ZDR forced to cancel Gods & Monsters party after licence withdrawn

Fetish fans in London and beyond who were looking forward this week to attending ZDR’s Gods & Monsters event on Saturday (March 25) at Ruby Blue, just off Leicester Square, were dismayed to be told on Tuesday that the party had been cancelled.

In an emotional message to ticketholders and newsletter subscribers, organiser Zara DuRose explained that she’d received a call from the venue management informing her that the licence for the event had been pulled, as a result of which Ruby Blue could no longer host the party.

For well-known latex enthusiast Zara, it was the final blow after four months of planning that, she says, were “the most stressful since I started organising events in 2015”.

“We’ve had multiple venue changes for reasons beyond our control,” she continues. “Mainly due to council restrictions and complaints sent to venues about adult events shortly after we announced the move.”

Gods & Monsters was originally set to go ahead at new venue The Forge in Camden. But owing to licensing issues, ZDR had to look for a replacement venue and, on January 24, announced a move to The Dome in Tufnell Park.

A week later, realising the Dome was actually too small to accommodate Gods & Monsters as envisaged, ZDR announced a second move, this time to an unnamed “spectacular warehouse location” in Manor House.

But that also fell through. However Ruby Blue, in the heart of London’s West End, looked like it would finally be able to provide the welcome this seemingly jinxed event so badly needed.

“When we met with the management,” says Zara, “they were aware of the nature of ZDR events. We were completely transparent and they were happy to host us.”

Sadly though, both sides may have underestimated the opposition to fetish events that seems to be spreading among London councils — and which already had a long history in Westminster (the council Ruby Blue comes under).

At such short notice, there was no possibility of finding yet another replacement venue on the same date, so ZDR took the decision to refund everyone’s ticket money via Eventbrite.

Zara is of course aware that ticket refunds alone can only ever be partial compensation for anyone who bought new outfits for the party, or booked non-refundable travel and/or accommodation. She also points out there’s “a huge team of people and performers who will lose out financially”.

Naturally she’s worried about the effect this succession of forced venue changes and the ultimate cancellation of Gods & Monsters could have on trust in her brand.

But in the last few years, fetish folk have grown accustomed to event promoters across the whole scene suffering venue problems beyond their control. So we doubt ZDR’s legion of fans will blame her for what’s just happened.

ZDR is already planning its next London event for June, promising that it will be organised on a different basis that it hopes will overcome the problems experienced while trying to host Gods & Monsters.

And if anyone needs a reminder that ZDR definitely does have what it takes to stage a first class event, may we refer you to last November’s much-acclaimed UK Fetish Awards which it co-hosted.

And we’re not just saying this because Libidex won Best UK Clothing Company there for the second year running. We think you probably already knew that anyway!

www.zdrevents.com

Zara DuRose: forced to cancel ZDR Gods & Monsters party after license was pulled