Broadcast

I used to love the food at Broadcast. First time I popped in, I had zero expectations before being presented with this great menu. The choice of burgers and pizzas covered all tastes, and I could probably rave on about the Chicken Tikka Kabobs for a good ten minutes.
But, I popped in a few weeks back to find it has all changed. The menu is now much more restrictive, and they have removed many of my favourite burger options (No more halloumi burger — WTF?)
To give credit, the burgers were still tasty and the sweet potato fries were as good as ever, but where was the choice. They do have an extensive list of extras, but this is gonna add £2−3 to the cost of your food.
They do have good burger and a beer deals, but what was once a mainstay is now down the pecking order.

Always a warm reception.
Been here both during the day and in the evening but yet to sample a gig downstairs — small venue which looks like it would be great for intimate gigs.
It has a relaxed atmosphere during the day which makes it so much better if you’re a woman on her own.

I’m tempted to add an extra star but I’m going to wait until I’ve been to another gig or tried the food. However, I was quietly impressed by Broadcast on my first visit. Admittedly, the time on our gig ticket bore no resemblance to the time the gig actually started but the street level bar is a very comfy space and the beer isn’t too expensive so we were happy to sit and have a couple of drinks while we waited. It’s actually a bar that I would choose to go to for a drink and definitely if we were waiting for the doors to open at The Garage across the road, I’d be very tempted to sit in here with a pint while watching for the queue to start moving.
The gig space downstairs is tiny and the stage isn’t so much a stage as a step, but we don’t like popular bands so there wasn’t a big crowd and we managed to get to the front and had a great view. The sound seemed fine, although it does feel a bit strange being pretty much on eye level with the band you’re watching. There’s a small bar downstairs and a tiny area up the back for merch — it’s nothing fancy but for smaller bands with smaller audiences it’s a decent space.
The food menu looked good — simple bar food, nothing fancy, just what Him Indoors likes. i noticed that the pizzas have been getting good reviews so I think the next time we’re going here or The Garage for a gig, we might make an evening of it and grab some food here first. If we do, I’ll see about that extra star…

I’ve been here twice so far; I deliberated between 4 and 5 after an initial visit but happy to go towards the 5 after a pleasant second visit.
I visited initially as I’d come across their online menu featuring a ‘vegan’ labelled falafel pizza. I’ve rarely had falafel pizza and anyone used to reading my reviews will know I get very excited when I see anything actually clearly marked as being suitable for vegans on a menu. On arrival I noticed their menu had changed — no marked vegan pizza anymore but they did have two veggie burgers: tofu, and falafel. The tofu burger (burger only, no accompanying chips) was priced at £11! What?! However, it’s always 2 for 1 on the burgers, and the ‘going solo’ burger is £7. So it doesn’t seem like it’s ever £11. Unless you only get the solo price if actually dining alone? Agh! If I was in London and they made their own tofu then maybe (MAYBE!) I could justify this price. I don’t know for sure they don’t make their own tofu but I feel confident on an educated guess. Anyway, the burger also comes with a vegan bun (i.e., a bun that isn’t brioche) and it was alright. I’d have preferred a more firm patty rather than the soft chunks that fell out of the bun; if I was in again and felt like a burger I’d try the falafel one for a change.
Also had a bottle of Innis & Gunn rum finish beer, for the first time. I now love this stuff and it’s so hard to find!
It got a bit thumpy underfoot with music, I guessed there was a band rehearsing somewhere in the venue.
The sweet potato fries were nice. Not up there as my favourite in the city, but worth ordering. I asked for a swap of the non-​vegan sauce. Staff were attentive and service was quite quick. On leaving I noticed the board outside that mentioned the soya milk white russians — I noted this for next time! The toilets were so-​so, clean but the hot taps didn’t work. I think I preferred the female toilets to the disabled one; if I remember correctly the hand dryer was better.
On the second visit this week we had the fries again, Right on Russians (the vegan one, though they can veganise other russians drinks on the menu) and split a pizza. We ordered a vegetarian pizza with cheese removed and added falafel instead. The pizza was delicious; I really loved the soft base and its thickness. (I’m not much of a fan of thin and crispy ones.) Service was great, drinks were good, hot taps still weren’t letting out any water, music was good.

£3 for a large, creamy White Russian? On that basis, I’m an instant fan of Broadcast.
For this first-​time visit, we were there to see Sean Wheeler & Zander Schloss. The ticket, which we foolishly believed, said that it was a 7pm start. This really means: get there at 7, drink till 8, live music. Not a problem when the £3 White Russians are a-​flowing. My first thoughts were positive ones based on the friendly staff, nice little selection of beers and cocktails on the cheap. It’s cash only but that isn’t worth complaining about, since there’s a cash machine just seconds away outside.
The basement below is small by music venue standards, but didn’t feel all too cramped. — The ceiling is low which makes it feel all the smaller but it’s quite a wide space for the crowd. I was really impressed with the sound; no glaring feedback and a really good mix. Not too mention, a fast, seamless changeover between bands.
A neat little bar and basement, based on White Russian-​fuelled first impressions.

Me encantó este sitio, ojalá en Madrid tuviésemos más lugares así :)
Está en la zona en la que el rollo comienza a ser más joven y moderno. Si vas toda la calle Sauchiehall hacia el oeste llegas a la zona universitaria y «rollo Malasaña»
El lugar está repleto de conciertos que anuncian en la ciudad por lo que ya te imaginas el amor que tienen hacia la música.
La planta de arriba es un bar en el que puedes tomarte unas cervezas y comer ya que tienen mesas. Estaba bastante a tope las mesas por lo que nos pusimos en la barra a hacer tiempo antes del concierto. Como al final se retrasó un poco pues fuimos fuera a pillar algo rápido porque sino luego no podríamos tener muchas opciones para comer.
Cuando ya empezó el concierto bajamos unas escaleras de caracol. El concierto fueron 10 libras cada uno y fueron 3 grupos. La capacidad de la sala diría que de unas 100 – 120 personas. Muy baja de altura pero bastante ancha. El sonido era decente y hay una barra abajo pero te sirven latas de cervezas, que supongo serían más baratas, y chupitos varios. Nosotros teníamos birras de arriba que te ponían en vaso de plástico.
Creo que en esa sala puedes descubrir grupos bastante interesantes y del rollo independiente o underground. Allí hemos visto a las Hinds, cosa que no hemos hecho aquí, que para quien no lo sepa es un grupo de Madrid que lo está petando muchísimo fuera de España! La gente se volvió loca haciendo pogo, pidiendo fotos y autógrafos.

The first time I visited Broadcast, I was on a stag do; it was dark, late and fairly hazy. So last night, I got to experience the place with a clearer head and sample some food too.
My mate and I were in for a gig (Frankie Lee and Joe Pug — both awesome) but arrived sharp for beer and a burger. We both had the bacon cheeseburgers and fries; mine accompanied by a bottle of Blue Moon.
The place was cool, relaxed, chilled out on a cold Wednesday night with various folks enjoying drinks or fiddling on MacBooks (would anyone dare be seen with a regular laptop?). I liked the vibe of the artwork round the room and the gig posters and the service was friendly and quick.
The food itself was no better or worse than any other bar/​café in the city but definitely leaned to the positive side of the fence. The burger was tasty and the bacon was a good quality. The chips were also nice and crispy but fluffy inside — ideal.
The actual gig venue beneath the bar is teeny and was especially teeny with a healthy crowd in to see the acts but no problem at all getting served at the bar. Seriously, small gigs are just way better. Frankie Lee even had a chat and signed my CD, which I know has nothing to do with Broadcast but you know, cool story bro. The acoustics of the room are spot on for small acoustic acts too if that sort of thing bothers you.
So yeah, good place for a beer, a natter and a great undiscovered live music. Definitely recommend.

Broadcast was hitting the high 4 stars for me on my first visit on Saturday night — a seriously cool space upstairs, lots of seats, good bar selections. I really liked it and was super keen to return to try out the food to write up a full review.
But then we headed downstairs for the gig space. The stairs are by the door and you head down a winding staircase. The basement gig room is very reminiscent of the Captain’s Rest which I initially loved. There was seating along the sides of the room and a bar up the back. That was until I turned to the front of the room. Well, what I assumed to the front of the room — I had no idea because I couldn’t actually see the stage. A little bit of stretching and peering lead me to realise the stage isn’t that high off the ground, and with the roof being so low there is perhaps one foot of space for you to see the band.
I thought things might improve when the support band started. Putting aside my musical differences, all I could see of the band was their hair on some occasions — a lot of the time all I could see was the back of heads. Now I know what it must be like to be a shorter person going to gigs. I’m not actually short so it was a weird experience for me. Added to this was the fact that the headlining band (Future of the Left) attracts mostly a male crowd, and for some reason they were mostly tall males. At one point I actually thought there was a brown bear standing in front of us, dressed in a check shirt with matching beard swigging from a can of Red Stripe. It was only the fact that his face wasn’t totally covered in hair that gave him away as being human. He was bloody tall though, and so we moved further to the back. Before this point we’d been standing in the middle of the room.
Obviously things didn’t really improve at the back and there was a lot of grumpy people grizzling around us (not the bear guy, we left him at the middle). When Future of the Left came on I managed to nab a seat to stand on right in front of the sound guy at the back. While then I could see Falco’s face (and what a beautiful face it is), it still wasn’t much of a «seeing a band experience» — more of a «happening to be in the same room as a band». We stayed for about 45 minutes and then gave up and left. Seems that lots of people decided to do the same as someone standing near the entrance remarked the gig must be over. No, it wasn’t, my patience was though.
Logistically I’m not sure what Broadcast could do to improve the space as it’s obviously limited by the height of the roof etc. But I wouldn’t return here to see a band in the future as it really killed the experience for me after seeing FOTL 5 times before. I would definitely go back upstairs though — that space gets itself 4 stars. Downstairs is lucky to get 2 stars so that’s how I arrived at an average of 3.