The Knowhere Guide

The Local Music Scene in Bristol, Bristol*

Bristol, Bristol Record Shops and Venues

Record Shops

• Fopp on park street and whiteladies road have a diverse mix of videos cds dvds... and quite often they charge a fiver! eg. i bought donnie darko
• If you want some vintage stuff go to st nicks market indoor or outdoor both have got stalls for music, and then theres fopp bottom of park street on a side rd
• Rooted Records, Glocester Road, Bristol.
• Rubber Soul, Old Market. Everything from 50s Rock and Roll to 70s/80s new wave.
• Fopp suck the cock. But they are very cheap. R.I.P. Imperial...
• Great new record shop opened in Clifton Arcade hidden right at the back. Sells a really eclectic mix and has some great old vinyl and new-ish cd's
• Fopp on parkstreet. Its the best for underground.
• Fopp, Park Street. Great records at really cheap prices, and some cool posters and books aswell. Old CD's and new ones aswell! Yay!
• Fopp all the way baby. About half way up Park Street it is stuffed full of ace bargains. Good for vids, dvd's, books and Vinyl too. Best shops for Vinyl are on Gloucester Road / Stokes Croft though.
• fopp an replay on park street
• 2004: Fopp on Park Street, also Replay. There are a couple of places on Gloucester Rd that have a bigger selection of vinyl
• FOPP! is amazin - cheap as fuk
• FOPP is the best and the others in Park Street
• Fopp is the best record shop in Bristol now, no contest. Replay once held that honour, but since it decamped from the Bus Station area onto Park Street, the staff seem to have got thicker, ruder and less able to keep a healthy stock of anything other than dire NME-recommended trash. Always empty nowadays. Shame.
• Replay St James Barton round-about good punk stuff
• Rooted at the beginning of Gloucester Road has to be the best dance shop in Bristol. HUGE range of drum and bass, hip hop, garage etc and the staff have never been anything but friendly and helpful.
• B A N G B A N G records on Colston St. have really sorted me out! Loads of tunes in the racks and female friendly! I buy new House & some Techno & Breaks and they really know their suff. Highly RECOMMENDED.
• replay
• bang bang, replay and fopp all have a good selection of underground dance music - and the former has very helpful staff
• fop on park street seems good, decent prices and helpful staff
• bangbang now online-please check our new website: house/breaks/trance/hard house/techno/funk,soul & disco classics/dj merchandise. world wide mailorder service. Fast, friendly & efficient .
• Can anyone tell me a decent place to buy vinyl after the demise of Revolver Records?
• Virgin Megastore is the shit! But Check out Gloucester road For, 'Plastic Wax Records and Rooted Record's. And Bang Bang on Colston Street.
• replay (park street), imperial (park street), breakbeat culture (between park street + park row), fopp (park street)... (you get the picture!)
• Revolver - Rog and Mat will ensure that you never get what you went in for but you will always purchase whatever they recommend; and it will become your favourite album.
• Backyard is the realest, mcs and djs on saturday afternoons too. Imperial's good too.
• REVOLUTION IN STAPLE HILL BRISTOL IS ONE OF THE BEST PLACES TO GET ALL THE NEW RECORDS AND HAS A LARGE SELECTION AND IS RUN BY A DJ SO HE ALSO SHOWS YOU THE TOP TUNES YOU HAVENT HEARD.
• Plastic Wax Records, Cheltenham Road. A 5 minute bus ride from the centre.
• Subway
• replay, they sell good quality second hand stuff really cheap. worth a look.
• Rayner's on Park street -good for lots of cheap stuff that you wouldn't find in other places
• Replay records haymarket ask for pongo
• ere - you wanna go down plastic wax by the arches on gloucester rd for your records
• Plastic Wax in Old Market, though come to think of it they've been closed for years
• replay, park street - good for gig tickets
• Imperial Records - ace, very friendly, knowledable staff. If you go regualarly you'll get an automatic 10% discount on future purchases!
• replay, rival
• Replay records on Park Street and in town
• No such place as 'St James Circle' in Bristol - I guess they mean St James Barton. All the shops there now closed for redevelopment.
• Wasn't the brilliant Sarah Records (indie label) based in Bristol until a few years ago when it went out of business (bankrupt?)??? Legendary!!!
• Virgin Megastore.
• HMV
• Our Price
• Rival X3
• Bang Bang, Colston street (formerly Time Is Right) run by Mike Shawe has the biggest club tunes on the racks. If it was in the MixMag update you might find it here.
• Giant, Perry Road - most Bristol DJs (and vinyl junkies) stop here (several times a week) for the freshest sounds on vinyl (domestic and import). Rivaling "Replay" for Drum n' Bass/Jungle and Techno, the quality of Garage and House is sans pareil. Hint: Ask - Some of the newest stuff doesn't make it to the shelves.
• The best (and cheapest) record shop is Revolver on the Triangle, not bloody Replay. It comes in for another vote as "Best record shop in the country - provided you despise major labels"
• Plastic Wax - Cheap, massive stock of 2nd hand vinyl.
• Music Stop - Cheap!
• Replay & Replay Dance - The best independant record shops in Bristol.
  Replay Records - Under the (architecturally sound, not) Victoria bus station. EXCELLENT second hand section.
• Purple Penguin record shop, Colston St. Essential

Clubs (Dance Music) and Music Bars

• Mu-Mu's, Welsh Back Bristol: Mu-Music Project, thursday nights for the funky house connisseur. Resident dj Matt Langson plus special guests including Norman Jay & K Class. 10-2am £3 B4 11, £5 after. Laces, Friday nights @ Mu-Mu's. Sexy and Sophisticated RnB, dress up for this one, leave the trash in the bin outside. No Trainers. Resident DJ squire plus guests including 1xtra's Ace and Invisible £4 B4 11, £5 after. Bookings or Guest list Call or Text Project/Laces to 07845 332 192
• Full Moon every Monday 9pm-2am £4 adv/b4 11; £4.50 after @ Bar Three 9 Park St, Bristol, BS1 5NF It’s a full moon and we all know what that means, boys and girls…it’s time for some nocturnal madness! The fabulous Bar Three plays host to a party that’s not your average. Experience the nearest thing to a Thai beach party this side of India, and although this one’s indoors (it is Bristol, let’s face it!) there’s no ruling out a full moon sighting! The party doesn’t end with the weekend - it’s Monday night, so let yourself go and let our grass-skirted shot girls and boys transport you to a warm, care-free, party place. And with drinks offers including £1.50 pints and £1.50 for spirit and mixer, it won’t take long to get there! There’s nothing like that holiday feeling and a balmy night on the beach to get you in the mood to party, so go lunar loony with your foxy fellow revellers while fire-eaters and cocktail jugglers provide more exotic entertainment. Grab a cocktail – hell, grab a cocktail bucket - and dance by the light of the (full) moon to the sweet and spicy sounds of chilled R&B and funked-up chart tunes. On a Monday night when the sun goes own, the full moon goes up, and this Full Moon party happens every Monday. You want full on? You want Full Moon. Don’t be left out in the dark, get your name down on the list. For guestlist text Bristol + your name + group size to 87202 before 9pm. Info: 07779001184/www.roughhill.co.uk
• Thekla. House Parties...
• ARC BAR on St Phillips street wicked - especially tueday night(leanpeople)
• for everyone who is slagging off Evolution your all liars. Evolution is a good club to go to it is better than the works where u get ugly students who latch onto u thinking u are theres where as evolution is great u have 2 rooms one with the old cheesy music and the other with the up to date r'n'b dance trance old skool etc they have efficient door men. They have good priced drinks and constant offers. So to all u sad ppl who go to the druggy places like the warehouse-cafe blue u can shut it now cause thats the truth about evo!!!! if u dont like it just leave it!!!!
• The works on a student night once the R&B room is opened theres no stopping them.
• Ramshackle. Situated in Bristol Academy every Friday night. 'Alternative' music for the 'rock' generation.
• Black Swan (easton), The Croft (stokes croft), Malcolm x Centre, Drive By, Blow Pop, Babylon Eat My Muff...
• Soapy Joes Kingswood if you are looking for mother and daughters teams, both on the dirty old pull, complete with big dangly hooped earrings (a must for all bonified slappers)...NASTY!
• SOULTRAIN train your soul every wednesday at Henry Africas Hothouse every with happy hour prices all night Soultrain every bank holiday sunday at Evolution for the finest in jazz funk and soul Soultrain ffi check the website www.soultrain.co.uk
• bar me. its free and if u cant pull in there u've got no chance n e where else
• 2004: Reflex for 80's stuff. Evolution for dance/garage Greenhouse and Walkabout for current stuff/cheese. Bierkeller has goth nights.
• Best clubs are in Clifton/Park Street areas. Dojo probably the best club in town Ether good for drinking though pricey. Aek Bar excellent DJ's and live music sometimes.
• Bristol has far too many 'smart' clubs. When will promoters/security realise that clubbers WANT to wear jeans, trainers and caps, and that these items of clothing usually cost twice as much as the shoddy attire of the Kev or Trace they've let in just before you. Also, if men aren't allowed to wear baseball caps inside venues (Firestation is the worst offender)... then why can women wear them? Isn't that sexual descrimination?
• Pure northern soul - now in Bristol. Centurys Club, 322 Two Mile Hill, Kingwood, Bristol, 18 July 2003, 8pm-12.30 £5. westside@detroit.usa.com
• There are loads, most of the information seems out of date on this site. The Bristol Academy Rocks on A Friday night with Ramshackle an Indie Night. Mckluskys is good for a laugh on a saturday Mostly cheese and the more mature lady, alternativley Walkabout Surf Bar for A younger Chart atmosphere.
• creation & academy - most quality, gud drum n' bass, level - small but has a gud atmosphere, do-jo - if u like ur funk/hip hop, the station - gud drum n' bass nite
• bier keller
• Level.. always fun.. and occasionally a bit of blowpop action isn't a bad idea - especially on the nuskool breaks nights!
• Level, superb club on park row, great atmosphere, reasonable drinks and admissions prices and good music. A good time to be had by all.... except by people who wouldn't enjoy it.
• Easton Community Centre was a great venue, regular nights, good atmosphere. Unfortunately due to sound limiters being installed all the best nights have now moved elsewhere.
• DEPOT (Ripsnorter every 2nd Sat); ROCK/ACADEMY (Scream every Friday) and CREATION (Slinky every Sat). Yeah, that's my order for the most wicked house/trance nights in Bristol. (ROCK literally used to rock but now it's the so called "Academy" I'm not so sure. Security's super-tight, chaperones in the bogs, strip-search on entering the club, well almost... but hey, it's still the place for the dedicated clubber. Top DJs including Judge Jules, Fergie, Seb Fontaine, Lisa Lashes... not to forget the crowd pleasing residents, Pearce and Conroy... need I say more?)
• The E shed, Canon's Rd - don't even bother going there, the so called 'manageress' was so far up her own arse sucking a lemon she forgot the most important rule of any business - the customer is ALWAYS right! Good music, v.big shame about the staff.
• The Bierkeller was the rockers place to be back in the day- I think I'm getting old it probabally still is! The Mandrake always a good place to find the young skater chicks mmmmm how cute they look- shame they've all got boyfriends!
• walkabout club,,,really wide range of music reef----rap-----dance---cheese really cool big surf tv screens and full of friendly ppl.....hardly eva fights (quite spensive thou)
• Castros - just go there to be amazed by Bristols dark underworld...
• The Met @ The Mauretania isn't actually as bad as the reputation that preceeds it.. Its changed alot in the last year, good for a laugh and a worry free night out, good doorstaff, hardley any trouble & the DJ plays music videos all night for those of us who aren't into dancing. Cheap bottles too - Hooch/Red/Blue £2 all night on Friday & Saturday and some others I can't remember.. Over 21's but good mixture (unbelievably of 21's - 50's!!)
• PROPER clubs in bristol (ie. good) are; Lakota (stokes croft), Thekla (harbourside/docks), Blue Mountain (stokes croft), Maze (stokes croft), Cafe Blue (broadmead/centre), Level (park row), Rock - crap nights good soundsystem (colston hall area), creation (centre) THE FOLLOWING ARE NOT PROPER (ie. good) CLUBS... Evolution, Odyssey etc. etc. ALL townie/meader hovels - infested with pissed lads in YSL shirts and smart shoes, not even worth an ironic/comic visit
• Bar Med is not a club, and if it was it would be crap. If any member of The Square Bar invites u along... DON'T GO.
• the trinity is fuckin wicked! allways good fun! avoid the rock and cafe blue if you are not a towny-hard-house-mother-fucker!
• Thekla is best for hiphop, blue mountain needs to sort out it's sound system but otherwise ok.
• EVOLUTION IN BRISTOL IS FULL OF SAD PEOPLE WHO ENJOY SHIT MUSIC AND THE WOMEN ARE 25 YEAR OLD SLAGS OR REMARKABLEY YOUGHFUL LOOKING GIRLS AND WHEN YOU GET IT ALL YOU WANT TO DO IS LEAVE.
• Po Na Na - Icant believe some of the pissy comments about good ole Pona's.Those people are obviously not members and have come up from town and have been made to queue ages or are ugly birds-stay away!This place simply has the best looking girls in town so get there before 10.30 or if youre a girl check your mirror!Thurs-Neil & dave,Fri lee & Sat Savage.Avoid rest as full of students! Dojo- Great on Wednesdays .Well done Patrick!hip-hop funk 70's >Local Bristol crowd and up for it.
• Don't go - too old!!!
• bar med, corn street - a good mix of music, some trance/club stuff and some "classics", think YMCA and uptown girl. also good is evolution, by the docks, theres the music changes on different nights, some nights its hardcore club and trance, but they do have some rather cheesy disco nights. both excellent for pulling, lol. although drinks are generally more affordable in bar med.
• students - Monday Bierkeller, Tuesday the Works (formally odessey), Wednesday Wedgies, Thursday le cafe, Friday Steamrock/corn street. All good clean cheese, cept le cafe, wicked chilled jazz club. Alternatively, visit the closest thing to a super club in Bristol - CREATION. It's new! It's expensive! It get's good djs (Paul Oakenfold and Brandon Block recently)! It's just mad!
• Thekla, Powerhouse, So-called "indie" nights. Utterly dismal. What can I say? It's like going to a youth disco. Frequented by people who consider Oasis "indie" music. Also, don't expect them to play anything more recent than 1993. After all, I'm sure they play the same tape every week. Apart from Fatboy Slim. Indie, oh yes. I give up!
• fez club.... new , owned by the same as clifton's poo nana's but luckily in the centre so less pretentious and not full of students... great!!
• The best of the best for rave/techno/drum&bass (fri/sat) 1. The Easton community centre 2. The New Trinity centre 3. The Depot 4. Lakota There are others, but these are mostly commercial / handbag heaven type venues.
• Friday nights at the 'Bierkellar' in town
• Lakota has gone, Sob :(
• The Silent Peach was formerly The Tube, not the Mandrake. The comments from a previous reviewer about The Tube still hold pretty much true for The Silent Peach except the cheap part.
• Oddessy Cheeze night is fantastic. Best nights out I've ever had.
• You must try the Mauretania - if you over 70, deaf, blind and have no taste. You'll be ripped off in no time, some old slag in a white skirt will nick your wallet, and then you'll be mugged and buggered in the toilets. When you fall over in the bog, you won't be able to get up again due to the fact that the floor is covered in cold piss and your hands slip in it. Avoid.
• The Silent Peach (formerly the Mandrake) is a great place to go for a drink and to dance a bit, although the dance floor is a bit small and the bar is way in the back of the building. Good crowd.
• Trout Replica at the Thekla - amazing drum and bass etc. irregular, though.
• Mandrake Club. Members only, cheap. Mostly over 25's. Good place to go with a crowd. Renatos. Open till 2am and serves pizza as well as beer. Lots of art student / theatre going types.
• Jesters. Excellent comedy on Fri and Sat.
• Alexandra Club. Members only but ok to blag your way in. Mostly over 25's.
• The Tube is good if you're completely slaughtered already. Small, smokey, noisy, cheap, and quite good if all your senses are dimmed by alcohol!
  Tube Club. Small and funky with smoke and strobes. Good place to chat up a student but need to be wearing 70's gear to pull.
• Club Loco's new refit has turned it from a one floor toilet into a two floor toilet. Foul paint job; otherwise decor limited to huge yellow warning triangles about the use of strobes and loud music ... Movement tried relocating here when the Malaap disappeared, but there's only so much you can do with a place so inherently fucked... other nights often advertised as featuring artists/djs who don't actually turn up...
• Major crime - The Malaap, excellent live gig/club spot for Fridays (Movement was brilliant) and Saturday nights has sadly been bought by some London tossers and turned into a yuppie-style comedy club called Jesters which "will escort persistent hecklers from the premises". Most people call it "Wankers".
• Also: Odyssey, Ritzy, Studios, Rummer (crap, enclosed tunnel underground) to name but a few.
• Kings - A club in a corridor, your ears will ring for weeks afterwards.
• I reckon that the best thing about Temptation on Fridays is the mixture of underground and big name DJs that you get, and whoever is playing you WILL have a good night out.
• The very excellent Blue Mountain. Two floors, basic decor but vibey, a bit jazzier/groovier/trip-hoppier than the ravier near-adjacent Lakota. On alternative Saturdays hosts "Chocolate City" and "The Cup of Tea Club" (check eponymous new Bristol label for weird and wonderful grooves).
• La Boom. Very laid-back club, and only a quid to get in. All night smokin' drinkin' and chillin'.
• Club Loco. Used to be the Tropic. Just opened after a major refit, which included the addition of another dance floor.
• New Trinity Hall. Not exactly a club, more a venue with loads of regular nights 'Electric Orgasm, Tokoyo Sex Whale' The best vibe and atmos of any nightout in Bristol. Always beautifully constructed environments and plenty of U.V. madness.
• Lakota. Now one of the most kickin'est clubs in the southwest. The Lakota is spread out over two floors, with a bar on each. Downstairs has a munchie shop selling stuff like ice poles, and melon slices. 10k of sound, which often causes nasty vibrations on the balcony of the upper floor. Fairly good lighting, mostly consisting of projectors and robo-scanners.
  The sound system in Lakota is actually around 20-22K, not 10K. And the only vibrations on the balcony are not nasty ones, but good ones cos they're bass which is always good.

Live Music Venues

• The Acadamy is a blatantly obvious venue, its next to the ice rink.
• The Croft - best bristol venue in my opinion. Separate bar area with good bar and didicated stage and band room with decent live PA. Mr Wolfs - great noodle bar in town with live acts most night. The only venue in Bristol the bands get properly paid too which means you get lots of the better acts there for very cheap.
• St. Georges (off Park Street) does a lot of really good jazz, classical & world music concerts.
• The Old Duke on King Street is a truly superb Jazz pub. I particularly recommend Monday night's there - some really great trad jazz with a trumpet, trombone, banjo, clarinet and piano. Superb.
• The Croft, Thekla, Old Duke, Louisiana, Fleece....
• The Fleece and the Beerkeller are my venues of choice to either watch other bands or gig there myself.
• Bristol Academy. Great!
• The Old Duke in town or the Prom on Gloucester Road.
• carling academy,fleece,etc
• 2004: Bristol uni is starting to get some good acts. Bristol academy also but can be v. expensive. Colston hall for more mainstream, although it is a crap venue. hopefully we'll actually get a new concert hall at some point...
• Louisiana small but good line ups, Fleece and Firkin is slightly bigger with probably better bands, The Old Duke in Bedminster has some of the best world class jazz in the country. Thekla has bands oin a boat in this good club
• err... Cardiff!
• the Prom
• Bristol Academy, Just had the Stereophonics in
• fleece n firkin
• The Trinity Center is cool- a converted church how that place rocks! The Bierkeller once played host to Nirvana oh how I wish I knew it then! Check out The fleece and Firkin for local bands and various gigs!
• the koole bar is wkd new place onpark street and also the walkabput is amazin nite out start off down stairs then later up to da club ......pretty mint!
• Colston Hall - outdated but still has good acts The Old Duke - a bit pretentious sometimes but generally cool
• Second the Old Duke (Eddie Martin on Sunday nights if you like that sort of thing)
• The Old Duke, King Street. The place to go for some blues on a Sunday night, care of Eddie Martin.
• Read Venue Magazine for this info.
• we all love the fleece and firkin.
• The Old Duke
• The prom bar on the Gloucester road is fantastic for free live Jazz on a monday evening
• Trinity Hall was great once, no idea what it's used for now
• Fleece and Firkin Louisiana
• You must be joking, a few pubs that have stages but that is it
• Place to avoid like the plague: the BAWA in Filton. Good floor, sometimes good bands, full of uni pillocks and their clones doing ceroc and thinking they're jitterbugging. No style, septic atmosphere.
• The two best Live music venues to play and attend are The Fleece and Firkin, St Thomas St, just south of Bristol Bridge and The Fiddlers in Bedminster. Both hold about 400 people and have a great atmosphere and good quality control on the bands playing.
• The Thekla - good for dance type bands eg The Egg.
• The best place for real, live, Irish music, and even spontaneous dancing, too, is the Kingsdown Vaults, on Kingsdown Parade, in Cotham. Go there if you are friendly and unpretentious!
• The Fiddlers is another good music venue, The Thekla (live and clubs), plus gigs at Trinity as well as clubs, Colston Hall (typical council owned 2000 capacity place), The Polish Club, Millionaires' Club, The Albert Hole pub (wickedly good jazz venue), The Brewhouse pub, Malcolm X Centre, The Inkworks, The Bierkeller (urggh - only mentioned in the interests of being comprehensive), The Victoria Rooms and The Watershed occasionally ... and I've missed a few.
• University: Anson Rooms.

The Knowhere Guide started out as a list of places to skateboard in the UK. It is a compilation of (unedited) information and views supplied by users like yourself. It is not a conventional tourist guide!

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Last updated: 2008-04-21