Entertainment in Scotland
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Regent
This is a pleasant gay local with a relaxed atmosphere (no loud music), serving coffee and croissants as well as excellent real ales, including Deuchars IPA and Caledonian 80/-. Meeting place for the Lesbian and Gay Real Ale Drinkers club (first Monday of month, 9pm).
reviewed
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Captain Flint’s
This lively bar – by some distance Lerwick's best – throbs with happy conversation and has a distinctly nautical, creaky-wooden feel. There’s a cross-section of young ’uns, tourists, boat folk and older locals. There’s live music some nights and a pool table upstairs.
reviewed
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Firewater
A large venue constantly mobbed, Firewater is a good honest servant of Sauchiehall St. It’s always lively and there are usually some pretty good bands plying their trade. Huge American pool tables, drink offers and club passes means it’s a good place to get connected.
reviewed
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Tunnel
Tunnel is a Glasgow classic with two spaces and a good variety of sounds. It's fairly dressy for Glasgow. Saturdays are great here, with hip-hop and RnB in one zone, and house in the other.
reviewed
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Henry's Cellar
One of Edinburgh's most eclectic live-music venues, Henry's has something going on most nights of the week, from rock and indie to 'Balkan-inspired folk', funk to hip hop to hardcore, staging both local bands and acts from around the world. Open till 3am at weekends.
reviewed
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Standing Order
One of several converted banks on George St, Standing Order is a cavernous beer hall with a fantastic vaulted ceiling and some cosy rooms off to the right – look for the one with the original 27-tonne safe. Despite its size, it can be standing-room only at weekends.
reviewed
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Cask & Barrel
At the foot of Broughton St, the spit-and-sawdust style Cask & Barrel is a beer-drinker’s delight, with a selection of up to 10 real ales, as well as Czech and German beers, and a more than adequate array of TV screens for keeping up with the football or rugby.
reviewed
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Bar Pivo
This Czech-themed pub – half of the industrial-chic bar area is made up to look like a Prague metro station – offers no fewer than three Czech beers on draught, plus another six in bottles, as well as Scottish-made Belhaven real ales. Gay friendly.
reviewed
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Jolly Judge
A snug little howff tucked away down a close, the Judge exudes a cosy 17th-century atmosphere (low, timber-beamed painted ceilings) and has the added attraction of a cheering open fire in cold weather. No music or gaming machines, just the buzz of conversation.
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Hootananny
Hootananny is the city’s best live-music venue, with traditional folk- and/or rock-music sessions nightly, including big-name bands from all over Scotland (and, indeed, the world). The bar is well stocked with a range of beers from the local Black Isle Brewery.
reviewed
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Carriers Quarters
With a low wooden ceiling, stone walls and a fine old fireplace, the Carriers has all the historic atmosphere that its 18th-century origins would imply. It serves real ales and malt whiskies, as well as traditional Scottish bar meals such as stovies and haggis.
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Oban Chocolate Company
This shop specialises in hand-crafted chocolates (you can watch them being made) and also has a cafe serving excellent coffee and hot chocolate (try the chilli chocolate for a kick in the tastebuds), with big leather sofas in a window with a view of the bay. Open to 9pm Thursday to Saturday in July and August.
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Cameo
The three-screen, independently owned Cameo is a good, old-fashioned cinema showing an imaginative mix of mainstream and art-house movies. There is a good programme of midnight movies and Sunday matinees, and the seats in screen 1 are big enough to get lost in.
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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 Glasgow guitar band Franz Ferdinand and Ayrshire rockers Biffy Clyro.
reviewed
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Bailie Bar
Tucked down in a basement, the Bailie is an old Stockbridge stalwart; a dimly lit, warm and welcoming nook with a large circular island bar, a roaring fire in winter, and TVs screening live football. Serves good coffee as well as real ales and malt whiskies.
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McKay’s
This is the place to go to meet locals and have a big night out. Live music at weekends, weekly karaoke and DJs make this Pitlochry’s most popular place. The action moves from the spacious front bar (which serves food) to the boisterous dance floor out the back.
reviewed
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Blue Blazer
With its bare wooden floors, cosy fireplace and efficient bar staff, the Blue Blazer is a down-to-earth antidote to the designer excess of modern style bars, catering to a loyal clientele of real-ale enthusiasts, pie eaters and Saturday horse-racing fans.
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Scottish Showtime
From June to early September the Inverness Suite at the Ramada Jarvis Hotel stages ‘Scottish Showtime’, an evening of traditional Scottish music, song and dance aimed squarely at the tourist market. Tickets available from the tourist office.
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Bramble
One of those places that easily earns the sobriquet ‘best-kept secret’, Bramble is an unmarked cellar bar where a maze of stone and brick hideaways conceals what is arguably the city’s best cocktail bar. No beer taps, no fuss, just expertly mixed drinks.
reviewed
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Mull Theatre
One of Scotland’s best-known touring companies, putting on shows all over Scotland. It is based at Druimfin, about a mile south of Tobermory, which is the venue for most of its Mull-based performances; check the website for details of the latest shows.
reviewed
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Caley Sample Room
The Sample Room is a big, lively, convivial pub serving a wide range of wines and excellent real ales, and some of the best pub grub in the city. It’s popular with sports fans too, who gather to watch football and rugby matches on the large-screen TVs.
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Robertsons 37 Bar
No 37 is to malt whisky connoisseurs what the Diggers (now called the Athletic Arms) once was to real-ale fans. Its long gantry sports a choice of more than 100 single malts and the bar provides a quiet and elegant environment in which to sample them.
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Henry’s Cellar Bar
One of Edinburgh’s best live-music venues, Henry’s has something going on every night of the week, from rock and indie to jazz and blues, funk to hip-hop to hardcore, staging both local bands and acts from around the world. Open till 3am at weekends.
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Tunnels
This cavernous, subterranean club – the entrance is in a road tunnel beneath Union St – is a great live music venue, with a packed programme of up-and-coming Scottish bands. It also hosts regular DJ nights – check the website for the latest program.
reviewed
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Antiquary
A dark, downstairs den of traditional beersmanship, with bare wooden floorboards and dark wood tables and chairs, the long-established Antiquary has lively open folk-music sessions on Thursday nights at 9pm, when all- comers are welcome to perform.
reviewed