I'm a bit of a summer. Thank you. Yeah, it's a good one for me to think something to say. That's good enough. Mr. John, have you had a good time?

SPEAKER_05 14:08

Brilliant! I'm having a very good time. You know, mingling, packing away, you know, I'm just being myself, myself a nice. You know? I love this jacket. Nice, suits me. It's got gold What do we call those things?

SPEAKER_08 14:28

Sequins.

SPEAKER_05 14:28

Sequence, yeah, sequins, yeah.

SPEAKER_08 14:30

So you all sequence up.

SPEAKER_05 14:32

Yeah, all sequins up. You got flowers, yeah, flowers, gold bits, yeah, yeah, blue bit, I love it though. It's mine. Yeah, I'm only wearing it to Bubba Club and Butter Parties, that's it. I'm not wearing it to go to the centre, and I'm not wearing it to go out in is only for boba club and butter parties only, that's it.

SPEAKER_07 14:56

Hi Natin. I may ask you what did you think of this evening?

SPEAKER_17 15:02

It was absolutely wonderful. It was absolutely too dancing, singing, drinking. I really enjoyed it. It was brilliant.

SPEAKER_21 15:20

Can I say some of the DJs? The DJs are really good and I really like the music. They played some really like really wanted to really dance stuff, like Let's 80s. Good.

SPEAKER_07 15:30

Don't wait, God. You can never target them.

SPEAKER_21 15:33

No, come on, Eileen was the highlight for me.

SPEAKER_07 15:36

Girls just want to have fun.

SPEAKER_21 15:38

Yeah. Relax. Yeah, relax, relax is the best.

SPEAKER_09 15:42

I unfortunately had to step out of the room just when waking me up before you go go was coming up.

SPEAKER_21 15:47

Yeah, yeah. Everyone went for it for that one. Yeah. Yeah, it's been good. It's been really good. It's really relaxed. No, I really liked it.

SPEAKER_07 15:55

I think the time of stone classics. Hello, Farada. What did you did you think of the season? From a carer's point of view.

SPEAKER_01 16:05

It was fantastic because it gives lots of opportunities to lots of people to come and enjoy themselves. Doesn't matter about what kind of disability they have got, what type of ability they have got. So it is fantastic. You see people enjoying themselves. They give you so much brightness in your life and so much um wanting to help. So it was fabulous.

SPEAKER_10 16:31

So it's goodbye for Mallista.

SPEAKER_07 16:33

Goodbye from Alistair.

SPEAKER_17 16:35

Goodbye and good evening. Goodbye and good evening. Goodbye from Vicky. Goodbye from Ian.

SPEAKER_10 16:44

And goodbye from Phil.

SPEAKER_17 16:46

Bye.

Laurent 16:55

Ladies and jelly spoons, in the room we have Kelly, Dylan the Pig, and Iona. And I'd like to thank them for coming in today, and they're from the bubble club. When was the first bubble club started?

SPEAKER_19 17:19

The first ever bubble club was called Life as a Beach, so it was beach party themed. And it was on now I hope I've got this right. The 16th of September 2005, which is nearly 20 years ago. And it came about because a group of people got together and started going around all of the day centres asking questions. What are you missing from your life? What do you want to do? What are you not allowed to do that you want to do? And most people said, I want to go out and party with my friends. I want to be able to like go by myself, queue up for a club, you know, dance on the dance floor, uh, meet people. So that was why and when it started.

Jonathan 18:06

What does the bubble club do to avoid infantilising its clientele?

SPEAKER_19 18:11

Um, well, we first of all, it's an over 18 night. You can buy drinks, we don't have any problems with people like meeting and kissing on the dance floor, and we're all very like of the opinion that if you're an adult, treat us treat everybody like an adult. Um we have like burlesque shows and slightly racy, raunchy stuff going on that we think all adults can enjoy.

Laurent 18:38

What does it what does event in it mean? What does it mean?

SPEAKER_16 18:43

Yeah, I mean it can mean lots of different things, I guess, for for for many people, but I mean by essentially I think it is basically treating people like like like a child, really, an infant. Um and sadly um that that is something that can be particularly common if if you might have a learning disability or you might be autistic, something like that. You you you can be um at the receiving end of being spoken to as though yeah you were you were literally born yesterday. Um yeah, we we're we're absolutely the total opposite that you can possibly get um of of that.

SPEAKER_19 19:24

We always do something called a positive risk assessment. So instead of saying, oh, it's very dangerous for them to go out at night, or you know, what happens if they fall over and hurt themselves by saying any adult goes out at night might fall over and hurt themselves. What's the risk of it not of them not going out? If they don't go out, they don't get to have fun or make friends. So it's very much about thinking take the risk, and yeah, and good things happen generally. I think a lot of people um don't meet people with disabilities a lot, and because people don't get out enough in our opinion, and get out into the community, it's a bit mysterious for some people who've never met a disabled person before. They have all these kind of wrong ideas. So, yeah, it's I think it's a big deal to get out there like this podcast and tell people your your experiences of life because they're not known enough, you're right.

SPEAKER_00 20:22

How many people and volunteers do you have for your bubble club?

SPEAKER_19 20:28

We've got twelve people in the organisational team, which we call the bub hub, that gets together and plans the theme and makes the decor and talks about what bands are gonna play and what's gonna happen on the night. So that's the core team, and then we've got about 20 volunteers that come and help with either the bub hub or help on the night volunteering, or they um also we have DJ volunteers that teach uh people who want to be a DJ how to like mix and eat match, and then they end up playing at bubble clubs. So it's about 20, 25 volunteers, 12 core team members, and three part-time staff.

SPEAKER_16 21:13

That doesn't include like anybody like myself and Dale Hum who are like freelance artists who work on co-curating and hosting the iPhone space. Um but we also do volunteer actually when when we can.

SPEAKER_19 21:29

I think it was roughly we had 90 uh neurodiverse disabled or learning disabled uh performers and DJs on the stage last year. So that was a new record.

Phillip R 21:42

Is there century spaces for the people with auditing?

SPEAKER_16 21:48

Yes. Um I yeah, we would definitely say that if sensory is what you're looking for, then please um do come to AMPHOM because that's what we're all. About and we're trying to find even more ways. We normally have um things like incense for like the smell aspect. Um, we try and keep things a lower level, anyway, like in terms of volume and in terms of how many people are in the space any one time. We're not trying to police the space, it's under the bubble club umbrella, but it has its own like identity, you know, it does need to be more chilled and and and a quieter and calmer, less busy space. But within it, it's not it's not just like a quiet room, it's not like an empty room that you come into, or even like a sort of traditional sensory room, but we we want it to still feel like a nightclub and feel adult. So there are like soft things like blankets and things and sofas and you know places you can really make yourself feel comfortable, but it's still keeping that that feeling of yeah, it is definitely an adult uh nightclub.

SPEAKER_15 23:01

Can I tell us about Del the Pig?

SPEAKER_16 23:07

Well, I think uh the best person to tell you about that is you, Dale. This is your time. Make the most of it. Hello, yes, I'm Dale the Piggy. Um tell you about me. Um I'm turning 21 this summer, so I'm actually one year older than Babble Club, would you believe it? Yeah, I am. Yeah, but we've not been involved with them for that long. We've been involved for um between two and three years, so so next um next year, the first club that happens next year that will be three years um that we've been involved. Ma Anna was in a care home actually um back back in in like 21 years. Yeah, so I I when I was 20 I I moved into residential care um because I was diagnosed um just before I turned 20 with a Spurgeon syndrome. I wasn't diagnosed all then. Um I had a few problems with my mental health uh before that, and I ended up in psychiatric wars and things, and I was homeless actually as a teenager. My parents couldn't cope with me. Um so and then I found Dell when I was in the care home, and it was my key worker at the time that lent me the money. Dell only cost £9.99, and I think we've got good innings really 21 years later, and um she's just helped me through a lot of different uh difficult times in my life, and then it became it's just grown and grown, and we now we work together, we we host different, you know, not not only bubble club, we do we do uh we're freelance artists, so we work all over. So, tomorrow, for instance, we're doing Maystone Pride, um, we're doing five hours of puffing a woolling, which is like a relaxing mind for immersive experience. So, yeah, I don't know if that's a very long answer.

Phillip R 25:08

How do people with bad eyesight manage?

SPEAKER_19 25:14

So we often make sure that people with poorer eyesight are out of the corridor or like the way that people are walking a lot, so they've got space to dance and not getting too bumped into. We can also um if we're aware or if anyone asks us, we can show them where the loos are, where the bar is, where the cloakroom is, and help people make their way around the space. We have a lot of chairs as well. If people want to sit in or near, or maybe even right in the middle of the dance floor on a chair, then that's absolutely fine. Everybody is happy to dance with you while you're sitting on the chair so you don't get too disoriented and things like that. What's the most popular song played in the nightclub? That's tough. That is tough. Do you know what always goes down really well is is it the one clap this time? Yeah. To the left. Yeah, is that called the electric slides? Is that the electric slide? Chacha slides. Chacha slides. Yeah, I don't know. That really reminds me of Bubble Club. I've you know, people do do the full dance, uh, yeah. But we've got such a range of music, isn't it?

Laurent 26:31

What do you see as it in the future with with uh bubble club?

SPEAKER_19 26:38

Well, in the future I'd like Bubble Club to be its own venue, and so we've got a venue that's fully accessible, we've got nights every weekend, and during the week it's like a pub, but every you know, there's lots of like room to employ learning, disabled and autistic people, and we just we are the party and people come to us. That's the future. That's what I'd love. And also just lots more nights like this, lots more uh neurodiverse led nights all over. Yes. I think yeah, we're trying to party. Exactly.

SPEAKER_16 27:12

We're trying to do that in in a small own small way. We're trying to see what we can do. In I live in Kent, in Tunbridge. Uh, there are already uh accessible nightclubs um in and around. There's like one called Gems, there's one called G Beats, um, and we're in touch with um Club Soda. Um, but we the exciting thing is we have already um done a bit of hosting at Blue Camel um Carousel, and we are booked to do something with them again in December, which I don't want to give sort of too many spoilers or whatever, but um there is gonna be like quite a sort of poetry kind of yeah, we could we're definitely doing something poetry, but we're trying to bring some of like what we've been learning and and doing with Bubble Club and particularly the Unfil space, and then yeah, seeing what we can do in partnership with with other clubs.

Phillip R 28:10

I want to say a big thank you to the Bubble Club. I want to give them a big massive clap.

unknown 28:20

Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_13 28:24

Yeah, we love you.

SPEAKER_16 28:26

Just we need longer. We just we could talk all day.

SPEAKER_13 28:30

We could talk all day.

Phillip R 28:37

At five o'clock, you're talking a week in with you.

SPEAKER_22 28:45

We're here for you, yeah. Hooray Hooray Hooray.