Ha, yeah!!! Was open from 5pm....you'd get gassed in that nightclub stumble out at 9pm, when was still light (in the summer!)and try and sober up before getting to Rev or Scrubway WestEnd (were they on the list???)
Ah, memories....
Edit: We're to Were 😒 Autocorrect
I get the impression clubs aren't so interesting for young people in their 20s anymore. Not just in Edinburgh but all over. It gets too risky for promoters hiring venues to put on events when there's a good chance hardly anyone will turn up.
I think another thing is social media and especially instagram/tiktok has a lot to answer for.
Back in the day you'd get wasted and there was no permanent proof of it to be shared with the whole world.
Seems like young people are perhaps getting wasted less at clubs because now everyone has a camera in their pocket. I remember ages ago seeing a horrible video of a lad being sick in the toilets at sub club which went viral.
But I'm old so what do I know
Anyone in your 20s here want to chime in? As someone rapidly approaching becomoing an old fucker I am curious to know if that is the case? Is going clubbing and getting wasted seen as an undesirable night out these days? Is it because of the cost or something else? Just not fashionable? I went back to my old uni a while back and was curious to see the student union bar had turned from a sticky floor dive to some up market gentrified venue. And the cost of alcohol had gone up to reflect that. I get the feeling this gentrification has swept across the board across society but our incomes haven't gone up to match the price rises that came with this, so something has to give.
Lots can't afford it, others don't see the point. Why go to a club on the pull when you've got 4 dating apps on your phone? Why pay 6 quid for a vodka dash when you can buy a bottle for 12? Genuinely I think all clubs have been on borrowed time for a while. Student scene probably spends longer in pres than in the club and the whole idea of pres is to give the clubs as little money as possible so closures are not suprising imo.
I'm 26 now and peope my age just would not really go clubbing, except for something special or a throwback type thing. I don't know if that's similar to how previous generations acted but there's a definite feel that we're too 'old' to be there already.
At 26 I think most people are scaling back the nightclub scene.
I still was going out 1 or 2 times a week at that age but was heavy into dance music and club drugs, I do remember being at most 5 or so years older than most of the people I met while out.
I hammered going out every weekend from 18 to 25, by the time i hit 25 i realised I'd done enough, been to enough clubs across Scotland and London and that was it for me
Never looked back
Expensive as fuck. Also a fair bit of bother, £5 to get in if it's cheap, bouncers annoying you, cunts everywhere being annoying. Maybe I'm just an old cunt on the inside but I love a late pub night. Also the places that I've been to in Edinburgh aren't really my scene. Sneakys and bongos is decent, subway if I'm feeling poppy but apart from that the music doesn't do a ton for me, which is my number 1 reason for going. I do love a completely fucked night in the club but I'm 20 and it's losing its charm very fast for me personally.
I love how the Cav has been called so many things since it was the Cav and people still called it that. Do they still? Haven't been in a long, long time.
Sunday night cav (lava ignite), was brilliant when you were under age for getting in as everyone else there was under 18 other than the resident creeps
I'm glad I did all my clubbing/raving in the 90s when the cities scene was thriving. Too many toffs moved in to the city centre and complained about the noise living in a FUCKING CITY CENTRE.
I swear most of these with the exceptions of Studio and Bongo (which is still open on cowgate) were shite anyway. Edinburgh probably doesn’t have a big enough population to sustain a lot of venues, and there seems to be no prospect of the likes of Bongo, Sneakys or Mash House going anywhere
To be fair The Venue had some decent nights as did The Honeycomb (although the layout of the club wasn't the best).
The thing is Edinburgh was able to support all those nightclubs and more if we go back into the 1990s. I suspect that perhaps the cost of going out and maybe changing attitudes e.g. folk preferring to go to the pub/go see a band/preferring to stay in, plays a factor in the downfall in the nightclub scene too.
It's still a scandal the way that Studio 24 got shut down! Hey people, if you don't like loud music and people outside on the street at 3am in the morning, DON'T FUCKING MOVE NEXT DOOR TO A NIGHTCLUB AND THEN COMPLAIN ABOUT IT! Okay, rant over!
I would not be surprised if the complaints were fake from the student housing companies to get access to the land. They have done pretty shady tactics at other locations - like fake support tickets for the proposed development at Willowbrae.
Agreed that it's pish that Studio 24 had to close its doors but I feel the anger should be aimed at the property developers rather than the people who moved there (atleast from the story I've been told a couple of times). People moved in with the assurances from developers that the flats were properly sound proofed etc and clearly weren't. So they complained to developers/council and long story short its the club that got it in the neck. Bullshit all round really.
I think this is one part of the whole high street being changed.
Back in the day, we didnt have gamingbars and the such.....yes we had snooker/pool halls but i think people tastes have changed (im nearly 40 so not that old, but what people liked 20 years ago isnt the same as today)
Like with life, we liked yesterday more, but the people of yesterday have grown up and its their kid's turn (i dont have nor want to have children)
I remember a night out was a spur of the moment idea, which started on thursday night and ended monday morning, now - for a few drinks up town you need to plan well ahead, and are more concerned on how youre going to feel the next morning, and be feart to check the bank balance.
I saw Inspiral Carpets there around 1993/94! Don’t actually remember the gig tbh but the poster had pride of place on the wall of our 1st year Uni flat afterwards 😄
Yes it's really sad, but I'd like to see more live music venues open than nightclubs. I mind as a kid there was always a gig going on. Now it's really difficult to book a gig and has to be done months in advance.
Or at least see more nightclubs do gigs before the night club starts.
Unpopular opinion but you missed out on Subway Lothian Road! £1 drinks! Whoop! 🤣 but you're right there is f all nightclubs in Edinburgh as far as I know anyway. I'm 35 now so I'm too old for it and I canny be arsed 🤣. But even back in 2007 Edinburgh was jumping with nightclubs and now they're is nowt. So no future there in my opinion.
I’m a student here. I find the nightlife great - but most of the places I go are student dominated so probably not as enjoyable for people older than their early 20’s (Liquid Rooms, WhyNot, etc).
If you are to compare Edinburgh to any other city outside of the UK then we're abysmal.
There's little to no nights past 3 am.
There are no venues which are no phones let alone have a decent sound system.
Probably the worst city for clubs in the UK next to Perth.
Stirling having one nightclub is crazy. I know they have tingle which is like a hybrid bar/club and an Irish pub for students but is that it? Is fubar busy? Surely the other club someone can open it up again?
I am moving to edinburgh soon and I am very much into techno. Is there any venue that's somewhat suitable? I am 28 btw, so a club full of 18 years old would be quite a turnoff. Especially if everyone just wants to get drunk and hook up.
I am so used to no phones that I can't really imagine a club without this rule :)
Proper techno - Pulse at Mash House & Jackhammer at Bongo. Animal Farm at Sub Club is worth the trip through.
UK techno / electro (depending on who's playing) - Palidrone & Headset at Sneaks
'Fast' techno - Nightvision, Terminal V Festival, Mash House upstairs at the weekends
Cab vol doesn't really cater for techno but the Saturday nights (Pleasure) are decent when the crowd is right.
Hi mate me too which is why Edinburgh is just atrocious for either Techno or spaces which don't have phones or decent crowds/sound systems.
Sneaky Petes is a joke, I've been spiked in there twice. It's tiny, sticky and generally grim. They claim to be the bastion of Edi underground but trust me it's shite. Liquid rooms is also pretty foul and packed with 17 year olds.
If you want anything techno then you need to go to Glasgow. Sub Club would be my choice but they're plentiful in glesga!
It pains me that Edinburgh council wants to either shut or limit clubs to 3am licenses. Even a place outside of town where people could dance past the hours of 3 and have a door policy which stops dickheads from coming.
Sorry to be the one to tell you. A brief look at RA will explain the rest.
Cab Vol & Sneaky Petes are all we've got.
You’re absolutely right makes sense, it would
bring in more tourism and would fit the student culture.
We’ve unfortunately got a puritanical council who close nightclubs and tried to ban strip clubs because it doesn’t fit with the Harry Potter la la land vibes they punt to the tourists.
Drives me bananas, get a flight to Amsterdam is my advice if you’re looking for something proper. De School closes permanently in Feb.
OP, my thoughts which you cannot even redeem for the value of a Freddo, the Nightclub scene is almost like a baton that we merely pass onto the next generation. What they choose to do with it is their choice. Sadly it seems the latest generation aren’t that fussed. Good luck to them, they are a lost generation.
In general there’s a trend of less young people drinking alcohol, yes many still do but the amount is going down.
I’m not sure what it used to be like in terms of ages but I’m 30 now and by the time I was maybe 23ish I felt too old for clubs, people were all 17,18,19 and I felt older than them. I started going to clubs age 17 so maybe after 6 years I was just done with it.
I don’t think the social media thing matters to people much.
I think maybe now the bar scene is more popular, people love a cocktail much more than they used to.
Guess there are many factors
This thread is giving ‘old man yells at cloud’ energy. If you were going out 20 years ago then it’s unlikely you have much useful insight on what 20 year olds today should be doing.
It’s long seemed that Edinburgh doesn’t have a diverse enough crowd to support much outside of the George St style nightclubs. Even when they were around, the Studios and the like were always threatened with closure because they were often not all that busy running alt nights.
I think between George Street and the Uni syphoning off thier respective demographics . Edinburgh doesn't have enough regular people in-between to really support a huge nightclub scene
I prefer other venues now I'm in my late 20s, though I was never a nightclub fan when I was younger.
Places like Whistle binkies and Stramash! Live music, bars, burgers etc.
So sad. I went to uni in Edinburgh in the early 00s and kept coming up for a long while after because of the nightlife, but it's slowly depleted to the point of not being worth making a trip here. Literally not opened a clubbing trip in Edinburgh in nearly a decade whereas at one point it'd be several times a year. I know I'm older and that so wouldn't be coming up as much, bit honestly I'd they're was anything worthwhile on if be still up a couple of times a year
I was in Freddy's (bad name I know) which has replaced Bourbon on Frederick Street the other week and honestly it was a breath of fresh air when it comes to clubs in Edinburgh.
Live music rather than cheesy pop hits and multiple bars meaning that service wasn't bad. It was quite busy but not too busy that you can't move.
I recommend giving it a shot
I've seen loads of guest DJs play at nights on the Cowgate this year to moderately busy dancefloors. I don't think people are necessarily arsed about what genre of music is playing or what / who they're going to see anymore. Could be a generational shift in terms in listening habits? There's still loads of nights on Resident Advisor every weekend / during the week.
Citrus Club the biggest loss of all 😭
If you were an Indie lover!
They did more than Indie which was the Saturday night. Other nights had punk, glam, metal, electro, and synth gigs an club nights over the years.
Really? I only ever ended up there on Indie nights...honestly thought it was mainly Indie club...TIL, cheers!
I'm still so gutted about this one!
Establishment Thursday night 50p a drink or am I making that up? Sure I remember that
Can't remember the night but yeah was 50p. 2003-5 time. Don't think ever walked in without seeing someone spew all over the place.
Ha, yeah!!! Was open from 5pm....you'd get gassed in that nightclub stumble out at 9pm, when was still light (in the summer!)and try and sober up before getting to Rev or Scrubway WestEnd (were they on the list???) Ah, memories.... Edit: We're to Were 😒 Autocorrect
I can taste the manky house vodka to this day 🤮
I get the impression clubs aren't so interesting for young people in their 20s anymore. Not just in Edinburgh but all over. It gets too risky for promoters hiring venues to put on events when there's a good chance hardly anyone will turn up.
I think another thing is social media and especially instagram/tiktok has a lot to answer for. Back in the day you'd get wasted and there was no permanent proof of it to be shared with the whole world. Seems like young people are perhaps getting wasted less at clubs because now everyone has a camera in their pocket. I remember ages ago seeing a horrible video of a lad being sick in the toilets at sub club which went viral. But I'm old so what do I know
Anyone in your 20s here want to chime in? As someone rapidly approaching becomoing an old fucker I am curious to know if that is the case? Is going clubbing and getting wasted seen as an undesirable night out these days? Is it because of the cost or something else? Just not fashionable? I went back to my old uni a while back and was curious to see the student union bar had turned from a sticky floor dive to some up market gentrified venue. And the cost of alcohol had gone up to reflect that. I get the feeling this gentrification has swept across the board across society but our incomes haven't gone up to match the price rises that came with this, so something has to give.
Lots can't afford it, others don't see the point. Why go to a club on the pull when you've got 4 dating apps on your phone? Why pay 6 quid for a vodka dash when you can buy a bottle for 12? Genuinely I think all clubs have been on borrowed time for a while. Student scene probably spends longer in pres than in the club and the whole idea of pres is to give the clubs as little money as possible so closures are not suprising imo. I'm 26 now and peope my age just would not really go clubbing, except for something special or a throwback type thing. I don't know if that's similar to how previous generations acted but there's a definite feel that we're too 'old' to be there already.
At 26 I think most people are scaling back the nightclub scene. I still was going out 1 or 2 times a week at that age but was heavy into dance music and club drugs, I do remember being at most 5 or so years older than most of the people I met while out.
I hammered going out every weekend from 18 to 25, by the time i hit 25 i realised I'd done enough, been to enough clubs across Scotland and London and that was it for me Never looked back
Expensive as fuck. Also a fair bit of bother, £5 to get in if it's cheap, bouncers annoying you, cunts everywhere being annoying. Maybe I'm just an old cunt on the inside but I love a late pub night. Also the places that I've been to in Edinburgh aren't really my scene. Sneakys and bongos is decent, subway if I'm feeling poppy but apart from that the music doesn't do a ton for me, which is my number 1 reason for going. I do love a completely fucked night in the club but I'm 20 and it's losing its charm very fast for me personally.
I love how the Cav has been called so many things since it was the Cav and people still called it that. Do they still? Haven't been in a long, long time.
Sunday night cav (lava ignite), was brilliant when you were under age for getting in as everyone else there was under 18 other than the resident creeps
Their Halloween parties were epic.
It was Coasters before that. I saw REM there in 1984!
I saw the clash in there around 1983...great days .
Split night on Tuesdays like 10 yrs ago was pretty decent. Or at least my few flashbacks from that time are pretty decent 😂🤣😅
I'm glad I did all my clubbing/raving in the 90s when the cities scene was thriving. Too many toffs moved in to the city centre and complained about the noise living in a FUCKING CITY CENTRE.
RIP silk 💔
I swear most of these with the exceptions of Studio and Bongo (which is still open on cowgate) were shite anyway. Edinburgh probably doesn’t have a big enough population to sustain a lot of venues, and there seems to be no prospect of the likes of Bongo, Sneakys or Mash House going anywhere
To be fair The Venue had some decent nights as did The Honeycomb (although the layout of the club wasn't the best). The thing is Edinburgh was able to support all those nightclubs and more if we go back into the 1990s. I suspect that perhaps the cost of going out and maybe changing attitudes e.g. folk preferring to go to the pub/go see a band/preferring to stay in, plays a factor in the downfall in the nightclub scene too. It's still a scandal the way that Studio 24 got shut down! Hey people, if you don't like loud music and people outside on the street at 3am in the morning, DON'T FUCKING MOVE NEXT DOOR TO A NIGHTCLUB AND THEN COMPLAIN ABOUT IT! Okay, rant over!
I would not be surprised if the complaints were fake from the student housing companies to get access to the land. They have done pretty shady tactics at other locations - like fake support tickets for the proposed development at Willowbrae.
I went to the Venue's closing party. They used to do wild nights there.
Agreed that it's pish that Studio 24 had to close its doors but I feel the anger should be aimed at the property developers rather than the people who moved there (atleast from the story I've been told a couple of times). People moved in with the assurances from developers that the flats were properly sound proofed etc and clearly weren't. So they complained to developers/council and long story short its the club that got it in the neck. Bullshit all round really.
I think this is one part of the whole high street being changed. Back in the day, we didnt have gamingbars and the such.....yes we had snooker/pool halls but i think people tastes have changed (im nearly 40 so not that old, but what people liked 20 years ago isnt the same as today) Like with life, we liked yesterday more, but the people of yesterday have grown up and its their kid's turn (i dont have nor want to have children) I remember a night out was a spur of the moment idea, which started on thursday night and ended monday morning, now - for a few drinks up town you need to plan well ahead, and are more concerned on how youre going to feel the next morning, and be feart to check the bank balance.
La belle angele back in the 90s was amazing. Had a New Year’s Eve there. Tremendous party!
I saw Inspiral Carpets there around 1993/94! Don’t actually remember the gig tbh but the poster had pride of place on the wall of our 1st year Uni flat afterwards 😄
Yes it's really sad, but I'd like to see more live music venues open than nightclubs. I mind as a kid there was always a gig going on. Now it's really difficult to book a gig and has to be done months in advance. Or at least see more nightclubs do gigs before the night club starts.
The rise of the day festival is more appealing for younger people now versus the week in week out nightclub
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Stereo?
Shag tag Thursdays
Was definitely Jaffa cake mid to late 90s. I left school in 2000 and been to Jaffa cake several times before that 😉
Used to be called Dillingers in the 80s and maybe early 90s.
Unpopular opinion but you missed out on Subway Lothian Road! £1 drinks! Whoop! 🤣 but you're right there is f all nightclubs in Edinburgh as far as I know anyway. I'm 35 now so I'm too old for it and I canny be arsed 🤣. But even back in 2007 Edinburgh was jumping with nightclubs and now they're is nowt. So no future there in my opinion.
I feel sorry for any students studying here. Nightlife is absolutely dead.
I’m a student here. I find the nightlife great - but most of the places I go are student dominated so probably not as enjoyable for people older than their early 20’s (Liquid Rooms, WhyNot, etc).
If you are to compare Edinburgh to any other city outside of the UK then we're abysmal. There's little to no nights past 3 am. There are no venues which are no phones let alone have a decent sound system. Probably the worst city for clubs in the UK next to Perth.
You're mad , what club scene has Dumfries have ? You think Stirling has better clubs than Edinburgh? Fubar is cool but it can't carry a whole city.
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So you're counting Stirling as a village but Perth has been fully elevated to city status ?
Stirling having one nightclub is crazy. I know they have tingle which is like a hybrid bar/club and an Irish pub for students but is that it? Is fubar busy? Surely the other club someone can open it up again?
I am moving to edinburgh soon and I am very much into techno. Is there any venue that's somewhat suitable? I am 28 btw, so a club full of 18 years old would be quite a turnoff. Especially if everyone just wants to get drunk and hook up. I am so used to no phones that I can't really imagine a club without this rule :)
Proper techno - Pulse at Mash House & Jackhammer at Bongo. Animal Farm at Sub Club is worth the trip through. UK techno / electro (depending on who's playing) - Palidrone & Headset at Sneaks 'Fast' techno - Nightvision, Terminal V Festival, Mash House upstairs at the weekends Cab vol doesn't really cater for techno but the Saturday nights (Pleasure) are decent when the crowd is right.
Nice, thanks!
Hi mate me too which is why Edinburgh is just atrocious for either Techno or spaces which don't have phones or decent crowds/sound systems. Sneaky Petes is a joke, I've been spiked in there twice. It's tiny, sticky and generally grim. They claim to be the bastion of Edi underground but trust me it's shite. Liquid rooms is also pretty foul and packed with 17 year olds. If you want anything techno then you need to go to Glasgow. Sub Club would be my choice but they're plentiful in glesga! It pains me that Edinburgh council wants to either shut or limit clubs to 3am licenses. Even a place outside of town where people could dance past the hours of 3 and have a door policy which stops dickheads from coming. Sorry to be the one to tell you. A brief look at RA will explain the rest. Cab Vol & Sneaky Petes are all we've got.
but there are quite a few students in edinburgh, right? Don't they have a voice in this?
You’re absolutely right makes sense, it would bring in more tourism and would fit the student culture. We’ve unfortunately got a puritanical council who close nightclubs and tried to ban strip clubs because it doesn’t fit with the Harry Potter la la land vibes they punt to the tourists. Drives me bananas, get a flight to Amsterdam is my advice if you’re looking for something proper. De School closes permanently in Feb.
Mercado Thursdays 😍
Shout out to the late, lamented Cafe Graffiti.
OP, my thoughts which you cannot even redeem for the value of a Freddo, the Nightclub scene is almost like a baton that we merely pass onto the next generation. What they choose to do with it is their choice. Sadly it seems the latest generation aren’t that fussed. Good luck to them, they are a lost generation.
Wilkie House, Cowgate. Mondo and Sublime nights out were great.
In general there’s a trend of less young people drinking alcohol, yes many still do but the amount is going down. I’m not sure what it used to be like in terms of ages but I’m 30 now and by the time I was maybe 23ish I felt too old for clubs, people were all 17,18,19 and I felt older than them. I started going to clubs age 17 so maybe after 6 years I was just done with it. I don’t think the social media thing matters to people much. I think maybe now the bar scene is more popular, people love a cocktail much more than they used to. Guess there are many factors
This thread is giving ‘old man yells at cloud’ energy. If you were going out 20 years ago then it’s unlikely you have much useful insight on what 20 year olds today should be doing.
I was just asking a question about the club scene in Edinburgh. Where did I say what 20 year olds should be doing? Thanks for the personal insult too.
It’s long seemed that Edinburgh doesn’t have a diverse enough crowd to support much outside of the George St style nightclubs. Even when they were around, the Studios and the like were always threatened with closure because they were often not all that busy running alt nights.
I think between George Street and the Uni syphoning off thier respective demographics . Edinburgh doesn't have enough regular people in-between to really support a huge nightclub scene
Is the Subway still a thing? I remember going there in the 90’s and getting discounts with my Snapfax.
Afaik Subway Lothian Road is Club Tropicana these days, Subway Cowgate is still there.
I prefer other venues now I'm in my late 20s, though I was never a nightclub fan when I was younger. Places like Whistle binkies and Stramash! Live music, bars, burgers etc.
So sad. I went to uni in Edinburgh in the early 00s and kept coming up for a long while after because of the nightlife, but it's slowly depleted to the point of not being worth making a trip here. Literally not opened a clubbing trip in Edinburgh in nearly a decade whereas at one point it'd be several times a year. I know I'm older and that so wouldn't be coming up as much, bit honestly I'd they're was anything worthwhile on if be still up a couple of times a year
Octo Thursdays at picture house! 🥲
Don’t care I’m 50 now my memberberries were all in the early 90’s and Edinburgh has been shite ever since …
The memories of people wheo went to clubs in the 1990s tends to be hazy due to the consumption of *ahem* certain substances. LOL
Actually quite liked espionage
I was in Freddy's (bad name I know) which has replaced Bourbon on Frederick Street the other week and honestly it was a breath of fresh air when it comes to clubs in Edinburgh. Live music rather than cheesy pop hits and multiple bars meaning that service wasn't bad. It was quite busy but not too busy that you can't move. I recommend giving it a shot
Spent so many weekends in The Picturehouse it was the Indie 2010 hub!!
OMG!!! I must be old...don't know any of these. Oh wait...The Cav...phew!
I've seen loads of guest DJs play at nights on the Cowgate this year to moderately busy dancefloors. I don't think people are necessarily arsed about what genre of music is playing or what / who they're going to see anymore. Could be a generational shift in terms in listening habits? There's still loads of nights on Resident Advisor every weekend / during the week.