The nightlife in Cleveland is vibrant and varied. The Downtown is compact enough that it is possible to walk from bar to bar, through different neighbourhoods. The Flats Entertainment District is packed with bars, nightclubs and live music venues, most of which have a fairly mainstream atmosphere. The nearby Warehouse District has a slightly more alternative, laid-back feel. Younger crowds tend to head to Ohio City, which is slightly further from the Downtown area.

Alcohol can be legally served in Cleveland until 0200 and the minimum drinking age is 21 years. Dress at most bars and clubs is casual. Some nightclubs require jackets and will not permit jeans. Bars usually charge a cover admission if a live band is playing and it is common to pay a fee on the door at nightclubs.

Entertainment listings can be found in Friday!, the weekly magazine accompanying Cleveland's local newspaper, The Plain Dealer, which is also available online (website: www.cleveland.com). Good listings magazines for nightlife are the weekly Scene (website: www.clevescene.com) and Free Times Magazine (website: www.freetimes.com).

Bars: Rock Bottom Brewery, 2000 Sycamore Street, is located in a restored four-storey redbrick powerhouse and offers a pool, a patio and micro-brewed beer. The Great Lakes Brewing Company, 2516 Market Avenue, is another brew-pub, with a long mahogany bar that still has bullet holes from a 1920s gangster-style shoot-out. In the Warehouse District, try the Spy Bar, 1261 West Sixth Street, which is a loud trendy bar popular with the international crowd. The Mercury Lounge, 1392 West Sixth Street, is a fashionable bar/club, with trendy lounge areas. Other bars in this district include the stylish Liquid Café, 1212 West Sixth Street, and the more peaceful, refined D'Vine Wine Bar, 836 West St Clair Avenue. In the Flats, good bars include Shooters on the Water, 1148 Main Avenue, a riverside bar-restaurant-club, and, on the east bank, O'Connors Pub in The Flats, 1017 Old River Road, a good Irish pub.

Clubs: Wish, 621 Johnson Court, is not the easiest club to find, tucked away in an alley that runs off Sixth Street, but inside there are three different levels, subdued lighting and music ranging from late 1980s nostalgia to cutting-edge techno and beyond. Velvet Dog, 1280 West Sixth Street (website: http://velvetdogcleveland.com), is a more upmarket affair; its three floors (plus rooftop terrace) play dance tunes to a post-work crowd. Funky Buddha, 1360 West Ninth Street, is an extremely trendy club with a swanky feel to it - and long queues to get in.

Live Music: As to be expected, Cleveland is home to some very good, very well-known venues for live rock and roll. Perhaps the best known among these is the gritty Euclid Tavern, 11629 Euclid Avenue, where posters and clippings hanging on the wall lend a sense of history. Fat Fish Blues, 21 Prospect Street (website: www.fatfishblue.com), is the newest place for blues music. Every Wednesday, jazz and blues legend Robert Lockwood Jr plays a live guitar set. There is also the House of Blues, 308 Euclid Avenue, which attracts plenty of well-known blues, jazz, pop and rock artists.