The Knowhere Guide

The Local Music Scene in Folkestone, Kent*

Folkestone, Kent Record Shops and Venues

Record Shops

• no record shops but hopefully when folkestone shopping centre is finnished they might cater for everyone
• Music Room at the bottom of town by Pizza Hut is legendary, they have almost everything you could want. old or new.
• lets buy some music in Dover and Hythe - by far the best indie shops min the area. Gary and Louise really know their stuff
• The Music Room, they sell badges 2!!! YEY
• The Music Room, in Guildhall Street, it sells all sorts, and badges!
• go to richards records in canturbury
• Richard's Records.
• all the way to canterbury and richards records cos folkestone is useless for music.altho there is a half decent shop near pizza hut now
• SPECTRUM RECORDS:DRUM N BASS MOSTLY LOCATED AT THE BOTTEM OF OLD HIGH STREET
• Sanity opposite M&S
• Sanity(in town) , Music and tatoo(central station)
• Sanity Music and tatoo in the central station
• it was our price, it was virgin, it was HMV, it was Sainity and its now???? i dont know what it is now!!!! cos i havent been into town recently! but onlines cheaper anyway!!
• RICHARDS RECORDS (ASHFORD)
• Lets buy some music-hythe
• There's a few decent CD's in the shop near the bridge by Radnar Park. I saw the Jester album and Hindsight Live At The Leas Cliff Hall.
• There is apparently a new one opened near central station opposite magdas. Have not had chance to check out yet. Sanity which used to be virgin and ourprice before it was virgin!
• Sanity in the High Street
• Folkestone's crap for it, for the only really good shop you've gotta go to the music box in ashford, it rocks (Althought hey keep playing really terrible stuff like linkin park in the background, hmm...)
• Hummingbird records was always my first point of call with any spare cash.Andy would order anything for you and did not mind you browsing for hours.
• U gotta go to Canterbury
• our price, no wait its now virgen, no wait they changed it again its now sanity, well im loosing mine just keeping track..get it track lol i know not funny
• The one that used to be on Tontine street and let you listen to the sounds before you bought them in that little booth.
• Spindle Records on Guildhall Street is a vinyl lover's Mecca
• FOLKESTONE MARKET ON SUNDAY!!! ALL THE LATEST CD'S (genuine not fakes!!) AT PRICES NOT SEEN IN THE SHOPS. ALWAYS BUY FROM THERE. PRICES ARE GENERALLY FROM £8.99 BUT HAVE BOX SETS WITH 3 CD'S IN THEM FOR £5 - well worth a look - not a fly by night stall usually there in all weathers. THERE ARE 2 MUSIC STALLS AT THE MARKET THE ONE I'M TALKING ABOUT IS IN THE CENTRE OF THE MARKET AND CATER FOR ALL TASTES. THE OTHER STALL MAINLY SELLS HEADBANGING MUSIC AND CAN BE HEARD HALFWAY DOWN THE SEA FRONT.
• Record shops came and went but the best place for music was the trustworthy charity shops!! Must admit wasn't too hip at the time!
• not many apart from the v shop house garage sound better of going somewhere else
• Spindles in Guildhall street
• Virgin Records in sandgate road where you can also buy a totaly usless vigin mobile phone i bought one
• Well record shops we don't have so many of really. Suit 16 (opposite the closed indoor market)has always been good from rare and second hand stuff. If your looking for older stuff Clive is your man. Don't even bother with the new "v shop" i've been in once and it has like one cd in there or something!
• The only shop in town in the newly opened V shop.
• Spindles in Guildhall street is a revelation especially for those interested in Tijiuna Brass Band music. Im going to buy that Mr Spock Sings Songs from out of Space record when he drops the price from £15...rip off.
• our price
• None in folkestone, gotta go to Canturbury for any decent underground shops
• Hummingbirds, that was useless...is it still open?
• HMV in canterbury kicks the arse out of our little,help i cant breathe in here,our price!
• Folkestone is now completely devoid of decent record shops. In the old days there were Hummingbird, and second hand stuff in the market, both now sadly disappeared.
• There is only one - our price Re-Pete i n Hythe is apparently good
• Hummingbird records closed years ago
• Woolworths is the biggest selling entertaiment store. There virtually is nowhere other than Ourprice, and that is crap
• Gotta agree on the Hummingbird Records entry - much of a mis-spent youth occured here
• Boots, Woolworths, WHSmiths (If they count)
• Humming Bird Records.
• Our Price

Clubs (Dance Music) and Music Bars

• Leas Club *shuts at 1am* is the best for socialising with sofas and a dancefloor downstairs, a big open bar where you dont have to wait long to get served. Pool tables up and downstairs and a giant screen for the football. Wetherspoons is a nice place to start a night with its cheap prices and sofa'd booths, but no music and slow barstaff are a drawback. Chambers is a nice place but dark and compact. La Vue is a light and airy place with a friendly atmosphere and clean feel. After hours the only real option is "club indigo/ the beach" (commonly known as "the Priz") which has one room for the newer club/ RnB music and another for the old school anthems,drinks are pricey after 11 and dress coded but therwise its good. Jolsons and Gs are more homosexual bars and Pipers is full of older bints.
• if you want to be treated like the scum of the earth head to Club Indigo, 97% of the security are lacking in people skills. The 3% who can communicate with the general public are very nice, it's not all bad. But as a female I have found on more than 1 occasion that the personal safety of the female patrons is not of importance to the door staff or management, a shame considering the many risks to females trying to get home & the national news coverage highlighting this issue. Hopefully they will co-operate with local cab firms (just calling a cab for lone females would be a start) to ensure women's safe return home. Surely that's better than encouraging them to binge drink early on in the evening whilst they offer reduced price drinks, then leave them on the street to get home drunk & possibly alone. It's a shame that as soon as they get you out the door your safety is of no importance.
• Harp Club its a small pub but it puts on some wicked dance parties, Whie Lion pub puts on some cool live music
• OOOO Stripes CLub!!!!!!! And dat Club Indigo by da Rotunda isn CRAP, full of druggies
• Stripes Club. Loads of my m8s go there every Friday and have a great time!
• stripes, but only go there really if you like getting knocked, lanterns is good, thats wot ive heard, leas cliff hall get really good bands, motorhead, cky etc
• Indigo = hard m8.
• the front is the only decent club.and decent is being very generous.its really not worth the hassle
• Pipers - every time. OK so the clientel may be that bit more mature, but its so bad in there, its brilliant!
• Down the front, mainly full of young adults! which is good! the music is quite good, DJs are alrite some need a bit of practice! The best nites are foam nites! Every night there are drink offers, such as buy 1 get 2 free! that helps the night seem a lot better! Leas Club is full of much younger people, there are numerous pool tables on the top level, dance floor and seating on the bottom, with a juke box, and sometimes a DJ, this place is a bit of a dive, but aslong as ur mates are there its alrite! Bar Luxor, very strict on ID so dont go there if your young, but its a really nice place, sofas food, drink and seems very classy and with an atmosphere unlike Wetherspoons, here we have the obvious the starting off place on a night out because of cheap drink and some food! Chambers is probably the nicest place in folkestone, good music, sometimes live, two bar, sofas, chairs, dance floor, nice pool table, all you want really! and there are the random bars situated around! The best bet is to go away from folkestone, M20, voted best Superclub in Europe! really good fun and there are others such as Liquid which are good!
• If you're a girl too young for Indigo go to Pipers and get letched over by the blokes who are too old for Indigo!
• Pikers (actually called Pipers, do you see what I did?) and Jolsons, how can people forget these? Every bit as crap as Parissienne / Bonkers, but with cheaper drinks.
• Theres plenty to do along Fokestones Red Light district otherwise known as "The Leas" just mind your step and dont trip over the Wineoes and people puking over the side as they come out of the many clubs and pubs along the leas or up the town from spoons way. If your happen to be walking down the town to places such as Mustangs, Pipers or Spoons you will no doubt be hastled out of fags or lighters as its the only place that has cash machines so the 15 year old cider piss usually hang round there in gangs hoping to sponge a free fag. After the pub you can decide to get a Kebab or Curry and the Delhi and if your not hammered enougth you can stagger down rememberence hill and try the Beech thats if your can convince the bouncers that wearing shoes and not trainers is somehw going to make you less pikey and make the place look any less pikey. If you head around the corner you will find some of the better clubs tha arnt full of jailbait such as Pipers and Jolsons and are usually a lot better. If your looking for a fight or even if your not there usually plenty when you get out of the club and fi you head down thier at around 2am for a kebab you will probably get pounced on hence why the whole street is usually swarming with Fuzz and Taxi drivers.
• Jolsons have 2 rooms of music and is dirt cheap for beer! Pipers has 2 floors of music. Indigo is very expensive, but good music.
• Club indigo and the beach (pris if your old school) is the only place to be on a friday or saturday night! Pipers is ok, but not that good. Jolson is full of 60 year olds! i mean if i wanted a mature woman i'd go to a tea house!! aviod that place!!!
• Stripes
• Indigo and the Beach usually have the entire youth of the town in on a friday and saturday night, however there is hope! Wednesday nights there are not too bad. Plus Kat-Man-Do is not too bad apart from the drunk, horny gurkhas. Jolsons used to be ok but has got a bit boring.
• There are clubs in Folkestone to cater for many different tastes. Pipers is good for a laugh for the older generation (ie over 30s)
• Club Indigo. Oh my i've never been to such a hole in all my life. If you're a brainless ugly thug with a ben sherman shirt you'll love it. full of old tarts who have managed to get someone to look after their 30 kids, obviously the dads are all out at Indigo.
• Jolsons (The Party Bar)- changed a lot lately, no more squaddies, and relatively no fighting!!!! Cheap drinks all night long, also give away free drinks (usually on a saturday) Pipers - be carefull when walking past here after the club has kicked out there are some EXCEPTIONALLY TALL dodgy people who go to pipers!
• God i remember nearly living in pipers and the very sordid mr p's
• Anyone over 18 would probably have the sence to venture to ashford,rochester or london for a decent night. Anyone below that age you will find at indigo or weatherspoons!
• Pipers for the oldies - brilliant fun.
• Watchout for the Goldup sisters, down the priz every weekend - Guaranteed. You can recognise them by their gold plated rather large triangle earings, fake moschino get-up and lack of any possible intelligence.
• The Beach club is the place if you're up for it. Folkestone used to be a corruption of "Fogey's-Town". Not any more. It will rival Brighton's club scene before long and the architecture's nicer. Folkestone= "Fuc*s Town" Fabulous place!
• I used to have to drag my poor bones down to Pipers!! Horrible!! Then the La Parissien, speeling is out!! Never any good at French. Went there about a month ago!! It is no good what so ever!! Never was!
• Club Indigo and The Beach is really crap. Drinks offers every night of the week just to get some customers in. It is full of very "young" customers, and the management are unpolite and smell. Last time I went in there I noticed that they had had a refit (just lots of MDF stuck to the walls). Light system is very poor, sound system is crap. All of the DJs were crap apart from that young lad working down there. Generally, most people in Folkestone go to M20 Nightclub in Asford - it is a decent well run venue (but management is still bad)
• Music Factory at the bottom of Dover Road, long gone - Bonkers isnt there anymore either. The Harp Club is a great place to go, the members might be scarey, but we're lovable with it, aaaarrggghh. Should see us on Halloween. We travel down there (200 miles) for that each year. Great stuff!!
• If you haven't tried the Harp Club recently give it go now. Not only redecorated but some great bands and good people running it - it must have changed hands! Still got the strange wall decoration though - worth the visit alone.
• golf.... nah indigo alright but i always get thrown out
• The Beach - Pick up an ugly Folkestone tart, an easy lay if there ever was one!
• How I miss the closing of Pipers I would drink there in my teens until I fell over. It's now an over 25's club which means anyone with a tash. I once saw Baby-D at the Parisienne (Now Club Indigo....Same pikeys, different interior)
• la pris is rough someone got slashed down their the other night.PRIZ which is now CLUB INDIGO is very boring the same fights caused by the same people and rubbish music the drinks prices are ridiculous.
• la parisienne!
• La priz is good for a quicky if you know what i mean!!!
• The priz is fun for pulling 12 year old girls, Music factory is fun for being eyeballed by skinheads, Jolsons is fun to be beaten up by squaddies, Pipers is fun to pull your mum!
• It has to bonkers on a Weekend surrounded by the people you are sure you remember being at primary school with and you are sure they are only about 13 years old now
• Music Factory in Dover Road Folkestone Thursdays - OPEN 10-2.AM with draft lager at 50p a pint from 11.00 - 12.00 Kareoke night combined with modern dance music smart casual dress, generally a good night
• The sub club.....! HAS changed into the Chambers, which is now under the trusty Captainship of Chris. A worthy landlord. Expect great romantic adventures at Chambers.
• They've all already been said (You can count them on two fingers!!)
• Pipers still going (over 25's.Happy hour 9-1030 ladies free till 1030 gents £2 ) La parrisene (total dance...good 70's night on Thur. Bonkers,great fun pub. Music factory..rave club very pricey. Jolsons, squaddy pub but good for a cheap drink b4 1030.crumpet leaves by 1030 for pipers or parisiene.
• Whatever happened to the venue at the end of Foord road. (just beyond the viaduct)?
• What about Pipers!!!! Or did they change the name?
• The Sub Club
• Bonkers
• La Parisian

Live Music Venues

• Lanterns is way better than stripes which is mainly full of little greebos trying to get served underage. the best thing about lanterns is that you dont have to wait outside as the gig starts...and there is a snooker club below with pool, jukebox and sofas. Leas Cliff Hall gets better acts all the time, Motorhead come back every year but recnt bands include Supergrass, The Ordinary Boys, Bowling For Soup, Reel Big Fish, Funeral For a Friend and cKy
• The Amphitheatre at the bottom of the zig-zag path (by the bandstand, near the Leas Cliff Hall on the Leas) is great for all types of music during those brilliant sunny days. Go to http://www.folkestone.dyndns.org/ to see an extensive catalogue of pictures and videos of some of the events that taken place there.
• leas cliff hall get really good bands, motorhead, cky etc
• Stripes Club on a Friday night. Biggin' it up! Lol.
• stripes and the leas cliff hall.i did used to go to the harp club too when i was younger. Theres always some young lookin people in there!
• Lanterns has real bands on now
• Leas Cliff Hall gets some great acts - recently including the Darkness, Paul Weller, Charlatans and Motorhead! Chambers for more intimate live music - and a recent addition is the Nostalgia Bar down by the harbour.
• Leas Cliff Hall had The Darkness last week and has Electric Six and Motorhead later in the year, is Folkestone on the up?
• Leas Cliff hall where all the wannabe and half decent stars come to play :) Se it before it disapears into the sea
• Mustangs, in Rendezvous St. Black Bull on Canterbury Rd, on a Saturday night for Karaoke, always a good laugh!
• leas cliff hall, Strips for all the goths, grunger people, the harp for young lesbians and erm well i dont go to these places cos i dont!
• STRIPES CLUB, THE LEAS?
• Stripes- dont pay to get it, Harp good for druggies to hang out,Leas a rip off, Lanterns no seats, Leas club good place if your 12
• Stripes Club is very cool as is The Harp Club. The Happy Frenchman pub has some good bands too sometimes. The Leas Cliff Hall used to put on some good local band shows too but it's normally rubbish. However Motorhead and The Darkness are both playing it later this year.
• The Harp club apparently has some good gigs. Leas Cliff Hall has limited good ones but the darkness are playing in october this year! The Happy Frenchman pub has some good gigs every now and again.
• Sound Lounge, Harp Club, the Happy Frenchman. There are some big names at the Leas Cliff Hall - recently I saw Paul Weller, Toploader, Reef and Erasure.
• Stripes Club is usually cool, the leas cliff hall has no atmosphere though, and it's full of lightweights who only ever go to gigs by big bands and object to being pushed a little
• heroes and bottoms where part of my mispent youth
• The Frenchman and the Sound Lounge
• the Leas cliff Hall
• Oddfellows, but it's gone now
• Loads of informal places doing occasional gigs, like Mermaids Bar down on the sea front - down the zig-zag path from the Leas, then turn right along the lower promenade until you see a Union Jack flying proudly. Beware Ma Paco's coffee - you will wait forever and it wasn't worth the wait in the first place! But as a music venue, it's hard to beat.
• oddfellows in Ceriton has cool bands.mainly thrash metal bands and duke too. my band is playing 19th July all girl emo band come check it out. ill get everyone in for free!
• Live music at the LCH Leas Cliff. I saw Grand-master mellie Mell there in the early eighties.!! How cool is that!
• For music try the Harp club in on Grace Hill opposite the library
• The Harp Club has live bands at weekends.Check out their site harpclub.co.uk its under new management (2001). Oh and the members are not too scary.
• We have The Stripes Club that holds a monthly rock night which is great. The Harp often has good bands in but it's a bit small and the members are a bit scary.The Leas Cliff Hall aslo has local three band specials which are ok too. Recently Reef and the Levellers have both also played there!!!!!
• Garage nation: 23rd june 2001 earl courts underground
• Manics played the metronome in 1991, what happened to 4A.M My first gig was the Spin Doctors at the Leas Cliff Hall....doh!
• leas cliff hall
• Bottoms, the venue of the gods.
• Leas cliff hall, they did have Travis and Stereophonics, before they realised how popular they would become! now all it is is that bloody JETHRO!!!!
• They have excellent jazz and classical concerts at the Metropole Arts Centre on Saturday mornings
• Leas Clif Hall (supposidly)
• Harp club for rock
• Nothing can beat the Leas Cliff Hall when 'Bjorn Again' come to town!
• The Leas Cliff Hall gets the occasional decent band. Hi - Light being when local bands get together for Best In Kent. The Leas Cliff Hall gets the occasional decent band. Hi - Light being when local bands get together for Best In Kent.

The Knowhere Guide started out as a list of places to skateboard in the UK. It is a compilation of (unedited) information and views supplied by users like yourself. It is not a conventional tourist guide!

In most cases, the information in each section has been submitted by more than one contributor (the credits at the bottom of the page list some, but not all, of the contributors) and some of it dates back to the 1970s.

We make no claims as to the accuracy of the information in the Guide - our only purpose is to provide a forum for users to share their knowledge and opinions. So please keep a large bag of salt handy and be prepared to read between the lines!

If you disagree with a comment, or information is out of date, please submit an update! The contributors come from all walks of life, and their opinions are bound to be subjective, so if your view isn't represented, please speak up and contribute to the balance of the Guide. See below in the 'Have Your Say' section for how to add your voice.

If we have helped you out or made you laugh you can buy us a pint.

Have Your Say...

You can tell us more about Folkestone. This is also the method to use if you want to correct some of the information already here. (But please remember you're not mailing the person who actually wrote whatever-it-is.)

You can use the add an event form to tell us about events happening in Folkestone.

Or, if you'd just like to leave a message for other users of this site, take a look at The Knowhere Board (handy if you're just trying to get in touch with someone).

Credits

Last updated: 2008-05-15