Some of the many venues available for bands and musicians to play regularly in the Glasgow area, this diagram is taken from the Sneeky Pete single ‘Night Time In The City’ from 1982, it gives a good idea of how many venues there were in those days, obviously there are too many to cover them all but here we have added some info and photos on  music venues from the 70s/80s.

The Dalriada - The building was situated on Edinburgh road between Carntyne and Easterhouse, the bands played in front of a massive window at the back of the room as you can see from the Scheme photo. it  was perfect for watching bands as it had a very spacious lounge area with large round roller coaster style seats.

The Doune Castle - Kilmarnock road Glasgow, the bands played downstairs in a bierkeller styled room with old wooden chairs, benches and a stone floor.

The Centuar  - Westerhouse road in Easterhouse, bands played downstairs in The Wardie Suite, the entrance was on the left, the Venue is just around the corner from Auchinlea park where the Auchinlea Rock Concerts were held in the 1980s

Click on the video below to see a list of just some of the venues where bands played in the 70s and 80s…

The Dial Inn - West Regent street Glasgow had bands playing in the afternoon and again at night every day of the week, a favourite venue for bands and music fans. The live music lounge was downstairs on the left.

The Burns Howff - West Regent street , a legendary venue for live bands in Glasgow, just up the road from The Dial Inn.

Maxwell Plumbs  -  On the Clydeside across the road from Custom House Quay, Maxwell Plumbs (Fast Eddies) featured in the Scheme Channel 4 documentary  Innocent As Hell in 1986.

The Mars Bar - Howard street, round the corner from St Enoch Square, famous for hosting a young Simple Minds in the late 70s, other bands to emerge from The Mars Bar - The Venigmas, The Zones and Skroo who would later become H2O.

Cumbernauld Theatre - Like a lot of these venues this old building is not being used anymore, it has been replaced by a new theatre in Cumbernauld called ‘The Lantern’ now a theatre and a Cinema.

The Muscular Arms - West George Street Glasgow

Saints and Sinners (King Tutts) - Situated on St Vincent Street Glasgow, before it became the famous King Tut’s .

Custom House Quay - A small Amphitheatre on the Clyde side, below is a photo of The Dolphins playing there circa 1982.

The Auchinlea Rock Fest was held in Auchinlea Park, Easterhouse from 1982 until 1987, compered by Tom Russell, some of the bands who played there are Scheme, The Dolphins, Glasgow, The Condemned and Blind Allez who later went on to become GUN.

The Bungalow Bar - Renfrew road Paisley. We can’t find a photo of the old Bungalow Bar yet but here is a very rare video of The Henry Gorman band playing in The Bungalow from 1981.

Shadows - Downstairs on Bath street Glasgow. Thanks to the band Trident for some of the only photos we can find of the inside of the bar from 1986. Shadows featured in The 1982 movie Living Apart Together starring BA Robertson, (pictured singing the song ‘Now And Then’ from the movie). The only decent image we can find of the outside of the venue is this Bay Horse photo.

The Glasgow Apollo -  Renfield street Glasgow is not a local band venue but must be mentioned on here as Scheme became the only unsigned band ever to sell out the legendary Apollo in 1986, an outstanding achievement. The band Glasgow got to play a full gig here by accident as the main band they were booked support ‘SHY’ couldn’t make it as their gear was stolen. 

The Mucky Duck - Glen road Shotts, hosted The Pogues and The Clash at one time as well a some great local bands and musicians in the 1980s.

The Brothers Bar - in Glasgow’s Possil, again a Scheme venue, the band made it their own in the 1980s, one of the first places they played outside the east end of the city, the bar is heavily featured in the Innocent As Hell documentary.

The Glasgow Pavilion -  Renfield street Glasgow. Scheme played here several times, this was in the mid 80s when the band could fill or sell out any venue they played .

The Caravel ( The El Paso) - Barlarnark

The Amphora - Sauchiehall street

The Heathery - Wishaw, Chasar, The Dolphins and Shoot The Moon played here regularly, STM had a song about the venue called…..Yep! you've guessed it.

The Mayfair - Sauchiehall street Glasgow, now The Garage, The Dolphins and The David Forbes band packed this place out at their height.    Ian Donaldson and Frank O’Hare rehearsed in the rooms below The Mayfair with H2O in the late 80s.

The Lincoln Inn - Great Western road

The Victorian Carriage - Inverkip street Greenock.

Kelvingrove Rock Festival - The Bandstand staged the Radio Clyde Festivals from the 1970s to the 90s and was massively successful pulling in 3000 to 4000 fans every year.  The Venue fell into disrepair in the late 90s and wasn’t used at all until it was refurbished in 2014. Unfortunately the Bandstand no longer hosts local musicians for free any more, only established acts play there now but at least the bandstand is being used again. 

Toffs -  Was next to The Mitchell library in Glasgow, a great early 80s venue, the building burned down days after this photo was taken in 2007 when it was an Indian Restaurant.