Going Dancing?? (The Garage (Glasgow))

Member Name: drewboy

Product:	The Garage (Glasgow)
Date:	04/09/04 (331 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap Drink, Great Music, Relaxed Dress Code

Disadvantages: Lots of Stairs, Don't Wear Designer/white clothes!

As Glasgow is well known as having some of the best night life in the UK I thought it would be worth giving my opinion on what my personal favourite in the the city is!

The Garage is situated on Sauchihall Street in the city centre just before you get to Charing Cross.The entrance is not very big but you can't miss it because it has a great big yellow truck above it.

The norm when going out there would be to go to one of the many pubs around the area untill about 11.30 where a lot of the time it is possible to pick up free entry flyers for getting in. The club actually opens at about 10.30 however it is usually very quiet untill half past eleven as up to that point you can only stand about in one of the bars untill they open up the main dance floor.

Without a flyer from one of the pubs, the cover charge is pretty decent. The price is usually £3 for students (must have id thats valid as they check them all) and £5 otherwise although if you have a snap fax (a student thing) you can get in for free before 12am. At the door the bouncers can be a bit picky but as long as your not trying to get in in a big group or are steaming drunk, there should be no problem getting in. You are likely to be searched (all girlie hand bags are) so there is no point on trying to smuggle any of your own drink in! Once they even made me take my belt off because it was studdied so they can be strict!!!!

Once you get past that point, you need to walk up the stairs to the cash desk. When busy you do have to queue on the stairs but trust me its worth it!

You could be forgiven for feeling like you will get lost the first time you go there, you are pretty much hearded in through the first bar to get to where you put your jackets in (£1 per item) and then you need to go up another set of stairs to the next bar. Once you get past this though, you start to appreciate the sheer size of the club.

There are seven bars in total spread over three
floors which all cater for different peoples tastes in terms of music and if you fancy dancing like a maniac or sitting to have a chat. There is the Attic which plays grunge, indie and rock music, the karaoki bar which speaks for itself, the main dance floor which plays chart and cheesey music, a balcony area above the main floor where you can see all the action, G2 in the basement which tends to play more R&B/Hip Hop stuff, a cocktail type lounge where you can sit and relax on comfy sofa's and a large bar area just off the main dance floor. So you see, there really is somthing for everyone there!

One of the main good point of this club is the prices of the drinks in the club. At any point, the cost of a vodka and mix or a bottle of bear is never more than about £1.50 with midweek prices usually being less, sometimes down at a pound! If you want a shot, you are looking at about £2.50 although by the time I usually get to buying them I just hand over the cash as I'm well gone in terms of drunkenness!! While it can be busy, you usually don't have to wait much longer than about 5 mins to get served.

Personally, I prefer to stay in the main floor area as thats where they play chart music and I prefer it. Plus, you are usually likely to find at least someone other than the people you came in with in this area to dance like a maniac with!! You can put in a request for a song here or to get a message displayed on the large projection screen. You should get your requests in early though as I have found that its usually booked up by about 1.30am.

The only downside of the place (other than the stairs you have to try and navigate down after 10 vodka and cranberries and a good few sambruca shots!) is that for some reason the floor in the main hall is always filthy so I would advise against wearing any really nice (or white!) clothes in case you happen to fall over (happens to me quite a lot....) as they will end up filthy!

The clu
b stays open to three but it can be a good idea to head down to the cloakroom to get your jacket at about 2.45am to beat the queue but if you are going to get others jackets for them I would advise asking what they look like as the attendants won't release a coat without a description which is a really good security measure of you were to have dropped your ticket and someone else had picked it up.

Once outside, you have the chice of about 10 fast food places in the immediate area ranging from kebabs and chinese to (the almost mandatory in Glasgow) chips and cheese. The prices are higher than during the day and you should expect to pay about £3 for chips with some chedder on them.

The taxi queue is right outside the Garage and ranges from being able to get one straight away to having quite a wait which can be another reason for leaving the club that little bit earlier. Otherwise, you can walk about 15 mins down to Renfield street where you can get night busses to most places in the city for £2.50.

All in all, I adore this place and have spent many a happy night (at least I think I have a lot of the time.....!) in there. It has been described as just a student club however untill recently I wasn't a student and neither was any of my mates and we went there all the time. The people who go there usually range from about 18 up to 28/30 so there is a good mix of people. I also don't find it too be as much of a meat market as some other clubs in the area as most people are really just out to have a good time!

I would recommend anyone visiting Glasgow to give this, one if its best known clubs, a go and if you see someone passed out at the door at the end of the night, please just step over me!

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