The Knowhere Guide

The Local Music Scene in Abingdon, Oxfordshire*

Abingdon, Oxfordshire Record Shops and Venues

Record Shops

• there is a good independant music store on the high street
• Modern Music quite good shop actually
• Modern Music- wikkid little independant shop but depends wot ur into realy.
• Surely MODERN MUSIC deserves a mention. As I recall, originally named 'Listen in Company' and trading from the Market Place in the early seventies.
• Modern Music is the only decent shop in town. Woolworths is just full of mainstream trash.
• Modern Music, its the one and only.
• Modern music. class music shop
• Modern Music is a reasonable place to buy your records. There's also a decent music department at Woolworths or a reasonable one in John Menzies. All will supply mainly mainstream stuff, so if you want some Jungle, try somewhere else!

Clubs (Dance Music) and Music Bars

• Abingdon has not got one good pub or bar anymore. everything is shiiittttt now. Strattons has always been shit and is keeping that image, Grape were good few years ago but now have just turned into an over rated over priced shit hole. The Venue is good if ya a squaddie. Nags was a good night out but now is full of kids and drugs, blue boar is far to price now. my advice is to go to oxford, maybe have a few in the cross keys before since that is the only pub that looks half decent and a good night. And never ever go strattons !!!!
• Strattons - Townie Fight Club - beer is watered down and tastes like piss.lovely!
• Strattons is an absolute hell-hole, theres just so many elements of lunacy to contend with....lagered-up typical abingdon wankers, lairy squaddies from the local barracks attempting to fight these locals (rather unwise!),'ladettes',need i really continue?!....
• The Nags Head on The Thames is an excellent place to drink at the weekend, it has a disco with all sorts of music playing and its full of people aged about 18 - late 20's and sometimes older! It also has a VERY good lookin barman called Robbie for the girls and a couple of VERY pretty barmaids for the lads!!
• HAHAHAHAHAHA Strattons
• Strattons!!! be careful not to look anyone in the eye or lightly brush past someone though, this is often a pre-cursor to violence, and the bouncers -whilst terribly concerned about headgear- do not seem to really give a shit about the quality of the people they are actually admitting !
• Strattons is a haven for local morons- either strait up beer monsters or rudboys who think they a re from peckham- only a half acceptable place to go if ur veeeery pissed !!!
• Strattons - affectionately renamed Stappons by local following. Was originally Buddies - a bar of the of the same name operates in Benidorm (no relation, I've checked). Thursday is ladies night, which unfortunately means the arrival of the squaddie element looking to tackle the local talent. However, this is now being nicely remedied by the 'Squadie Bashers' who enjoy entertaining our commrades in arms who failed to make a successful 'tackle' in time
• "Straaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatons" I mean, what is this place? Poople style hair, warm beer, and evil, letching, up-for-a-sh@g NORTHENER SQUADDIES a-go-go!
• Strattons is called STICKEYS by the locals!
• Clubs are for townies only.
• Poodles or what ever the fucking place is called, avoid at all costs unless you want to shag a squadies bird. Which is quite alot of fun actually......nothing like pissing off a squady and his mates to spice up the evening.
• The Skittle Alley @ The Horse & Jockey. DJs, Dance and Live stuff. Membership (£5) available @ The Horse & Jockey, Bath Street, Abingdon between 7-9pm Friday. If you wanna know more, phone Nige: 07720 113922 anytime or Pete: 01235 539498 in the evening or on the weekend.
• strattons ( ex- Buddies ) used to be the place to go, till the squadies came along & wanted a fight every week. C#@%t's
• Strattons, but just down the road in Oxford you have DTM's.
• What can you say? There's this club called Strattons, politely renamed Strap-ons by the locals. It's crap! There's also a place called the Venue over the Bridge, or something like that! It's at Abingdon Town FC. I've never been.

Live Music Venues

• Live music - The grapes. well its pretty fucking shit when you go in there on a friday night and you have some prick TRYING to sing, it kind of spoils your evening.
• plenty in oxford. and reading. but abingdon?????? dream on, unless the constant drone of ploice sirens in the town center on a weeknd nite counts as music!!!!
• So's you all know, the Horse & Jockey has been closed for a couple of years now. THE SKITTLE ALLEY is now organising regular gigs of all the best local bands and drum and bass nights at THE KINGS HEAD & BELL, east St Helen's Street, which are fantastic and the only music worth listening to in Abingdon. They haven't thought of publicity yet, so best jsut to visit the pub regularly and wait expectantly............... Alternatively, Bob Martin at the punch bowl if you want to make every other gig you will ever hear sound good, or The Plough if youlook like Status Quo.
• Best place for local music is now the Zodiac, Cowley Rd., Oxford. (But at least the busses are better now than they ever were).
• By the way, the skittle alley at the Horse and Jockey is now closed, cos the brewery closed th pub down, the end of another excellent local landmark and watering hole. This and other venues will be under threat if new government music licensing laws go through. The Kings Head and Bell is currently trying to get a music licence, so watch this space, and the Skittle Alley collective is still doing gigs, but mainly in Oxford... no suprise there!
• The Net is good for local upcoming bands but again you have to go to Oxford for anything better ie the Zodiac (Rage Against the Machine played there in 1999)
• Horse and Jockey now has 'The Skittle Alley' and about time we had a venue in town again, other than the Red Lion who have given up on live music apart from the odd tribute band once every couple of months
• The Skittle Alley @ The Horse & Jockey. DJs, Dance and Live stuff. Membership (£5) available @ The Horse & Jockey, Bath Street, Abingdon between 7-9pm Friday. If you wanna know more, phone Nige: 07720 113922 anytime or Pete: 01235 539498 in the evening or on the weekend.
• new and youthful bands ofetn rehearse inthe youth club 'The Net', and thus sometimes they get to play for a bit in a tiny room to their friends and friends of their friends. Occasionally bigger local bands play, but in either case it isn't advertised too much and is generally word of mouth.
• The shed.
• The only place I've heard to do a decent live music gig is The Old Gaol leisure centre. These gigs are very rare though. I've seen Ride supported by the Candyskins and various other local bands there. Also Radiohead and (I think) Supergrasss play there, but I never saw them. Carter USM played, and that was a top night!!

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Last updated: 2008-01-24