Best:
St. Helens Citadel, a lovely little clean & tidy venue & accessible with the cinema car parking nearby only holds probably 250 maximum.

Holmfirth Picturedrome, has made some decent improvements over the last couple of years & putting some great bands on nowadays.

York The Duchess & Fibbers, not fussed 'cos I enjoy visiting both venues.

Bury Met, again, a tidy little venue, small capacity but lovely old theatre.

Burnley Mechanics, only attended an all seated gig there but very tidy indeed & being an acoustic show it leant itself very well to the ambience of the evening.

Halifax square chapel theatre, beautiful acoustics & surroundings, not used often enough though.

Worst:
Sheffield Corporation, oh dear what a dump !

Newcastle Legends, rock club of the worst type, ditto Wakefield Black Flag ( could be cloded or name change now )

Any of the 02 Academies or Uni venues, pretty much soul-less places now I'm long gone a teenager, crap beers & toilets !

M.E.N., Sheffield arena etc etc just too big but if you need to see big name artistes you have it to do unfortunately.

I'm looking forward to the Leeds arena but I guess it'll be not much different. I still hope to visit Edinburgh playhouse & Glasgow Barrowlands, maybe some day.

Barrowlands and King Tutt's are on my bucket list.

Another vote here for the deaf institute manchester.
the back room at the cavern club liverpool has everything.
bar a couple of pillars the lomax is a cracker in liverpool
the citadel in st helens
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worst is anything that holds more than 400

Im going to add Manchester Ritz to best list. Third visit to the venue last night. First on the balcony and the sound was just amazing one of the best places I have been.
Also not sure if it is Night & Day but in manchester one venue has a massive pillar in the middle of the standing area and also a dog leg bend. Only been once and would try and avoid it at all costs again.

Best Holmfirth picturedrome
Worst- New roscoe/ snooty fox

Not really got a worse as the band/gig make the night special.

I like the Picturedrome, Holmfirth and the Leadmill in Sheffield as i find them more intimate and a better atmosphere than bigger places.

Nottingham Rock City is a quality venue which generally draws big crowds and much cheaper beer prices than the £4 a pint O2 Academy rip off.

The Vic in Derby is a s*** hole but its our s*** hole and puts on some great bands plus is easy to sneak in free too so deserves a mention.

Best;
Shepherds Bush Empire
Bush Hall - Shepherds Bush (I like it in the bush.......)
Ritz Manchester
Portsmouth Guildhall (but can be full of d*ckheads)
Cardiff Uni
Royal Albert Hall
Basingstoke Anvil

Worst
Southampton Guildhall
Hammersmith Odeon/Apollo/Academy (or what ever else it's calling it's self this week)
Wembley Arena
Brighton Arena

Best:

Brixton Academy (although the area is a bit dodgy, class venue though)
Manc Apollo/ deaf institute
Northampton Roadmenders
Mad Ferret, Preston

Worst:

Apart from the soulless arenas mentioned by most on here there are very few I'd call terrible.

Does anyone think the new Leeds Arena might be on peoples best list when it opens? I know most people (me included) dislike arena venues but with the different design the audience should be closer to the stage

I'm with you on this, potential to be fantastic

Why is that, what are these design features?

this should explain it www.leeds.gov.uk/leisure/Pages/Design.aspx "Fan shape" I still think it will be too big to get any intimacy but should be a lot better than the likes of the MEN and sheffield arena.

this should explain it www.leeds.gov.uk/leisure/Pages/Design.aspx "Fan shape" I still think it will be too big to get any intimacy but should be a lot better than the likes of the MEN and sheffield arena.

The Star and Garter in Manchester a cracking little venue, very diy, very punk.

More than sure that's The Roadhouse.
A few fave venues over the years, as mentioned above The Star & Garter,Night & Day Café, Band On The Wall, The Ritz and The Wychwood in Ashton Under Lyne.
Worst has to be Academy 1 next door to Manchester Uni and Manchester Apollo before they had removable seats downstairs.

I just checked which venue it was and it is actually the Ruby Lounge.

Sounds a lot like the old Gallery from the mid 80's which was round the corner from Tommy ducks.

Blinkin eck , forgot about the Gallery, saw The 3 Johns , Chris Sievey and Hank Wangford there.

Is the Gallery still there? I remember seeing Flux of pink Indians there during the miners strike benefit tour, and also remember The English dogs playing there to name a few. Great venue and great times. Jillys was also a great venue all them years ago. And not forgetting the Mayflower. Manchester has had and still got some great little venues.

Gallery is shut as far as I`m aware not seen it on any gig guides for quite some time. Saw the Dammed at the Mayflower. The gig had been moved from Manchester Poly for whatever reason .

Saw GBH Vice Squad Bllitz etc at The Mayflower, a great venue i bet The Damned would have sounded really good in there. Ah the Poly another great venue, oh and another cracking venue was Drifters, christ you Manchester lot were are a bunch of jammy bar stewards.

I think I'm going to the Barbican in London in the summer. Has anyone been before? It looks different to the norm so was just curious.

Yeah I went back in 2001 for an Electronica festival and the complex is brilliant

Good to know thank you. Just booked tosee Tim Burgess and Lambchop there in June. Not really a massive fan of either but down for the weekend with a mate so just thought it's something to do relativley cheap. Should be good

Best -
The Marquee London (RIP)
100 Club - London
Astoria - London (RIP)
Concorde - Brighton
King Tuts - Glasgow
Rock City - Nottingham
Hammersmith Odeon

Worst -
SECC - Glasgow
London Arena (RIP Thank god)
Forum/Town and Country - London
NEC - Birmingham
Queens Hall - Leeds (RIP Thank god)