The Borderline is a tiny basement bar with excellent live music.

It’s dark, with rough corners. Nothing fancy down here. But if you like folk- and country-tinged rock bands, they’re probably playing here.

It’s mostly just one small open room and a low stage. There are some tables in the back if you just want to listen. The whole place doesn’t hold more than a couple of hundred people. There are often drink specials (usually cans of beer) if you get in before 8pm.

A lot of Canadian bands seem to come through here, acts that would play much larger venues there but don’t get a huge crowd in London. I’ve seen Blue Rodeo there a couple of times, as well as Blackie & the Rodeo Kings and Great Big Sea. I’ve also caught the North Mississippi All Stars and Cracker there.

If you want a good dose of singer-songwriter playing just 10 feet in front of you, this is the place.

This west end venue is great for up and coming bands, with a large space, stage and bar area. This great thing about this club/bar is that it’s all one room, so there’s no segregation, and people who just want to sit at the back and drink a beer and chat can still hear and see the live music. There’s a reasonable back stage area (a seedy, graffiti back room) and the smokers have the venture up the stairs to the ground floor to smoke outside. I had my album launch here, and was great. Always packed. The only thing is the live bands have to stop at around half ten, for another night to begin with DJ’s till late. It then gets extremely busy, but what isn’t in the west end! Enjoy.