London | Huck
Huck

London

Red shop frontage with "Open Out" branding and appointment-only signage.

Meet the trans-led hairdressers providing London with gender-affirming trims

Open Out — Since being founded in 2011, the Hoxton salon has become a crucial space the city’s LGBTQ+ community. Hannah Bentley caught up with co-founder Greygory Vass to hear about its growth, breaking down barbering binaries, and the recent Supreme Court ruling.

  • Activism
  • Hannah Bentley
Crowded pub with people sitting on the floor, some holding drinks. Assorted items on the floor including a sign and a bottle.

The grit and glory of British toe wrestling

The Obsessives — Born out of a Derbyshire pub in the ’70s, the foot clenching sport has gradually built a cult following in rural England. Ginnia Cheng reported on toe wrestling’s London debut from a south Tottenham pub.

  • Sport
  • Ginnia Cheng
Energetic music performance on stage with colourful lighting, smoke and audience.

Southbank Centre reveals new series dedicated to East and Southeast Asian arts

ESEA Encounters — Taking place between 17-20 July, there will be a live concert from YMO’s Haruomi Hosono, as well as discussions around Asian literature, stage productions, and a pop-up Japanese Yokimono summer market.

  • Culture
  • Zahra Onsori
Two individuals, a woman with long brown hair and a man with dark skin, standing close together against a plain white background.

The forgotten women’s football film banned in Brazil

Onda Nova — With cross-dressing footballers, lesbian sex and the dawn of women’s football, the cult movie was first released in 1983, before being censored by the country’s military dictatorship. Now restored and re-released, it’s being shown in London at this year’s BFI Flare film festival.

  • Sport
  • Jake Hall
Group of young men with graffiti-covered wall behind them.
© David Corio

In the dressing room with the 20th century’s greatest musicians

Backstage 1977-2000 — As a photographer for NME, David Corio spent two decades lounging behind the scenes with the world’s biggest music stars. A new photobook revisits his archive of candid portraits.

  • Music
  • Miss Rosen
Two individuals wearing bold, graphic fashion featuring geometric patterns and stripes in contrasting black, white, and orange colours.

Krept & Konan cover Huck’s new digital issue, focusing on our home city

The London Issue — As we gallop into a hyperconnected age, we think it’s never been more important to engage with our local surroundings. So, we’ve put together a special magazine, exclusively for our Apple News subscribers, to celebrate London and its unending vibrancy.

  • Huck: The London Issue
  • Isaac Muk

On the sidelines with Rise United, the football club redefining Asian identity

Football, family style — Blending creativity on and off the pitch, the London ESEA+ grassroots team is providing its burgeoning community with spaces to express, and be, themselves.

  • Sport
  • Isaac Muk
Two men in dark clothing against grey background. Left wears black hoodie, right in patterned robe. Pink "HARD" text with "FEELINGS" below in bottom right corner.

Krept & Konan: “Being tough is indoctrinated into us”

Hard Feelings — In the latest from our interview column exploring fatherhood and masculinity, UK rap’s most successful double act reflect on loss, being vulnerable in their music, and how having a daughter has got Krept doing things he’d never have imagined.

  • Music
  • Robert Kazandjian

Why London’s queers are flocking to line dance

Stud City — With a global boom in the popularity of country music, a host of new nights attended by LGBTQ+ folk are opening in the UK’s capital. Zoe Paskett went along to find out about the community’s love for the hustle.

  • Music
  • Zoe Paskett
Close-up of woman wearing black-framed glasses against colourful background with 'Huch presents: Analogue Appreciation' text.

Analogue Appreciation: Emma-Jean Thackray

Weirdo — In an ever more digital, online world, we ask our favourite artists about their most cherished pieces of physical culture. Today, multi-instrumentalist and Brownswood affiliate Emma-Jean Thackray.

  • Analogue Appreciation
  • Emma-Jean Thackray

Huck is supported by our readers, subscribers and Club Huck+ members. It is also made possible by sponsorship from:
Black and white O'Neill logo in a bold, stylised font against a black background.
You've read articles this month Thanks for reading

Join Club Huck — it's free!

Valued Huck reader, thank you for engaging with our journalism and taking an interest in our dispatches from the sharp edge of culture, sport, music and rebellion.

We want to offer you the chance to join Club Huck [it's free!] where you will receive exclusive newsletters, including personal takes on the state of pop culture and media from columnist Emma Garland, culture recommendations, interviews and dispatches straight to your inbox.

You'll also get priority access to Huck events, merch discounts, and more fun surprises.

Already part of the club? Enter your email above and we'll get you logged in.