The Knowhere Guide

The Local Music Scene in Barnstaple, Devon*

Barnstaple, Devon Record Shops and Venues

Record Shops

• The owner of Second Spin - The shop which closed down a while ago - referred to as the grumpy man above though was a genuine guy called gareth if you got to know him, has died - September 2005. May he rest well in peace. PCG
• he's called jim ling, he used to have a rock show on lantern fm, he runs up front, he has cut his hair but the shop is awesome.
• beatsworkin record store nr the bus station selling hip hop dnb and reggae on vynal and cd also worth askin bout local free partys as i go to most n allways know where they are
• BEATSWORKIN....BEATSWORKIN....BEATSWORKIN....BEATSWORKIN...BEATSWORKIN GOTA SELECTION OF HIP HOP, D N B, REGGAE ON CD AND RECORDS ON QUEENS STREET NR THE BUS STATION ALSO CHECK OUT UPFRONT ON THE HIGH ST....
• beats workin and input
• "Our Price" is no longer with us much to most locals disgust but there's still a fair few places to buy your cd's etc (none that aint really been mentioned before).you'll more likely to save a few quid getting them at the supermarkets nowadays(tesco's in paticular) or going down woolies when they got a deal on.
• upfront record sells the best dance tunes for mixing.
• S'n'v (Sound and Vision) great shop which can encourage townies but on the whole sell good music and a wide range of vinyl's cheap!
• Discovery2 in Litchdon street.
• i am into heavy metal high sreet vendors suit me fine
• s 'n' v good range of punk music but mostly for goths who want to buy every slipknot patch ever.
• solo is best for all-round, s'n'v has gone very specialist recently but it is still good, and theres a little music shop in litchdon street which is probably the smallest shop i've been in yet rather ironically has one of the largest collections ever (specialises in LP's)
• + second spin has closed down now, but a another secondhand record shop has opened, discovery, nr the square
• s n v isn't cheap at all for cd's, quite good for cheap t-shirts though
• S n' V music shop, Solo, Ourprice. And the other one, I forgot what it's called, but it's got 2 decks upstairs for customer use.
• S'n'V used to be the best, with the coolest bloke ever to live in Barnstaple working there (1997-1998). In fact, when he left Barnstaple went from being moderately shit to completely shit. Anyway, S'n'V's gone goth now, Solo's probably the best bet.
• SnV is a wicked music shop supplying all the tunes to keep me happy and it is dead cheap whoo hoo viva SnV
• Up - Front records is the best place in town to shop for that one special something or other. The guy is dead helpfull and no job is too much trouble for him!
• Don't go to second spin the bloke is sad and never buys anything of you
• S & V Cheap CD's
• up front
• Sound 'n' Vision is cheaper than all theother record shops and is pretty cool
• Second Spin has (had?) a huge variety of old records plus some new and kept me supplied with Subhumans stuff for years

Clubs (Dance Music) and Music Bars

• Cork and Bottle now has a live music night every Thursday.Friday and Saturday are still disco nights with Glen back on the cocktail bar where he belongs.
• OMG, shout on a thursday night pretty dam awsome!! absolutly packed and the new club Funky munky ace on a sat nyte alcahol sooo cheap and some quite recent music played too with sticking to the floors kept to a mimimum!!! but seriousley shout on a thursday nyte u must go.... n im not a chav either!!!!
• There are no decent clubs in Barnstaple. Just the most downmarket, chavvy club you could possibly find - "Shout" - need I say more?
• Babylon...where the 90's never happened. Cool club if you're into neon, a school disco atmosphere (not in an ironic way either) and sticky floors. The only club I've ever been too where the DJ said he 'wasn't allowed' to play any new music. Only stuff from the last century. Babylon is only marginally better then Shout! (Shite) formerly known as Chicago. Words cannot describe the awfullness. The DJ turns the music down so you can sing along to YMCA. The horror, the horror...
• the only clubbing i have enjoyed in barnstaple involved me clubbing over the head a number of the pikey ford fiesta xr3 haddaway listening mongoloids parked outside bees with their freshly impregnated 15yr old girlfriends.
• GLTs every other friday nite and the good old exeter 'eccy' inn - cheap beer and hip hop nights occasionally
• Cork & Bottle rocks the party like nescafe and marmalade... check it out! cheers beefy for yer comments. The G spot has gone but taz, carlitto & slimm r on the cocktails.
• If u like over priced drinks, small dancefloors and middle aged women try Chicago rock cafe (they should of never have pulled down Bee's). If on the other hand u errr prefer the much younger crowd and like feeling claustrophobic go to Littentree's. That only leaves Babylon( next door to the former), by far the best out of the three really for music, dance space, and usually having someone of your own age chatting u up/to chat up.
• CHICARGO ROCK......Best place Barnstaple has ever seen!
• Are you having a laugh at the expense of our lifeless and dull town!
• Euphoria. where townies hang out. rough.
• Make sure you go to the tap on the square specially on a thurs coz its pound a pint and you will meet everyone there...
• After reading about GLT's I felt I just had to reply. GLT's is a scum hole full of fights and skool girls. I had a brilliant weekend out with the girls last week. We went to Chicago rock Cafe. It was a party on Ffiday with a crazy DJ that keeps changing his hair, Saturday was even better but get there before 10 or pay to get in and Sunday was up to date you choose the music with most drinks £1 before 10pm. Well worth a weekend of entertainment and the bar staff are mad. It was one girl's Hen night and she got a screaming orgasm from one of the barmen....on the BAR!!!
• Bees Nightclub (no longer exists), Rockabillys (shite!!).
• GLTs
• Yeah, Bees and Kaos and Zenaxis are long gone, now there's GLT's (for people who like drinking and nothing else), Euphoria (for people who like being c*nts and nothing else), Rockabilly's (for people who like being raped by inbred hillbillys ("squeal, piggy, squeal!") to the soundtrack of some of the worst tribute bands in the country) and Chicago Rock (essentially an old people's home with music).
• in barnstaple they are all shit
• Clubs in Barnstaple you gotta be joking! If your after watching youngsters (and im only 18)tart about in almost nothing and then puk all over you, then be my guest. Cork and Bottle is the place to be, come and visit me and get Glen (AKA G SPOT) to make you your own personal Cocktail - Only £2 on a Friday.Ben + Tam - Cheers mates :-)
• There used to be a club called Khaos, but it's been turned into some kind of Country and Western horror show. For added country authenticity, they've nailed a bucket and a hoe to the ceiling. Pathetic.
• What happened to Kaos? It showed such promise....Sad to see the demise of Zenaxis (cue Astor Cinema ad with fishnet stockings)
• there are no decent clubs in barnstaple only shit ones which are full of trendy townie wankers who all look the same in there shit trendy clothes with the shit trendy hair styles.
• Recently i was approached by a bloke and his girlfriend who were on holiday in the region, "know of any good indie clubs mate"? he asked, me and my friends could do nothing but laugh at the poor fool who had come to barnstaple for any night out of anything other than V.V.V mainstream music. Having lived in barnstaple all my life though i feel it would be unfair to say its totally shite as u can have a good laugh but the choice of club is either "shall we go to that shit place or that really shit place". GLTs or the Tap, seems to be the most popular club these days. Slightly clostrophobic inside or cosy some might say, arrive b4 9.45-10.00 on thursday nite £1 a pint and saturday to avoid a 45min queue which pisses u rite off as you know its shite inside but its the place where everyone goes. Inside 2 bars sevre the public in lovely plastic glasses in a multitude of luminous colours. The best thing in the pub is when u and some mates bag the comfy sofas for the nite which are at the front of the pub were u can watch a tv showing pictures of people on the dance floor. The music is normally whatever is in the charts or what the rest of the country has found fashionable for the previous 2-3 months, for example during the summer the DJ loved playing his garage music around songs like "its raining men" always played 4 times a nite and "sweet like chocolate". I do actually like going to the tap on thursday its where everyone goes but it says something about barnstaple that GLTs is the best place to go. Zenaxis was the first club that everyone in barnstaple went to, it really was a scum hole falling apart inside with a tiny little stage for town tarts to dance on, it was a joke of a place like the rest of barnstaple playing whatever music was in the charts with a few classic cheese songs. Was part of the growing up process of every teenager who lived in barnstaple. Now i think its just being left to fall apart. New club that opened in summer 2000 replacing mr berties/tavern, Euporia on a saturday nite was quite a laugh really, looks nice and there was glow sticks and people just really going for it on the dance floor to less comercial house and trance than barnstaples used to getting, extremeism like this is rare in barnstaple, what its like inside now im not sure, but i feel that it'll go the same way as the tap and just be a middle of the road nice lookin place, populated by townies and tarts out for a pull or a fight. To sum up barnstaples clubs really are just places to carry on drinking when the pubs kick out, they basically all play the same middle of the road stuff and 80% of the people in the places know each other so it can be a bit strange for "outsiders", can have a laugh though if u get really drunk and dont have to go out in barnstaple every week and dont want anything alternative or underground.
• Rockabillies 'Cock and willies' is a dump, the owner mike deacon can regularly be seen walking around rubbing his hands together. It is a 'western' theme club, mainly because he sanded the wooden floor and then couldn't be arsed to do anything else
• bees was pulled down ages ago . Its now a chicago rock!
• rockabillies
• Chicago Rock Cafe, Zenaxis !?
• GLTs
• Well Bees has been pulled down and basically now there are no decent clubs except GLT's
• Well we have the grand total of 2 nightcubs here. Zenaxis - falling apart and full of underage kids. occaisionally when bothered they get in a good dj. Bee's - shit but personally i think slightly more bearable
• The club "Bee's" is shit (s'cuse the language) and for 'grab a granny' and Zinaxis is for under 12's.

Live Music Venues

• Oh there's a few grungy old pubs splattered about the town that cater for this i'm sure.
• Chicargo Rock tribute nites every Wednesday. I recently went to the tributes of Guns n Roses and Shania Twain- both were brilliant, cheap drink and great atmosphere.
• The Rising Sun have bands occasionally weekend. THey are wicked and 10 times better than Ozzies kareoke!!!
• in garges that kind of thing but go Plymouth for the big stuff
• Exeter Inn. just off albert square. local bands such as good young talent. Check out the new band Silverline, a real good band.
• Exeter inn - godawful place but does put on bands from time to time
• Goodstock
• Exeter Inn is good for decent-ish Devonshite music. But all the bands have really shit names like Matrix and Tragic Roundabouts and Spunkmonkey. Maybe. Also, Rockabilly's have one decent tribute band, Diamond Dogz, who seem to be on every other week. Chicago Rock's tribute bands appear on a stage about 50ft in the air so you can't see them, and you get deafened cos it's cranked up really loud so all the deaf old people can hear it. Seamus O'Donnel's, Sherry's and the Reform Inn have some decent acts on from time to time, but Sherry's is a bit fucking scary.

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Last updated: 2007-06-22