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IT'S THE CLUB WHERE CURVES ARE COOL AND THE SKINNY MINNIES JUST DON'T GET A LOOK-IN. FABULOUS REPORTS FROM THE PARTY THAT'S STRICTLY PLUS-SIZED

By Kathryn Knight

It’s the early hours of Saturday morning and London’s Cape nightclub is packed.

Vodka tonics are being sunk at a rate of knots as groups of men make their move on the shimmying, scantily-clad women.

So far, so typical.

Except that while most women like to show some bare flesh on a night out, there’s even more flesh than usual on display this evening.

Welcome to Big Girls Paradise, the first club night designed for bigger women and the men who like them.

Hosted at venues across England, it’s the brainchild of 41-year-old mum-of-two Linda Koch, and a mecca for women who are sick of feeling like outcasts in their local nightspots.

The only size policy is ‘the bigger the better’.

“Skinny women aren’t banned,” says Linda, a size 26. “Every size is welcome. We don’t make judgements.”

In reality, you’d have to look hard to find someone smaller than a size 16 at BGP – apart from the men, that is – and a lot of the women are twice that size.

For many, this is their only night out every month – because despite occasional efforts by the advertising industry to promote ‘real women’ over stick-thin waifs, the prevailing wisdom still has it that big is far from beautiful. 

At BGP, however, wobbly arms and big bottoms are celebrated, boosted by the presence of the club’s ‘cuddly kittens’ – plus-size hostesses who help put guests at ease and do a little matchmaking too.

By the bar, two of the ‘cuddly kittens’, Elle Antell and Loretta Thomas, are working the room.

With flawless skin and long blonde hair, 32-year-old Elle doesn’t look like she lacks confidence.

But less than two years ago she was trapped in an unhappy marriage and a cycle of yo-yo dieting.

“I hated myself,” she says.

“People called me a ‘fat cow’ and I felt my husband was too ashamed to take me out,” she confides.

Her eyes were opened after attending a BGP night and, encouraged by friends, she took the plunge and applied to be a kitten.

“You don’t have to justify yourself to anyone here,” she says. “You can be big and still be sexy and desirable.”

Elle’s certainly not short of admirers.

At the head of the queue is her new fiancé Neil, who tracked her down after seeing her picture on the club’s website.

“I think she’s gorgeous,” he says.

It’s not the only romance unfolding courtesy of BGP.

Amanda Attwood is a 48-year-old grandmother who met her future husband at the club.

He’s a debonair Frenchman – and a millionaire to boot.

“I feel at home in this club,” Amanda says. “Guys here appreciate me for me."

It helps to know that men at the club like what they see.

As Rachel Barry, a size 22, puts it: “When men are looking at you here they’re not making fun of you.

"It’s because they think you’re hot.”

And it’s certainly unusual to be in a club where being a size 10 excludes you from any attention.

Ben Mercer, a good-looking – and slim – 22-year-old from Guildford is a self-confessed ‘chubby-chaser’.

“I’ve always liked larger ladies, ” he says. “It’s just the way I’m wired.”

This is Ben’s second time at BGP, and he’ll be back.

“Everyone’s comfortable – especially the women, because they know the men like them as they are,” he says.

Happily, when the dirty dancing ends for the night, the feel-good factor doesn’t.

Kerry explains: “Coming to this club has given us all a new confidence that we take out into real life too.”

 

Photography: Alicia Clarke