Hampstead Heath is one of London’s largest parks, boasting tranquil fields, wooded outcroppings and even swimming ponds.
It’s frequented by all sorts of folks seeking a refreshing dose of nature, but it also has a long reputation among gay and bi men who partake in life’s more carnal sensations.
And it is perhaps because of the park’s cruising history that an image depicting a gay group scene popped up on its listing on a popular city mapping app.
Related: ‘Riverdale’ boldly sends its teen star cruising for gay hookups in the woods
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A Twitter user says he was shocked to make the discovery on Citymapper.
He told Gay Star News: “I stumbled across it as I’d just come from work and saw a lot of friends on Instagram there.
“I was already meeting a friend in Hackney Wick but wanted to check how far it was. When that came through, it made a change from the usual underground sign thumbnail!”
He posted an image of the surprising find, along with the caption: “Hi @Citymapper – why is there a picture of an orgy when I type in Hampstead Heath?”
Hi @Citymapper – why is there a picture of an orgy when I type in Hampstead Heath? pic.twitter.com/HJuOr6A4Cu
— mitch (@limitedmitch) May 7, 2018
Related: Residents of swanky NYC condos unwittingly bought front row seats to gay cruising grounds
But here’s the real gag.
In response to the tweet, Citymapper did two things:
- Pass the blame along to Yelp
- Deny that the park has a cruising reputation by calling it “just an innocent park”
Uhoh, we’re in touch with our partner @Yelp @yelpsupport to get this corrected, meanwhile FYI it’s just an innocent park
— Citymapper (@Citymapper) May 7, 2018
Here’s what folks had to say about Citymapper’s naïveté:
Yeah, sureeeeeee ???
— Rob ? (@RobertJamesBone) May 7, 2018
It’s not
— Mr Watanabe (@pinkWatanabe) May 8, 2018
“An innocent park”? Clearly you’ve never been to Hampstead Heath… ?
— The King of Wrong (@KingOfWrong) May 8, 2018
galileo
Oh come on, It is an innocent park though to go and play football in, or maybe take your kids to the lido, sit in the 100 year old recently restored pergola and read a book, or just plain walk and explore the over 750 acres of heathland habitat in the centre of London. Sure, within that vast park a few people have a bit of fun in the woods at night. Guess the truth of the story isn’t that interesting though.
paul dorian lord fredine
face it. there are those who consider a gathering of any more than two gay men, no matter how innocent on it’s face, ‘an orgy’ because they think that’s all we’re interested in.
galileo
Sadly true…
baal61
Naive” err wh
Birds do it’ Bee’s do it even horny Boys in trees do it!
Young Timer
Well my God, what’s so spectacular about an orgy in a park?
It happens all the time at any parking area-rest stop on any freeway in the United States, after dark.
The only difference is, in this country, the person who tweeted about it, would more likely call the cops and send the picture to them, rather than tweet it publicly on some tracking map. The 11 o’clock news always needs a lead story.
There are even still outdated sites that list hookup locations in this country, which is laughable because many of them are either closed or heavily patrolled.
To me, somebody tweeting about an orgy in a public park in England is rather amusing.
Mr. “Twitter User” needs to spend a month in this country. I could show him some stuff that would scar him for life.
Bradsflix
Lead the way young timer whip it out get it hard & insert hot stuff
sfmike64
Back in 1987 I used to frequent Hampstead Heath and, ahem, had some really good times there.
Almost got arrested once! This hot Dutch guy and I had finished our business and were re-clothed and someone saw us kiss each other and tried to get the cops. At the time you could get arrested for kissing a person of the same sex in public in the UK. We ran all the way down into Hampstead Village and hid in a pub. It was crazy.
Caligari
I don’t see an orgy anywhere in this picture.
djmcgamester
First, I’m going to say people shouldn’t have to see this sort of thing, especially in a public park. Second, I’m going to say that Central Park has similar cruising spots and I haven’t run across them.
The orgy icon shouldn’t be there, though. I guess AI filtering this sort of thing isn’t quite there yet.
unreligious
I used to work on Fifth Ave and would ride my bike home through Central Park. I can’t count the number of times I would see straight people having sex in the park. It’s not just a gay thing.
Bradsflix
Why would gay guys do this kids are in that park. O get annoyed gay guys just have sex anywhere and kids really do nit need to be exposed to gay sex at young ages. My BF & I want to have 2 or 3 boys and would be angry of they were exposed to gay sex at like 5 or 6
seaguy
They didn’t have a picture of that infamous downed tree with bottoms bent over it getting pounded? Damn.
Heywood Jablowme
“galileo” above is right, Hampstead Heath is a HUGE park. Yes there is a small gay sex area (HOT, but only at night, I thought? – I’ve only ever been there at night) but that still leaves the other 98% of the park. What’s so odd about calling it just an “innocent park” since 98% of it is?
CastleSF
I live in an area very close to a cruising spot in Berkeley. It is adjacent to a freeway entrance but that hasn’t stopped creepy men from cruising there, day or night. I was so uncomfortable with this situation that I took photos of the spot and sent them to the Berkeley police department. Sadly nothing was done for years. The cruising continued until things got worse and it was just disgusting. The city finally cleaned up the bushes and put a fence around, hoping to deter the illegal actions. Now the area is largely homeless encampment but I still see people cruising there and doing their dirty things.
Heywood Jablowme
Apples and oranges. The cruisy area in Hampstead Heath is (or was in the ’90s) very far from any housing.
But it’s always fun to see you describe gay sex as “disgusting”!