The Knowhere Guide

Going Out in Bradford, West Yorkshire*

Bradford, West Yorkshire Clubs, Music Venues, Cinemas

Clubs (Dance Music) and Music Bars

• bassline pressure @ blaze...that is a fuc*in good nyt juss opend.....2nd sat and last sat of every month!!! blaze nytclub on westgte oppiste the sheesh mahal
• GO TO SUBTERRENE WHICH IS DOWNSTAIRS AT LINGARDS, THEY PUT A BOUNCY/SCOUSE HOUSE NIGHT ON CALLED ZONE,EVERY FIRST SATURDAY OF THE MONTH AND THE TUNES ARE BANGING.
• start in red square, then go to varsity, then bar me, then livingstnes or flares... n ir ya still reasonably compas mentas pop along to lingards - dont go to edwards!!
• THREE PLACES WORTH VISITING IN BRADFORD FOR DANCING ETC,........underground stylee....the mill(preston street bradford)/////weekends 10pm 6am....awesome!!BOPS@the love apple=electro house n techno........BOPS@the beehive(1st satday every month)=half houur dj or live electronica sets of all styles rollin! more info ross_elliott@hotmail.com
• Ascenscion (old lingards, new boilerhouse)
• TWO NEW NIGHTCLUBS! The Urban Game is the new hottest nightclub opening on Legrams Lane (formerly Legrams Mill), undergoing a stunning refurbishment, this will be Bradfords biggest nightclub! 3 floors of everything urban, specialised with the local black and asian DJ's, they will play everything from hiphop,rap,r'n'b,drum'n'base,regga,indie and so on! This is going to be an awesome nightclub and in the daytime will operate with funky cafes,bars, studio and even a streetracing garage! Second up is the The Street! This is being built where the former mill and petrol station on Great Horton/Shearbridge Rd is, just up from the Univeristy! This is yet another urban club, but with a big Asian theme and VERY student friendly! Both The Urban Game and The Street! are going to change the face of the area and bring life to the local area!
• Dunno if anyone remembers the two lads who used to geth housing benefit to pay their rent and lived in a warehouse at the top of town and on a weekend used to open it up as a club? It was painted black inside with loadsa glow in the dark stuff, pretty cool idea I thought! Jack 'n' Jill's in Allerton as well, there doesn't seem to be any mention on here of that either, uncultured lot! As for Tumbler's well, what can I say, many a mis-spent night in there! Just about every night in fact, was well known at one time, maybe for some of the wrong reasons, but hey we live and learn and it all counts to who we are today, maybe we should have a re-union? I remember people like Liam, Graham, Lisa, Tiny the bouncer, Tony the head bouncer, Terry & Jez, the Bradford School girls who were always keen!
• Rios!
• west end, laast time i counted there were 6 major clubs, with more set to arrive.
• if u want a baggin nite an aint bothered about the crowd get to the boiler and come to another world
• Progressive metal bands like fineapple tend to play clubs like Rios, but other than that theres not much else. Clubs like the victoria hall dont exist anymore.
• Rios for S8, metal, Rock and punk and its student night on Wednesday which means they play allsorts and the booze is cheaper, but it also means that there are some remarkably young patrons. Livingstones, Revolution, west-end and queens hall are als worth a look in!
• Get yourself to livingstones (the manager is FIT) good music, good looking people. Walkabout is o.k, varsity a bit gloomy, revolution- not bad if your into proper clubbin music. dont go near Rios or Queens hole, sorry Queens hall! All these are near the center, all very close to each other, the same short road infact!
• boilerhouse open till 7 am great night if your not just on alcohol however if the pills are flying and the speed is whizing then get it down your neck cause this is the only way you,ll have a blinder in this shit hole , don,t bother staying after 3 am suicide heaven pill heads coming down very depressing.
• I very rarely go to clubs except in October when i attended Retro night at peningtons. Id heard so much about it and how good it was but i felt it was a total anti-climax. Maybe it was a bad mounth i dont know! Dont know if Uprising is still going at the Adelphi in Sheffield? now that was a good night. Apart from ruining my bros tracksuit! Oops! i hope he doesnt read this!!
• Queens Hall, Half Way House, Queen,
• If your considering a night out in Bradford then make sure you start at the train station, get on a train to Leeds and go from there. Queens Hall is a hole of a place for anyone with an I.Q over 12, a mega night out for those who refer to "The Sun" as the newspaper. Expect brown rockports, bleached hair, "Shane, Wayne and Dwayne's" galore and maybe if you're lucky you will witness one of the nightly bottlings of someone who was "looking at my bird". Scantily clad bints get paid to hang around outside trying to entice you in, try to resist the mingers. Walkabout is pretty much the same (the people who cant get into queens hall go here). Livingstones attracts a more mature crowd, especially early doors, old blokes who fancy a piece of young ass try to cop a feel at the bar though. The bar staff here are pretty tasty. Bambooza, Wetherspoons, Bar ME, Varsity...see above under Queens Hall. still want to go out in Bradford? good luck, you're a fool.
• Love Apple growing some rocking feet this year, see Substance (d&b), Phonic Crew (nu skool breaks/prog & funky house), Disoriental (world tunes, bhangra, rare groove), Siesta33(tech-house), reputedly Club Aura too flashing their arses monthly, promoted and performed by genuine homegrown talent. Check Rocket at Revolution for live hip hop(don't take the mickey out of the security as there's a guy with a terminator complex) Breadbins for hip hop and brokwar d&b, and keep your eyes peeled for future Phonic Crew and Bass Generation Events around the Uni and Horton Rd. Oh and get involved yourself, Bradford's getting on top of things this year
• Rio's (Wednesday - Student Night plays rock and pop something for everyone. Friday - Main Room - Metal, Punk etc. Small Room - Goth Night with DJ Sye. Best Night. Saturday - Classic Rock night with DJ Sye Small room somethime has guest DJ's but not always)
• if your wanting a wicked night in bradford then save it for once a month only! there is only 1 place acceptable for a great night out and that is penningtons!!! once a month retro night invites everyone to dance there arse off from 10 till 4 and it is the best music and the best crowd of people you could ask for! anyone who is partial to a bit of dance music retro style then this is the place for you!!! cueing is a problem but its worth it when you get inside the place is packed and the drinks are reasonable!! get yourself there this month!!!!
• Most of the best have gone, Varsity is okay if you want to get eyed up by some random thirty year old. The Love Apple is alright if you wanna get glassed by an eighteen old who's upset about the size of his penis. Mainly because it's on his head. Any trouble in that place just ask for Lucy, she's attaractive and hard as nails.
• One of my regular haunts is the local "Flares" (formerly the "Ram's Revenge") if you can tolerate the 70s theme and music! No admission charge, no dress code, open till 2am and the bar staff dance on the bar but the clientele isn't what you'd call "select"! Across the road is "The Corner House" (Formerly "O'Neill's" and before that "The Flagship") Downstairs looks "dodgy" (I use that term very loosely!) but they bang out some good tunes and like "Flares" there's no admission charge, no dress code and open till 2am.
• Time & Again appeared to be closed on Sat March 22nd, I know Milk Bar's gone bump, USH is apparently the new place if you've got any style.
• Rios - Brilliant rock club, and a great piss-up night on a wednesday, at about one when you are totally out of your tree they get out the cheese and you inexplicably find yourself on the stage - oh dear. One of the best things about Rios is that it is seperate from the Townie pubs so you dont get caught up in their knobby fights about a guy dressed in a ben sherman shirt knocking over another guy in a ben sherman shirt's pint!
• Hmmmm, depends on your definition of clubs. If "clubbing at the iceskate rink" is your idea, then your in paradise. Otherwise if your normal, just get on the train to Leeds or Halifax. There's some ok student oriented venues, like Gaudi's White Room. The Universities Friday Night Disco is damned good, but again it's something that students set up not Bradford localites.
• queens hall is nice during the week, but on thursdays, fridays and saturdays 5 dead is just a stag night!! fights all the time!
• Rio's is big, student-y and cheap with different rooms for alternative music - your taxi driver'll know the way.
• RIO'S ROCKS. Having recently strayed from B/ford, you really appreciate the diversity of the place - even if you do have to put up with trendy music of a Wednesday!
• The Milk Bar is pants as it is full of 15yr olds and I know! Queens hall is pants so is sublime my tip is go to leeds or halifax
• Rio's-OK, especially on Wed 'cos it's free or cheap to get in an only £1 a pint also has decent music (rock, metal, punk, etc.) music slightly better on a Friday but slightly more expensive night. Only other place worth a mention in Bradford is 1in12 club which plays host to some decent local bands.
• Lots on Morley Street.
• Rio's "north's premier rock venue"
• None starter - really, no fucking idea. This category is a contradiction in terms. I mean - the Milk Bar! Really!
• JB's is probably the best at the moment - the music pretty good with alot of retro/club classics! Shame the place is quite small! Milkbar is ok, although the music sometimes is not rite good! Bradford really needs to get some big decent nitespots to attract people
• Can't believe what has happened to Freestyle and Firkins......no longer can we dance the night away on the table tops we now have to endure Edwards which has no atmosphere whatsoever......I just tend to stay in Flares these days...The Square's pretty good though
• Alternative scene -try the '1 in 12' Club if your a bit of a lefty, crusty, Punk, Anarchist or gay. Various "collectives" & all nighters, cafe upstairs, voluntarily run.
• Rios - when I used to go, whenever I walked in the intro of Enter Sandman by Metallica was playing, or at least that's how I remember it.
• solutions(ex lingards) is best place to go if you are pissed with your mates and don't forget the women cheap and easy
• All the one's I used to go in, Frog and Toad, Champagne, Wheatsheaf, the Vaults etc. have now gone and been replaced by bottled 'beer' selling joints like Chicago Rocks and the Varsity etc etc which have a late licence ( and are pants)Haven't been to any of the 'dance' clubs which seem to open/shut on a regular basis and I have it on good authority that they're pants as well.
• The Milkbar nightclub in Bradford which your guide says was getting shite is in my opinion and that of my mates, the only place to be seen in Bradford. The staff are really friendly especially the barmaids who are dropdead gorgeous and always serve you first on the bar if you give good tips. The resident DJ's play the latest top tunes, the drinks are cheap and the atmostpheres buzzing! Also for those who like to chill out there is a top DJ in room two (middle floor) who plays the best smooth R n' B tunes to get on down to.
• Bradford Rio, Queens Hall are probably the best 2
• Into the 'Alternative' scene? Try the '1in 12' club, hidden away up a back alley near the Sun pub on Sunbridge Road. 1 in 12 is a members club with trance allnighters 'Riff Raff', 'Sonic Boom' are BUZZING!! Also all - nighters at 'Ali's Mill', Thornton Road, on corner of Preston St - very underground - 'private parties admission by 'invite' only, so use your head! No gangsters or Police.
• Satuday night, Queens Hall - the highlight of my week. All the best dance music upstairs and if you are feeling funky go downstairs for 70's and 80's, the best club in town.
• The Hub has now closed. A welcome curtailment to the business empire of one of the TWO men who attempt to preside over Bath's hedonism. Now the Fez. Just the same blend of arrogant boys and girls thinking they are in a cool place. Another gross waste of money spent on making it look physically just the same as the Hush. Some older,glam women here who still want to put it out (if you've got the money..)
• Queens Hall - The best of a crap bunch Firkin - 15's and under Chicago Rock - Over 40's
• FREESTYLE AND FIRKIN - long queues after 11 so get in b4, free entry all night, open till 2am and drinks (except yellow card rubblish) is cheaper than queens hall. And the door staff are far more efficient. Music Policy is a complete mixture from 70's to 2000, dance to pop to rock. And the staff are quick and efficient. No queueing at the bar for an hour in here.
• You've got to go to Rio's!! If you like dance and are just up for a laugh go on a wednesday, if you actually like the good stuff like offspring, greenday, blink-182-, bloodhound gang, korn etc. go on friday you'll definitely have more fun. it may look scary but everyone's actually very friendly, yes even the ones that look like death-they're usually the nicest of the lot!
• Peningtons is quite a fun night, and reasonably cheap if you go at the right time. Most of the smaller clubs in Bradord such as Juice, Milkbar, JB's and Conners are all getting really shite. I know, I used to work in most of em!!! Best night is Blob shop and the rest of the new pubs behind the alhambra!
• Page on Tumblers nightclub in Bradford http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~mart03/favouriteNightclub.htm
• Tumblers is now called Gaudi's and is rubbish
• Maestro's is now defunct and has been replace by J.T. Pennington's, a variety club for old people. Likewise the mighty Tumblers has died and been replaced by The White Room which plays commercial dance, garage, etc. However ever the down stairs bar Gaudi's is free and has a late liscence. The Freestyle and Firkin is poo obviously but it is free and has a late liscence and is an absolute meat market. Rio's is a shithole but Wednesdays are good.
• BRADFORD RIO'S,TFU,MIRAGE,LINGARDS,BOILER HOUSE AND MANY MORE
• Maestros has an under 18's night on Friday and Saturday starting at 9.30pm. Lingards is good for dance music, but not much else. If you are looking to bring home someone who reminds you of your mother go to the Telephone club at the bottom of Manor Row otherwise go to Leeds
• Bradford rio's rock club wed, fri, sat 3.50 entry sometimes ,cool bands too
• Carwash is good on Friday and Saturday at the Queens Hall you are sure to see someone you know once you're home from uni it's all 70's and 80's upstairs. There's also the icebar up the top of town near to Oxfam I think.
• Underground Set - at the Beehive Inn
• The Palm Cove on a Friday and Saturday night - best club I have found anywhere. On a Friday it is weird psychedia, on a Saturday it's... (it changes) - nowhere else like it. If it's a walk on the wild side you are after then try the Mayflower on Manningham Lane.
• Bradford is shite, but Rio Rock club rules on a Wednesday. It's only 50p a pint up until 11:00pm - then it's only £1 a pint all night. Awesome, huh? AND...the music is ALWAYS great in Rio... indie and dance on a Wednesday, Hardcore rock on a Friday... and Classic Rock on a Saturday (shite). Apart from that, the only decent clubs are the Underworld and the 1 in 12 club.
• Ignore that lot. Linguards on a Wednesday is great. Where else in Bradford can you find a club which plays indie and dance simultaneously on two different floors (so you can take your friends who have no taste)? And the beer and cider there is as good as you can get for 80p. Avoid Kiss. They did a 10p/pint for a few weeks. Even then no-one went. Maestros is pretty decent too. Tumblers: Student night costs £3 to get in, followed by £2 a pint. Go somewhere else.
• I am a sad rocker type who does actually like Rio's!!! Apart from that, Bradford is a bit cak really . Oh, the local transvestite club is quite cool as well.
• As far as clubs are concerned, if you can put up with the kids, Tumblers plays decent music, and serves good beer, otherwise you have to put up with cheesy crappy rave everywhere.
• For nights out, avoid Lingards like the plague, its cheesy and they sell what tastes like watered down crap as beer/Guiness - believe me the Guiness is revolting.
• The best club has got to be the Underworld on Great Horton Road, and the worst place to hang out is most definitely Lingards (that is unless you like drinking cat's piss).
• Rio. A shithole for rockers only.
• Maestro - For people with money (at the weekend) and students on the pull. There is a student night on Mondays which is usually excellent, and goes on 'til 3am, and is only £1 to get in, and promotions.
• Apart from Pickwicks, which is slowly getting worse, there are some other clubs: The newly restored Cellar Bar is really cool, and even had the Bay City Rollers a few weeks back. This fills up with students from the Bradford & Ilkley College and Bradford Uni on Fridays and Saturdays especially. On Saturday nights they have a very good 'Skool Discoesque' 80's night.
• Best pick-up joint: Pickwicks (Like the parties you used to have at home with added alcohol. Term time only.)

Live Music Venues

• no where rios is shit
• Rafters - Little Horton Lane MacCrory's Cellar Bar - Easby Road / Morley Street The Love Apple - Gt Horton Road The Exchange - Market Street The Market Tavern - Kirkgate Centre , Darley Street? Rio - Woodhead Road - Off Shearbridge Road, near the Uni. The Uni - Colours and the Escape Bars. The Gasworks - Duke Street? The Westleigh - Easyby Road / Morley Street The Head - Great Horton Road.
• Rio's, 1in12 and the exchange
• Rios!
• Fineapple, the dopest rap band have played throughout the Bradford area including the Bradford Astoria, Bradford Evening News Arena, and Bertil's of Bradford.
• Rios has band (some even vaguely famous) the exchange pub, the empress pub, and queens hall has even been known to hold gigs
• The Priestly (local theatre) in Leeds Road has live Jazz, usually on the first Saturday in the month.
• RIOs, Penningtons, Market Tavern, 1 in 12
• Rios was o.k untill they sold out and started catering for all the shell-suit clad townie bastards that came on a Wednesday night. Friday and Saturday night are usually o.k for bands though, its a small venue but some decent bands do occasionally play, i proudly state i was bruised and cut trying to escape a bottle fight between Biohazard and some dudes.
• Macgrory's (downstairs bar of the Beechfield Hotel, Morley Street) runs accoustic jams twice a month, and the bigger Fresh Milk at the Love Apple is a mashed up fusion jam night with funk, soul, poetry, hip hop, tribal drumming and all sorts of live vocalists. Free to play innit
• Empress is a great venue. Rio has bigger bands on.
• Rio's Is The Best. Many famous bands have played there. The Market Tavern for locally based bands and underground bands.
• Rio's is about the only place that delivers in the live stakes, shame that most of the bands only know three chords between them. But they do occasionally have music on. Honest.
• rio's - bit of a hole, st georges hall is great though- saw jack dee recently
• Hardly any worth going to.
• Rio's, again, Market Tavern 1 in 12 club
• Rios being more of a venue rather than a club is great, listening to people on here calling it a shithole isn't what i want to hear if you're into metal, rock, punk, indie anything alternative Rio's is the place in bradford to be. if you come to bradford check it out for yourself its worthwhile
• St.Georges Hall. I've played there. See a top musical (Les Mis for e.g.) at the Alhambra.
• Bugger all bar St. Georges Hall for mainstream anything you like entertainement. RIO'S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh yes
• St Georges Hall - one hell of a concert hall
• Windows Arts Centre needs a kick up the arse from BANES (ie. money) The Bell is still suffocating with tedious roots and jazz ensembles. The Hat and Feather on Thursdays upstairs if you want to try stuff out live is extraordinary and friendly. Other times The Hat & Feather can be a cold and uninviting clique of fucked up wannabees. Like the whole of Bath really.
• Distinct lack of music venues in Bradford. apart from Rios the Uni and St Georges, there isn't anywhere decent. We need somewhere else. How about converting the empty Odeon building?
• Harmonic Discovery Studios looks after young groups starting up with special introductory recording offers.
• as above
• RIO'S AND ST GEOGRES HALL
• Rios - shit, but not bad on a Friday.
• St Georges Hall: gets a wide range of gigs and events, and has had some good comedians of late, particularly Frank Skinner.
• Bradford University: 'The Commie' or Communal Buiding is a fairly large and strange venue where M&Ms (one Saturday per month - Look out for the Dancing Queens, Andy and Rog) and the infamous FND takes place. Has been host to many great bands including Nirvana, Echobelly, Carter USM, Belly, Stereolab, Chumbawamba. Holds 1200 and is fairly cheap... See Bradford University's Home page or email Fran Owen, the Ents Co-ordinator A.F.Owen@bradford.ac.uk.

Cinemas

• cineworld, good if you go there during the night, when the kids aren't there throwing popcorn about and shouting and have polyphonic tunes from their mobiles going on and off.
• The Pictureville Cinema! It's fucking brilliant! Fineapple hang out watching pretentious art movies by the Poisson Film Company (Also based in Bradford)
• Cineworld is a vast improvement on the old odeon, its a pretty good cinema but I wouldnt travel from further than halifax to it! The odeon at thornbury, its ok but smells of swimming pools as it ajoins a gym.
• Cineworld is really good, one tip, go on a tuesday or monday, its cheaper!
• Cineworld, just behind the Interchange. Monday to Thursday if you produce a ticket with today's date on you can eat from a special main course menu at Frankie and Bennys on the same complex. Doesnt include drinks but still a bargain especially on Monday and Tuesday.
• me and mustafid we iz always at cinema yeah. tajit always gets on at us coz we iz always leaving da kidz at home init. but day iz wicked
• no1 likes the odeon but its gud!
• Cineworld in the leisure exchange, near the Interchange.
• Off
• cineworld but a bit of the towny population goes so.
• Cineworld in the city centre. Shame it's full of wannabe gangsters who say "innit" way too much. If you fancy a trip go to the Odeon out in Thornbury, it's quiet, mainly because nobody can be arsed to travel that far out.
• CineWorld, Odeon Thornbury. Avoid the gangs.
• the new Cine-world place, its got EVERYTHING!
• The new cineworld is good, there is the bowling alley there too and a bar original, soon opening pizza hut and frankie & benny's - a bit similar to WB Village in Leeds!
• For a Claytoner its got to be the Odeon at Thornbury......it's right on the bus route.....lucky us. (esp bargain monday when it's £2.50 a seat all day every monday!)
• The Odeon was a unique experience before it was closed. Until I left Bradford, I thought all cinemas had 70 degree sloped seating. Hurry up and get the new one built. This city deserves better.
• All gone in the town centre. New one built at Thornbury (costs an arm and a leg) plus difficult to get to without own transport/a lift. Anothe one's being built at the bottom of Wakefield Road.
• The Imax is bloody massive! brilliant but if you dont wanna see one of the 3d things go to the pictureville (next door)!
• Pictureville is the only one left. Odeon recently closed so it's a long fag up to the new Odeon and Thornbury. Usul extortiante prices but they do a good discount on Saturday morning for parents and kids.
• Er...none now in the town centre! Used to be an Odeon but its shut down. Now the only ones in Thornbury. They're building a new one on the outskirts of the city centre...Warner Bros I think. Also has a HoJo hotel in it I think.
• The new Odeon at Gallagher Leisure Park is only worth one visit. It is located too far out of the City Centre and is badly run, too much litter on the floor, and the toilets were a complete mess - empty bottle of babycham in the toilet cubicle. Service was terrible too!! iF these misfortunes were solved, it would be a much better facility to visit!
• The Odeon closed down this year (sadly....sticky floors and all, but it was close and cheap!!)...there's a huge new WB Multiplex on top of Leeds Road. If you haven't got a car it's definitely too far away (Bradford buses at nighttime??? How fast can you say 'hassle'?)
• Bradford is Film city. The three screen Odeon is walking distance from the brilliant National Museum of Photography, Film and Television. The museum itslef is free and the Pictureville screen there is the plushest "arthouse" I've ever been to and shows everything from Ken Loach to Hong Kong Action movies. Then there;'s the Priestley Centre, another Arthouse witha very nice bar.
• BIG AND VERY SPACEY!! ALL THE NEW FILMS
• - Picturevill is the best, as everyone else has said. Do they still have the double bill offer?
• The J B Priestley centre for the arts does all the new plays and classics really cheaply and they show films after everybody else has so if you've missed a film you can see it.
• Pictureville - the best, say no more.

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Last updated: 2008-05-15