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Nightlife

Cardiff is relatively small so there are no distinct nightlife districts - all the action happens in the city centre. Wednesday night is busy, when the university crowds descend on the town for student nights at various venues. Fridays and Saturdays are the traditional evenings for painting the town red. Several bars and clubs, however, are making a concerted effort to liven things up during the rest of the week, with cheap drinks, late licences, live theatre, band nights and poetry slams. Pubs and bars are licensed for the sale of alcohol Monday to Saturday between 1100 and 2300, Sunday between 1200 and 2230. Nightclubs remain open until at least 0200 and many close as late (or early) as 0600 depending on the venue and day of the week. Casinos usually close between 0300 and 0400. All casinos and some bars and clubs may refuse admission to under those under 18 years, which is the legal drinking age. Some venues do not permit entrance to anyone under the age of 21 years.

Bars: The Old Arcade, Church Street in the city centre, is an old-fashioned pub serving food and local Brain's beer. The Angel Tavern (in the Angel Hotel) also offers typical pub delights, but should be avoided on Tuesday and Thursday when it is overrun with students cashing in on pound-a-pint promotions. In the bay area, The Wharf has good views across the water. The Pen & Wig, Park Grove, has a good range of food and beer and a myriad of board games for rainy afternoons.

For a livelier evening, try Sam's Bar, 63 St Mary Street in the CafÉ Quarter. This place is a bar/club crossover with live band events and a late licence until 0200 on Fridays. One of the most popular and trendy bars in the centre, Bar Essential, Windsor Place, is the choice of the city's young professionals and visiting businesspeople. The Slug and Lettuce pub, 2-3 Working Street, is also popular. The Model Inn, Quay Street, is a lively restaurant-bar.

Casinos: Les Croupiers Casino is located on St Mary Street in the city centre. Also centrally located are Grosvenor Casino and Ladbroke Club Casino on Greyfriars Road and Park Place respectively. All three casinos are for members only.

Clubs: Clwb Cymraeg Ifor Bach, 11 Womanby Street, is considered the 'coolest' club in Cardiff. It is on three floors and is one of the few clubs to offer action throughout the week. It showcases local bands on Monday, up-and-coming touring bands on Thursday, with hip hop and breakbeat DJs on alternate Fridays. Wednesday's three-tier menu of acid jazz, seventies funk, breaks and beats, and new indie music is hugely popular. The club features regular live bands on Saturday evenings, when the bottom bar is restricted to members only. The newest big club, however, is Liquid, St Mary Street, which is huge and very trendy.

The Emporium (younger sister of the club of the same name in London), at 8-10 High Street, is an exclusive, elegant venue, hosting a variety of nights from chart classics and 70s disco to classic soul and old-school funk, with visiting big-name DJs. Housed in the cavernous UCI building on Atlantic Wharf, Evolution is the biggest club in Cardiff and offers a menu of mainstream house, dance and party anthems. A shuttle bus collects partygoers from the New Theatre in the city every 15 minutes from 2115. Wednesday night is student's night with house and party anthems. Fridays are for over-18s and Saturdays are for the over-20s. Only those in smart clubbing dress will be admitted.

Live music: CafÉ Jazz, in the Sandringham Hotel, St Mary Street, is home to the Welsh Jazz Society and hosts top local performers as well as international acts. In addition to Clwb Ifor Bach (see Clubs above), live acts can be found at the Cardiff Coal Exchange, the Toucan Club (for Latin American and salsa), the University Student's Union (many events are restricted to NUS card-holders only) and, for really big acts, the Cardiff International Arena and occasionally the Millennium Stadium, where Tina Turner played in August 2000.



Copyright © 2001 Columbus Publishing
    
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