Bath Nightlife

Bars: Central Wine Bar, 10 Upper Borough Walls, is a wine bar with a crowded, but very friendly atmosphere. Just as friendly, but more quiet and relaxed, and with excellent food, is the Garrick's Head, 7-8 St Johns Place, next to the Theatre Royal. The Lamb and Lion, 15 Lower Borough Walls, is a popular pre-club drinking venue with loud music. The late night drinks can then be had at Savilles, 2 Saville Row, which has a friendly, intimate ambience.

Clubs: Cadillacs, 90B Walcot Street, is a mainstream nightclub well known for its exuberant party atmosphere, while Babylon, Kingston Road, has a more hedonistic reputation and probably a stronger appeal to people who take clubbing seriously. The Fez Club, 7A Bladud Buildings, The Paragon, is a very friendly, less frantic and more relaxed club, great for a late-night visit.

Live Music: Moles Club, 14 George Street (www.moles.co.uk), is the star on the Bath live music scene, constantly attracting great bands and artists. The Bell, 103 Walcot Street (www.walcotstreet.com), is another great place for live music, more bohemian than Moles, high on atmosphere and very popular. The Old Farmhouse, Lansdown Road, is the best place for jazz in Bath, with live blues and jazz every Friday and Saturday.

Bath has a rich cultural life and a wide variety of venues for drama, music, dance and performance. The Assembly Rooms, the Pump Room and the Guildhall (tel: (01225) 477 782; www.bathvenues.co.uk) host many concerts each year, including numerous recitals as part of the annual Bath International Festival in May/June and Bath Mozartfest in November. The Assembly Rooms can seat one of the largest audiences in Bath and the acoustics in the Guildhall are amongst the best in Europe, especially for recitals and chamber music.

The Bath Pavilion (tel: (01225) 486 902) and The Forum (tel: (01225) 443 114; www.bath.co.uk/theforum), a beautiful art deco auditorium with a capacity of 1,700, are also used for concerts. There are also frequent musical events in Bath Abbey (tel: (01225) 422 462; www.bathabbey.org).

Bath Festivals Box Office, 2 Church Street (tel: (01225) 463 362; www.bathfestivals.org.uk), is a good place to get tickets for many cultural events. A comprehensive listing of events can be found online at www.visitbath.co.uk.

For live popular music, Moles Club (tel: (01225) 404 445; www.moles.co.uk) is very good, with a great bar and restaurant serving vegetarian food at very reasonable prices.

The Theatre Royal (tel: (01225) 448 844; www.theatreroyal.org.uk), Sawclose, is the main theatre in Bath and among the oldest working theatres in England. It includes the Ustinov Studio, with a programme of innovative, cutting-edge drama, dance and music, and the egg, a theatre for children and young people. The Rondo Theatre (tel: (01225) 463 362; www.rondotheatre.co.uk), St Saviour's Road, Larkhall, is a highly regarded small theatre attracting a great number of artists in drama, music and performance every year. Also the Arts Centre at the university campus has frequent shows in music, theatre, dance or performance, most of them staged by the Institute of Contemporary Interdisciplinary Arts (tel: (01225) 386 777; www.bath.ac.uk/icia).

The Little Theatre Cinema (tel: 0871 704 2061; www.picturehouses.co.uk), St Michael's Place, shows art films and foreign films and has retained the charm of a 1930s cinema, including a balcony in the main auditorium. The Odeon (tel: 0871 224 4007; www.odeon.co.uk), James Street West, has eight screens and mainly shows mainstream film.