The Knowhere Guide

Going Out in Edinburgh, City of Edinburgh*

Edinburgh, City of Edinburgh Clubs, Music Venues, Cinemas

Clubs (Dance Music) and Music Bars

• Mood beside the Omni centre is lovely.
• The stafford centre never will never turn youse away. The men are always very welcome at the laughing duck!
• espionage on victoria st is the best - its on about 4 or 5 floors and is laid out like a maze with staircases in corners, is highly confusing when youre tipsy! but it's ace, they do party bowl cocktails which are so yummy, and theres loads of little intimate booths, as well as big tables....basically if you cant decide between a pub or club, go to espionage because its both, more clubby on weekends. q bar at the top of leith walk also deserves a mention, dont be put off by the scary bouncers - if you go downstairs theres usually some cool event going on, and its decorated really nicely. the best kept secret in edinburgh though has got to be the citrus club - if you like indie/rock etc then go!!!!
• ReVoLuTiOn is absolutely brilliant. its the only club in Edinburgh where fashionable young ordinary-working-class people go for a good night out. Brilliant!! Good looking down to earth guys and gurls. A HUGE dancefloor and excellent music. Unlike the other clubs in Edinburgh which are housed in tiny converted buildings and full of "cultural" types.
• Good D n B Clubs are - Manga, Obscene, React. Sugar Beat at Cabaret Volitaire is also sweet as is Techno night- Jackin!
• before going to many of the clubs in fountainbridge/grindly street you could do worse than go to the footlights bar in spittal street. pretty trendy place, video jukebox/pool/food till 9pm. mix mash of patrons, staff a laugh and a good atmosphere. get merry there before paying citrus club prices!
• The Honeycomb on Niddry street (just off the royal mile) holds a monthly event called 'Access' (next one friday 17th december). Five wicked resident DJs known as the 'drop put boys' spin their housey tunes on the main dance floor, while the room next door's dancefloor dedicates itself so some of the best hip hop around - run by locally known DJ who this year played his hip hop tunes on the newcomer stage at T in the park. A great atmosphere, definately worth a visit. Me and my chums go every month. Pictures available at http://www.the-honeycomb.com
• luvely(liquid rooms) - as the name suggests, just brilliant majestica (bruno - you are just pure genious)@ the Venue avoid at all cost: 3 sisters (arghhh), s(cr)ubway (both of them), Revolution (unless you enjoy fights with bottles and 'young patrons' as you put it nicely
• Wilkie House - semi destroyed in a fire about a year and a half ago. The remnants have been rechristined 'Faith' and hosts r&b pub discos. Studio 24 - Nowt but poor house clubs, Dogma (quality techno club) and the mission offshoots. Studio 24 is dank, dirty, grotty and can be quite fun, but not much recently. Ego, Picardy Place (the roundabout down from Warner Village complex) hosts a number of clubs and also hosts an underage clubnight, which is kind of disturbing when you go past at 7.30 and theres 400 teenies dressed like slappers already pissed. The Venue, Cabaret Voltaire (Blair Street ?) and the LIquid Rooms host most of the good clubs. Avoid the Honeycomb unless you like paying over the odds for old shite and watered down drinks. If you've more money than sense have a night out in George Street, doesn't matter where, all the pubs are trendy overpriced places filled with randy executives, wanker Edinburgh Uni Students and more people without chins than you thought could fit in one place.
• TECHNO?? studio 24 does dogma [www.clubdogma.com] which fukin rocks. Everybody is always fuked and totally up for it!! ive seen DJ rush, Surgeon, Henrik b, Subhead, Jerome hill, Speedy J, Ignition Technician to name but a few! But Chris liebing, Ben Sims, Glen Wilson, and Gayle San have also played there... UTI held there is good too -some say better... but there is never a friday when there isn't good techno on at the studios. MANGA [www.basstrap.com/manga/]is one of the best D'n'B nights around- (like around scotland/britian...) and is HIGHLY recommended.
• City nightclub in Market Street has Shark on Wednesday nights which is brillant. The atmosphere was amazing. We had a great night and the drinks were cheap too which can't be bad!
• Eros/Elite is SHUT! Unbeknownst to many many locals. So please, don't go out in the, ahem, lovely Scottish weather trying to find it.
• eh a hates to tell u this but eros and elite dont exist any more its now called the edinburgh arena
• establishment - cheap drinks on mondays and thursdays i think, but quite small. city is good if you want a huge club and the vip bit is nice.
• The liquid room. Victoria st. Colours, progression, Luvely. All Excellent house nights. Progression is shit hot. All on alternating saturdays. bring your own glow sticks.
• If you want to be guaranteed a great night out with plenty of cheap drink and cheesy pop music then look no further than the Subway Cowgate. It is possibly the darkest club in the world which is good news for your really ugly mate (every group has one), at least until the lights go on bang on 3am and the steroid fuelled bouncers begin literally throwing out the largely first year student clientele. One last thing though, don't wear your best gear as it will get ruined, especially if your necking some bird against the sweat covered walls. Quality!!!
• The Venue can be great on a Friday nite, just down behind the St James centre. And a new club Igntiton on King Stables road is also gd for hip hop, r nb. The Mission on Saturday nites for death metal and other goth stuff
• there is a under 18's called the mission which is in studio 24 on calton road on a saturday night from 7pm till 10pm then there is the over 18's mission which is 11pm till 3pm. nexus is in studio 24 on a thursday from 11pm till3pm
• the wee red bar!! and caberet voltaire!! both places where you wont find the testerone fueled stoopid club nights that go on elsewhere
• The Venue on Carlton road is totally bouncing, forget the "The Rev" and 'Eros". It plays hip beats and funky tunes. Friday nights the venue even hold an under 18's night. Full of good lookin australian guys, so take a visit. And for the wannabe ganasta's this si the place for you!!!!
• Across the nightclubs in Edinburgh, we have a local hero. Almost every night, a wee asian guy drives (he doesn't drink) to a club of his choice - Revolution, Eros, Espionage, you name it. To him, all these places are likened to the bar in Cheers - because EVERYONE knows his name.... His name... VIETNAMESE MICHAEL. Okay, if you didn't know his name, you will definately recognise him as the little oriental guy with the gravity-defying dance/breakdance moves he uses to burn up every dancefloor in the city. Every night, some local punter will challenge Michael to a dance-off, but it is our asian friend who wins every time... to the sound of rapturous applause. Michael, the clubbers of Edinburgh salute you.
• Boo, hiss! The mission used to play the best metal, have the best crowd and the best reputation. Now its clientele have become remarkably youthful to the point where they are all under 5ft2" and incapable of stomaching anything heavier than a little lite nu-metal. No wonder loyal patrons are deserting the club in droves - all traces of originality and individuality are under threat as the minimosher herds stampede across the dance floor. And please, no more girls in fishnet catsuits with drooping breasts and strategically placed crosses of duct-tape. If your breasts send men screaming towards the exits, you should PUT THEM AWAY.
• ayyye...revolution and eros!
• Erm, I thought that the Wilkie House was closed down by the police circa Dec 2001? If it wasn't, why is it always shut??? Pure at The Honeycomb on a Sunday night is reckoned to be the best of Edinburgh these days.
• not many good ones but the bongo club and the ark have the right tunes and lapse door staff
• -the mission in STUDIO 24. every other sat. under 18s between 7&10 and over 18s from 11till?. plays metal, punk , ska etc. a must for all goths/ moshers.
• If clubbing in Edinburgh, the Eros Elite club definitely isn't recommended. It's a busy, thriving, smart looking club for sure, but I can assure you it's a very dangerous place to go.
• messenger sound system @ the bongo club in new street for all your dub/reggae needs Absolutely fantastic
• The Cavendish is a good laugh full of students bit of a meat market dance/chart witha thick slice of cheese!!
• Gaia is good, used to be the jaffacake and i was there every thursday...... 50p a tequila and 20p a vodka! not any more though but still a good atmosphere. music not bad. Espionage is one of my favourites - 5 floors, 4 bars(pravda, kasbar, mata hari and lizard lounge, personally prefer the lizard lounge) but get their early cos it gets sooo busy. Also best to enter via the back door which is up a lane in the cowgate, just up from the 3 sisters. pretty dark lane, but does have bouncers at the top and its not dodgy!
• Club 30 , I found hard to find an entry on the internet for Edinburgh, but its here in Fredrick Street .Open thursday, friday, saturday and new night tuesday the club takes its name from playing three decades off music and is over 21's friday,over 25 saturday and over 18 tuesday. Entry is £5.00(friday),£6.00(saturday)and £3.00(thursday) Over six footers watch that head room ! the ceiling is low. The bar prices are a bit high ,have a wee starter in the house first. You will find lots of hen parties there ,singles and unsatisfied and satiisfied married women .
• There's the Mission at Studio 21 on the Calton Road, for those of you who like to have a bit of TALENT and FEELING in your music i.e. you like goth, rock, metal. On the other hand if you are shallow, braindead, and have no life at all you'll be freesing your arse off wearing a skimpy wee rag standing outside Revolution in a blizzard. Have fun!
• What about Espionage!!!!! I spent many a drunken night in there, bit expensive thought. 5 floors of James Bond wannabies :-) a lot of fun if you're on the pull though.
• Noone has mentioned Wilkie House yet. Great venue with lots of different clubs using it. The best has to be Luvely, it is a mixed/gay night and the crowd are really up for it. If you dont have a membership you can wait for a lifetime in the queue which isn't great on a cold December night ( I waited for 2 hours at Christmas but it was worth it when i got the feeling back in my feet.)DJ's are excellent especially Rich B who plays Hard House. Excellent night out!!! PS great excuse for OTT dressing up
• boo hiss for the demise of Cafe Graffitti.....mind you, the clientele was verging rather on the OLD side for the last year or so. not like when us young scamps used to quaff ridiculous quantities of budvar and ponder the feasibility of nicking one of those nice lamps...why are edinburgh clubs so fucking expensive anyway? you can get the same music for a fiver (and cheap drink) at say, the art school in glesgae on a friday night, as you can in manga for at least a tenner.
• Apex, The Pill Box, for all you ravers out there!!
• Eros/Elite just opened on Fountainbridge. Cool place with excellent lighting and sounds
• I don't know if it is still under the same management but Berties in the Cowgate was always good if you fancied seeing hundreds of 15 year old Mary Erskine and Heriots girls falling over in stilletos, the music was crap and the drinks were overpriced but they would let anyone in. If you were a bit more sophisticated (or you had nicked your sisters fake ID) The tilted wig (now Bar Down Under or some other stupid Antippodian name .. what is the Aussie obsession at the moment anyway)was always a good laugh.
• The Honeycomb can be very good. But for a better night out, make the effort to travel through to Bathgate and got to Room At The Top. Its worth it believe me. Edinburgh is full of crappy converted churches clubs.
• Pure at the Venue - the only club in town....
• The Honeycomb is Edinburgh's premier underground dance venue. This 450 capacity, ultra-cool club plays host to the following club nights: Fridays rotate between Higher Ground (Garage n House), Seen (hip-hop) and Triptonite (pumpin UK house) Saturdays feature Substance with Craig Smith and Mikey Stirton & guests playing underground garage and deep funky houyse while Atomic Baby is on every other week featuring the harder pumping sound of Michael Kilkie and Zammo & the occassional guest. In the back room Gareth Somerville goes for a more soulful vibe. Sunday is Taste night. Taste is inexplicably rammed and rocking each and every time it's on. The mixed crowd lap up the hard house and nu-nrg rhythms served up by Fisher and Price. For further info on The Honeycomb email indemand.co.uk or telephone +44(0)131 225 5644.
• I was in town the weekend of April 12, and caught a great hadrcore-techno show at a spot called Studio 24, on Calton Road. I think it may be a new name for one of the clubs you've already listed, so you may want to update. The show was called Underground Response Unit. Cool spot - very underground/warehousey type venue with blistering light show.
• Everyone has to go to Sublime once in their lifetime. It plays acidic trance and hard house kindov' music and the atmosphere on the dance floor is totally amazing. Take drugs or not, the majority are up for it and loving it. The DJs are totally amazing and if you like that kind of thing get there on Friday nights.
• Space Safari Off-world Lounge Music, Bachelor Pad Bongos and Toe-Tapping Exotica from Dimension X!
• Eden is Edinburgh's only true night of folk/world/roots music with live bands, drummers, belly dancers and the finest of dance tracks.
• Two new [96] clubs - the plush Honeycomb off Hunter Square and Club Mercado in Market Street.
• Joy at the Calton on Saturdays, Gay/Mixed, but it's now homeless [Oct 96]
• Also: A local pirate radio station playing hip-hop, funk, jazz, jungle etc. On in the evenings, Healthy 96.5 , a must in the city.
• Gabba is way to underground to support a club at Edinburgh's inflated club prices. BUT, the jungle scene is finally starting up here with Street Knowledge nights at the same place as PURE is held although they are infrequent. Another techno club is LIFT which runs on thursday nights at the Attic on the Cowgate, behind legends which also happens to be a well cool pub. LIFT plays techno of all non-cheesy varieties. Long live the techno scene.
• Edinburgh dropped gabba a while ago and has almost got rid of that crap Scottish-hardcore stuff like QFX, The Time Frequency etc. We want our own scene, and we're beginning to get it together... Oh, Claude Young moved here from Detroit recently (but your guess is as good as mine as to his address :)
  Clubs that play techno (and its musical relatives):
  • Sativa at the New Calton Club, Calton Road. (Fortnightly, but currently on holiday.) Probably the best regular acid/techno/trance night out in Scotland (but not as good as it used to be... mostly the fault of the new venue). Be ready for totally insane (but not neccessarily hard) music upstairs in the chill-out room... Big rival of Pure, the other big night out of the week...
  • LIS:EN at the Venue, Calton Road (fortnightly) plays a full range of bleeps from fairly hard house, through trance to full-on mental bangy/acid stuff. Resident live set too... I like it, but then I'm biased 'cos my friends run it :)
  • Pure at the Venue. Pure is Pure is Pure... THE famous techno club which gets the big names on a regular basis. DJs Twitch and Brainstorm spin vinyl and keep the punters happy. Slightly over fashion-conscious apparently, but that depends on who you listen to. Pure regulars who were at Sativa when Dave Clarke a while ago said it was much better than Pure. And Mr. Carke was playing some dodgy tunes! Pure is traditionally the home of the fashion-concious, Sativa was the Friendly-Techno-Crusty Club (but isn't really anymore). You practically need to be/be with a member to get into Pure.
• The people who ran Iniquity now run Tushratta at the Rocking Horse on Victoria Street. Still Thursdays but from about 10.00 onwards. You can get flyers on other nights worth 50p. Interested in talking to people who might be going? Try the Boasters' Board.
• Most definitely: Dub Department on Wednesday nights at Negotiants, free entry good vibes but expensive beer (as usual for a trendy pub these days).
• MANGA! Edinburgh's first drum'n'bass club now sadly dwindling. Excellent music if they could only shoot the MC.

Live Music Venues

• The Gratton Hounds is usually full of Chavs talking hyper-gyp but at the weekends it home to rockers and loads cool bands.
• The Gratton Hound has these mental drum and bass nights sometimes. Kinda ok but its full of chavs shouting and gossiping in speed-pyke. They're not local so it's a bit scary.
• The carriers quarters in Leith has started doing live music on Thursdays and Sundays, go and see Sabai, a female duo playing unusual cover tunes on violin and guitar and brilliant originals, the best pub music experience you will find in town.
• Mcbackpackers/bannermans/Nektar/gig/cabaret voltaire/
• Counting House above the Blind Poet on West Nicolson St.
• the Corn Exchange. That new place "Gig" which used to be the Revolution night club.
• Backpackers on Queensferry Road on a Saturday night when baby tiger are unleashing their latest band(s) who are still searching for that elusive second chord.
• for your big world famous bands, its a bus to glasgow i'm afraid. but for smaller uk bands, its usually the corn exchange (a bit far out of town for my liking and a bit boring - just a big square hall) or the liquid rooms (more atmospheric, with a big balcony thing), sometimes at the caves or bongo club.
• Malt Shovel on a tuesday, a really really good swing band!
• Liquid rooms...saw Glenn hughes from Deep purple play there.
• LIVE JAZZ@ The Left Bank on Hasties Close(GUTHRIE STREET) EVERY SUNDAY 9.30PM til late. ADMISSION FREE!
• Marcos is proving to be a good place to play and see bands.
• Finnegan's wake (irish, in case you hadn't guessed it)
• The Caledonian Backpackers has gigs from local and touring bands every Saturday in the bar - good night.
• if your a new band lookin for some gigs i would recomend whistle binkies on southbridge (backs on to nidrie street), abit more experinced bans should try some place like the venu or the liquid rooms
• venues in Edinburgh are the liquid room on victoria sstreet studio 24 on calton road the venue on calton road the bongo club on new street the edinburgh corn exchange but i'm not to sure what the sreet is called where it is situated
• There is a place called the mission thats ment to b totaly amazin soo i thot i wud let u know. i dont actuall know where it is but shit happenz just ask people bout it in Edinburgh and they will probably know. itz a good place to pull lol
• corn exchange
• The Venue, etc.
• the venue and the liquid rooms
• -Corn Exchange -Liquid Rooms -Studio 24
• bongo club in new street for anyone who likes alternative stuff like jazz, funk, reggae with a good atmosphere all week
• The venue, liquid room, not bad. Edinburgh really needs a decent venue. somewhere like the barrowlands.
• The Venue on Calton Road for live music. The liquid Room does some of that as well. Festival Theatre for Classical music and big shows. Edinburgh Playhouse as well. Wilkie House for smaller stuff. And the Subway if you're really desparate.
• Unfortunately the fabulous and ever memorable Cas Rock has closed.Many a thought comes to mind but Saturday afternoons were the business. Anyone Know where Rab Howitt's band plays now? I could do with a fix!
• i hear the tap'o'lauriston's closing shop. fond memories of many a warm pint pre-idlewild gig in the cas rock next door. them's were the days when roddy would hurl his shoes off, exposing rather fetching red socks, and curl up on the floor screaming into his mike ...and that was just the first song. mind you, i saw some stinking punk snogging his dog in the tap once, after getting it drunk on the contents of the dregs tray...nice!
• The Liquid Rooms are alright. Saw that Swedish rock star guy Andreas Johnson there in March, and we done some serious flirting. Best fun I've had in ages.
• Henry's Jazz Bar (just off Lothian Road)
• Jazz Joint at Henry's Celler bar, opposite ABC cinema on lothian road. Wierd set up: old chinese guy own the place and live music everynight. the music ranges from lush jazz vocal by some chick on wendesdays to hip hop, live drum and bass, or jazzed up latino. djs are edinburgh finest who also play in cafe graffiti and stuff. place is dead wee and because the crowd is very mixed, the atmosphere is brillant. most nights end up with 20 people dancing in the 2 by 3 meter space in front of the 'stage'.
• The Venue. Stones used to be OK, but thats closed now. And the Queen St Oyster Bar (rumoured to be closing) has one guy who plays blues at the perfect volume for a chilled night out. Generally, good bands only come to Edinburgh once every five years or so.
• Platform 1 Rutland Street 0131-225-2433
• La Tache Cellarbar, Rutland Street the best atmosphere although more for an older crowd and always busy so go early.
  'La Tache', as you called it (known as L'Attache to the people who owned it) no longer exists, but has been replaced by a pub called The Drunken Monk. It too has live music, though you will find much better music elsewhere (I would highly recommend The Tron Ceilidh House, known colloquially just as 'The Tron', just off the Royal Mile behind the old Tron Kirk, or perhaps The Shore Bar & Restaurant in Leith, which has traditional music every Wednesday and Saturday nights). The Shore also has some of the best food in the city.
• Venue, Carlton Road

• The Music Box, Victoria Street
• Caz Rock Cafe

Cinemas

• The UGC is well good, really really clean. Called Cineworld now tho. Same difference.
• The new complex near St James centre is so crowded you can usually get in without paying.
• 6 quid a film?!? edinbugh definlty has the rip of prices for a film. any wonder people watch pirates these days
• UCI at Fort Kinnaird has sticky floors, but at this price who can complain?
• I very much like the cinema (and the ice cream) at the new Ocean terminal
• The Dominion in Morningside or the Cameo in Tollcross have that slightly smaller cosy cinema feeling that you don't get with UCI and multiplex places.
• cameo - little arthouse cinema in tollcross. great for late night double bills and special offers. monday films cheaper for some reason, and you can take beer into the film. provided you're of age of course...
• the warner brothers studios next to playhouse just in between london road and york place odeon up south bridge then there is the one at fountain bridge
• cameo and filmhouse are the best in town, because all the films they show there are worth seeing (not the usual holywood blockboster jizz)
• The new warner brothers village by the playhouse , space age and roomy but i prefer the ster cinema in ocean teminal!
• fountainpark....big up to the ylt (wannabe terrorist killer neds)
• Usual crappy multiplexes.
• ugc at fountain park pay 9.99 a month direct debit for a year and get unlimted films for that year
• kinnaird park has it all (except for somewhere to skate)
• Odeon is cheaper than UCI and UCG, but the popcorn is rank.
• Cameo. Nice intimate arthouse stuff. Always has something good on. Especially their late night double bills, they rock!
• getting pished and shouting at pretentious wankers in the filmhouse bar is great.
• ABC Cinemas on Lothian Road - £3 before 6:00 pm
• The Cameo cinema is excellent, when you can drink beer in the cinema.. from a proper glass who cares if the film is crap
• Odeon's very good - but be warned: Monday's cheap nights are brimming with upper class, toff students. But then thats Edinburgh for you.
• For independent and/or foreign films, check out the Cameo and the Filmhouse, both within walking distance of Princes St. The filmhouse is a trendy hangout during the film festival in August and has a good value cafe which serves snacks and light meals all day.
• The Cameo is the best cinema in Edinburgh, except when the sewers are playing up. Good for late night films, go Mondays if you're not a student and fancy cheap prices. Try: http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/~cjw/cameo.html for the programme. The Filmhouse is also good, with lots of festivals (Italian, French, Gay etc). Their web site is at http://www.filmhouse.demon.co.uk There's also a few Odeons and ABCs which are ok, and a family run cinema in Morningside called the Dominion which has a couple very small cinemas which feel like being in your livingroom with very comfy seats.

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Last updated: 2007-07-19