An Afternoon of Guilty Pleasure with the Gin Whore

I feel a bit guilty. Instead of going to a summer solstice ritual yesterday, run by my lovely druid friends in leafy woods on the outskirts of London, I was visiting the Gin Whore in Bloomsbury for an afternoon of pleasure.

The Gin Whore, otherwise known as Kate O'Neil, is not actually involved in the sex industry, I should add. However, she has been in the drinks trade for a good number of year, has run a mobile cocktail bar, served drinks to famous people including the Rolling Stones and now entertains her clients with a show about the history of gin and prostitution, which includes several delicious servings.

Apparently the history of gin was very much tied up with the history of prostitution. For example, according to Kate, at the height of the Gin Craze of 1750, in London, one in four women prostituted themselves to fuel their gin addiction.

The show tours around the country and was only in London for two days this summer - at the Museum of Comedy, which is below the church that appears in Hogarth's engraving Gin Lane, about the evils of "Mother's Ruin".

Nowadays, gin has again become a fashionable tipple and Kate's Gin Tour explains the different types available, with samples of each to try.

One of the varieties was One Gin, which is not only delicious, but is produced by an ethical company and the profit from sales go to fund life-changing water projects in some of the world’s poorest communities.

You can find out more about the Gin Whore - and where she will be welcoming clients next - here: http://www.theginwhore.com/

The picture shows the Gin Whore Kate and her drink-serving Gin Gigolo.

Links
http://www.theginwhore.com/
http://www.onedifference.org/en_UK/campaign/one-gin/
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hogarth-gin-lane-t01799