THE BUSHES

Alex Klineberg takes a peek into Dukes Mound, better known as popular cruising ground The Bushes

) Writing about gay cruising invites double entendres. I’ll see how many I can avoid. People have been cruising in different guises throughout history. Before the apps brought gay cruising directly to your bedroom, you had to put your coat on, head out into the world and find your hook-ups. Bathhouses have fostered gay sexual encounters since the days of Ancient Rome. Cruising is different as it always comes with an element of danger. For some cruisers, the throb of danger as they head into the bushes is as good as the sex. The anticipation of what you might find feels better than actually doing it. That being said, many memorable sexual encounters have taken place in cruising areas. You may have had a few yourself! While you’re reading this you can guarantee that somewhere, right now, gay men are encountering each other in the bushes and public restrooms of the known world.

Cruising gives you the pleasure of sex without the commitment. It’s a sexual dynamic many gay men are familiar with. It’s almost as if we’ve brought the psychology of the bushes into our non-cruising lives. Shame has often been associated with cruising. Before homosexuality was legal, cruising gave gay men access to sex in a kind of interzone. A liminal space that’s neither quite here nor there. Once they’d done their business, they could zip up and head home. And no one would ever know.

Cruisers in Brighton have long frequented Dukes Mound, better known as The Bushes, which covers about a quarter of a mile. Conveniently located just behind the nudist beach, Dukes Mound is hidden by 15/20ft tall bushes. “Depending on how out or experienced you were often dictated how far you walked down the esplanade - to where the fully brave could be found”

There’s an ongoing controversy about trimming the bushes and possibly bringing Dukes Mound’s long history as a cruising area to an end. For now, it will retain its integrity as a cruising ground. These bushes need to stay high for obvious reasons. Not all cruising areas are equal. Dukes Mound is considered to be one of the best in the UK, perhaps only Hampstead Heath can rival it. We caught up with an old-time cruiser to ask him what the bushes mean to him. He’s 61 and let’s say his name is, oh I don’t know, Dave, or something. “Having lived in London for several years, I never found Brighton’s gay venues to be particularly cruisey. I moved here in the mid2000s. What sex venues there were tended to be quite reserved. I guess that’s because everyone knew or recognised each other. So thank goodness for The Bushes. Most people tended to trot down to The Bushes, a little tipsy, around 2am. Someone who’d given you the cold shoulder on the dancefloor that evening might suddenly be willing to have some fun. The Bushes are one of my main gay cultural highlights of Brighton and part of the reason I stay here,” Dave explained. We asked Dave about the finer points of cruising in Dukes Mound: “Cruising started as soon as you got on the esplanade walkway. Depending on how out or experienced you were often dictated how far you walked down the esplanade – to where the fully brave could be found. New or curious guys stayed in the shadows on the esplanade walkway.” Dave even recalled visits to The Bushes when they were packed around The Temple area. It could get so busy it was sort of like an unofficial gay venue operating outside, in the shadows. But that was in the halcyon days of cruising: before Grindr. You could find up to a hundred gays getting down to business. During Pride, it could be even busier. Cruising can come with risks. If you’re wandering around in the dark in the middle of the night, you are clearly at risk of being mugged. As Dukes Mound is so well known, even by the straights, targeted muggings and attacks have happened. The police know what goes on in The Bushes. Sometimes a police car will do the rounds, mainly to see that everyone is safe. They don’t send pretty policemen to bust people for “public indecency”. Brighton is a decadent city. The Prince Regent built his pleasure palace here for a reason. The authorities have long turned a blind eye to The Bushes. Whether or not Dukes Mound maintains its position as a cruising ground, it has secured itself a place in Brighton’s LGBTQ+ history. One day, we’ll all join George Michael in that great pink toilet in the sky; and the ghosts of cruisers past will always haunt Dukes Mound.