Entertainment in Scotland
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Roseleaf
Cute and quaint and verging on chintzy, the Roseleaf could hardly be further from the average Leith bar. Decked out in flowered wallpaper, old furniture and rose-patterned china, the real ales and bottled beers are complemented by a range of specialty teas, coffees and fruit drinks (including rose lemonade) and well above average pub grub (served 10am to 10pm).
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Abbotsford
Dating from 1902 and named after Sir Walter Scott’s country house, the Abbotsford is one of the few pubs in Rose St that has retained its Edwardian splendour, with a grand mahogany island bar. It has long been a hang-out for writers, actors, journalists and media people and has many loyal regulars.
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Guildford Arms
Located next door to the Cafe Royal Circle Bar, the Guildford is another classic Victorian pub full of polished mahogany, brass and ornate cornices. The bar lunches are good – try to get a table in the unusual upstairs gallery, with a view over the sea of drinkers down below.
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Reading Rooms
Dundee’s hippest venue is an arty, bohemian hang-out in a run-down former library that hosts some of Scotland’s best indie club nights. Live gigs have ranged from island singer-songwriter Colin MacIntyre (aka Mull Historical Society) to Ayrshire rock band Biffy Clyro.
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Bow Bar
One of the city's best traditional-style pubs (it's not as old as it looks) serving a range of excellent real ales and a vast selection of malt whiskies, the Bow Bar often has standing-room only on Friday and Saturday evenings.
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Beehive Inn
The historic Beehive – a former coaching inn – is a big, buzzing party-pub, with a range of real ales, but the main attraction is sitting out the back in the Grassmarket's only beer garden, with views up to the castle.
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King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut
One of the city’s premier live-music pub venues, the excellent King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut hosts bands every night of the week. Oasis were signed after playing here.
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Last Drop
The name commemorates the gallows that used to stand nearby, but the only swingers today are the pub's partying clientele, largely students and backpackers.
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Sharmanka Kinetic Gallery & Theatre
Great fun for kids and fruit for reflection for adults: check out a show at this extraordinary mechanical theatre. Originally from St Petersburg, it brings inanimate objects to life; sculptured pieces of old scrap and tiny carved figures perform humorous and tragic stories of the human spirit to haunting music. It’s joyful, ironic theatre: inspirational one moment and macabre the next, but always colourful, clever and thought-provoking. Full performances are at 7pm Thursday and Sunday, and there are shorter daily performances (£5 with two kids free) from Wednesday to Sunday (check by phone or online for times). The gallery is also open between performances.
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Artà
This extraordinary place is so baroque that when you hear a Mozart concerto over the sound system, it wouldn't surprise you to see the man himself at the other end of the bar. Set in a former cheese market, it really does have to be seen to be believed. As its door slides open, Artà's opulent, cavernous candle-lit interior is exposed. There's floor-to-ceiling velvet, with red curtains revealing a staircase to the tapas bar and restaurant above in a show of decadence that the Romans would have appreciated. Despite the luxury, it's got a relaxed, chilled vibe and a mixed crowd. The big cocktails are great.
reviewed
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Aikman’s – the Cellar Bar
Aikman’s – The Cellar Bar Want to get away from clipped accents and enjoy a real beer or two? Any bar that has spent 19 years in the CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) Good Beer Guide is all right by us. Here you’ll find the best selection of real ales in town and a dimly lit cellar bar to enjoy them in. It’s worn around the edges (and in the middle too), but geez the beer is good. An antithesis to the more prissy bars in town.
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Butterfly & Pig
A breath of fresh air along trendy Bath St, the piggery is a little offbeat, a little zany and makes you feel comfortable as soon as you plunge into its basement depths. The decor is an eclectic bunch with a retro feel and this adds to its familiarity. You get the feeling that servicing this place regularly would be rewarded with your favourite pint being poured just as you enter the doorway. There's a sizeable menu of pub grub, and more refined fare in the tearoom upstairs.
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Uisge Beatha
If you enjoy a drink among dead things, you'll love Uisge Beatha (Gaelic for whisky, literally 'water of life'). This mishmash of church pews, stuffed animal heads and portraits of depressed nobility (the Maggie mannequin is our favourite) is patrolled by Andy Capp-like characters during the day and students at night. With 100 whiskies and four quirky rooms to choose from, this unique pub is one of Glasgow's best – an antidote to style bars.
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Oran Mor
Now some may be a little uncomfortable with the thought of drinking in a church. But we say: the Lord giveth. Praise be and let's give thanks – a converted church and an almighty one at that is now a bar, eating venue and club venue. The bar feels like it's been here for years – all wood and thick, exposed stone giving it warmth and a celestial air. There's an excellent array of whiskies. The only thing missing is holy water on your way in.
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Canny Man’s
A lovably eccentric pub, the Canny Man’s is made up of a crowded warren of tiny rooms that are crammed with a bizarre collection of antiques and curiosities (a description that could also apply to some of the regulars), and where the landlord regularly refuses entry to anyone who looks scruffy, inebriated or vaguely pinko/commie/subversive. If you can get in here, you’ll find it serves excellent real ale, vintage port and Cuban cigars.
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Athletic Arms
Named after the cemetery across the street – the grave-diggers used to nip in and slake their thirst after a hard day’s interring – the Diggers dates from the 1890s. It’s still staunchly traditional – the decor has barely changed in 100 years – and has recently revived its reputation as a real-ale drinker’s mecca by serving locally brewed Diggers’ 80-shilling ale. Packed to the gills with football and rugby fans on match days.
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Stereo
Stereo pulls in a pissed-up, dance-till-you-puke crowd, who queue up for the weekly Shagtag, a hugely successful student night which involves a complicated snogging-by-numbers event. Weekends are devoted to party nights, with the crowds gamely thrashing away to a soundtrack of pop, funk, disco and house while trying not to barf up the gallon of cheap promo drinks they just downed.
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Bar 10
A tiny city treasure that will cause the canny Glasgow drinker to give you a knowing glance if you mention its name. As laid-back as you could ask for in a hip city bar, the friendly, tuned-in staff complete the happy picture. It transforms from a quiet daytime bar to a happening weekend pub on Friday and Saturday nights. It also does decent, cheap paninis, salads, and the like during the day.
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The Butterfly & the Pig
A breath of fresh air along trendy Bath St, the piggery is a little offbeat, a little zany and makes you feel comfortable as soon as you plunge into its basement depths. The décor is an eclectic bunch with a retro feel and this adds to its familiarity. You get the feeling that servicing this place regularly would be rewarded with your favourite pint being poured just as you enter the doorway.
reviewed
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Liquid Room
The Liquid Room (see also Nightclubs) stages all kinds of gigs from local rock bands to tribute bands to the Average White Band. Check the program on the website.
reviewed
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Blue Lamp
A long-standing feature of the Aberdeen pub scene, the Blue Lamp is a favourite student hang-out – a dark and slightly dingy drinking den with beer, good craic (lively conversation) and a jukebox selection that has barely changed since Elvis died. There are regular sessions of live jazz, folk and acoustic music. The pub is 150m north of the city centre, along Broad St.
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Cafe Royal Circle Bar
Perhaps the classic Edinburgh bar, the Cafe Royal’s main claims to fame are its magnificent oval bar and the series of Doulton tile portraits of famous Victorian inventors. Check out the bottles on the gantry – staff line them up to look like there’s a mirror there, and many a drink-befuddled customer has been seen squinting and wondering why he can’t see his reflection.
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Wee Red Bar
The Wee Red Bar has been around so long there’s a danger the authorities will slap a blue plaque on it and declare it a national monument. Wee, red and frequented, hardly surprisingly, by lots of art students, it’s famous for the Egg, a weekly smorgasbord of classic punk, ska, northern soul, indie etc that is still one of the best club nights in the city.
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Brauhaus
The bar itself is fairly small – half a dozen bar stools, a couple of sofas and a scattering of seats – but the ambition is sizeable, with a vast menu of bottled beers from all over the world, ranging from the usual suspects from Belgium, Germany and the Czech Republic, to more unusual brews such as Paradox Smokehead (a 10% ABV stout aged for six months in a whisky cask).
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Abbotsford
One of the few pubs in Rose St that has retained its Edwardian splendour, the Abbotsford has long been a hang-out for writers, actors, journalists and media people, and has many loyal regulars. Dating from 1902, and named after Sir Walter Scott’s country house, the pub’s centrepiece is a splendid mahogany island bar. Good selection of Scottish and English real ales.
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