Leeds

i've only lived round here for six months (and have now moved out of the
city all together), so i'm no expert, but:

according to the cool barometer, the Calls are good- 10 or so bars by
the corn exchange. cnutish haircuts and ripped pants ahoy!. i went there
once on a saturday night and it was so busy i couldn't lift my pint to
my lips. so we left.

on the same street is a nice bar/restaurant called the art cafe.

up from here is the north bar. don't know whether its good, but it is
nicknamed 'the corridor of cnuts', so i thought i'd mention it :)

the victoria is a fine old school pub. excellent ale.

merrion street has some good bars: isis is pretty chilled and plays a
good range of musics. almost next door is chris moyles' (?-radio one
twat) favourite, but i can't remember its name: good cocktails, shite
music (rolling stones etc) and again, far too busy.

i've enjoyed 'freedom sounds in pub' before (its moved recently to the
strawberry): downstairs room in pub, cheap booze, excellent eclectic mix
of music: jungle, hip hop, reggae, ragga, electronica etc etc. run by
people out of the band hood (with funny dj names eg: earl grey whistle
theft, bunny rabbit, no dice). it can get messy. http://www.freedomsoundsinpub.co.uk/

many, many clubs in town. generally housey/glam affairs at weekends, as
are the bars tbh (so not my bag). pick up the 'around leeds' magazine
for round up.

easily my personal favourite is sub dub @west indian centre in
chapeltown (rough!) run by iration steppas and simon scott: steppas
reggae in main room, dancehall/roots/jungle in backroom. guaranteed fun,
monthly. http://www.irationsteppas.com/events/

Matthew Burrows