Cosmopol

Decent place. Bartender was super nice but the bouncers were pricks. DJ didn’t let me sing All I want for Christmas is you which I found frustrating.

So this is where it’s been building up to. For the last 3 reviews, it was all leading to this! KARAOKE!!!
Glasgow’s singular dedicated Karaōke bar, situated on Hope St, Cosmopol encompasses a spacious stage (for air guitaring and hair swinging, IF the need takes you), bar and seating area. We arrived just after opening, at around 9pm, and as it was the Sunday after New Year, it was pretty much us 3 and the staff. No matter! More song time for us. You pick from their exhaustive song list (which, if you’re a bit of an over enthusiast like myself, you can actually check out online at the website, and compile your list beforehand), and drop a note up the the host. Like I said, from about 9 till midnight it was us and the staff, so we were up at least 5 times each.
There were some basic drink promos: Sol, Peach Schnapps, Gin, and the likes, and a full bar. Thing is, this is a place you go to «sing”(I back-​tracked and added in inverted commas) not to enjoy quality alcohol. Just enough for Dutch courage, maybe.
Anyway, as previously mentioned in some reviews, it did seem as if the crowd got a bit more… uncouth, shall we say, as the night progressed, and it took a while for the place to busy up. But other than the fact it could do with a full facelift, and better seating, we’re definitely booked for a future visit for Club 31!

I’m going to be honest, I used to love this place. I love karaōke and I loved the crazy people who frequented cosmopol and the fact that you really did have no idea how your night would turn out. It tends to attract an older crowd but that doesn’t mean you don’t get the occasional young punter. I don’t remember it being the cheapest for drinks but then again, I always remember having some of the best nights and making friends for the night in a matter of seconds. I guess cosmopol was just a novelty between my friends, we don’t tend to go in these days. It just doesn’t have the same vibe and tends to attract a bit of a neddy clientèle. However, that’s not to say I won’t ever head in for a bit of karaōke… Maybe after a few drinks.

Cosmopol made me wee my pants when I was last in it… it is so partied out its nut it’s terrifying!
It really is like walking into karaōke combat. Visited there on a Saturday night for a pal’s birthday — panicked when I couldn’t find him since (true story) some guy tried to get me to sing with him immediately as I walked through the door… felt like I was going to lifted on to the stage on the crest of a wave. Managed to wriggle out of the iron grasp and scattered to find my pals sitting in a darkened corner towards the back.
For karaōke, drinks and a cheap party, it’s pretty awesome. It’s the only place I’ve been that’s vaguely resembled Coyote Ugly, and has an invisible call to arms for hen parties. If you were having a hen night that started with cocktails and ended up in the back of a hummer limo, you would eventually end up here. It’s good fun, the bar staff are nice and there is a whole stage for you to sing your heart out on. Can imagine Total Eclipse of the Heart gets yelled out into the mic in here, and blared out over the speakers.
I really enjoyed it since it pushes your buttons into hyper party overdrive, however being a middle aged 25 year old these days, I was not drunk enough to karaōke. I can imagine my drunken alter ego would’ve crowd surfed though, so perhaps I will return when I’ve downed a bottle of wine.

Never heard of/​been to this place until Sat night there aaaaaaand I figured I should throw in my two cents.
We had the place reserved for a birthday where basically there was a sign that read ‘reserved’ on a pillar next to the quiz machine, so we seemingly had exclusive access to leaning against that spot. Nowhere to sit downstairs at all where the layout with the podium to do karaōke helps the layout resemble even more of a strip club.
It is very much a karaōke place and it’s good at that, no doubts. The bar was also reasonably priced with well made cocktails at £4 being my favoured beverage.
My main gripe is the dude who works there who continuously hovered around us with a flashlight asking us ‘are you sitting there? ‘where are the people who are sitting there?’ ‘whose jackets are those?’ etc juggling around our seats and generally being a nuisance for no apparent reason and interrupting the mood to the max.
2:1 female to male ratio.

Cosmopol is plainly a music venue with alright priced drinks, there does seem to be a lot going on though. So there is something different on every night. Most of the time it is a bit freelance shall we say, where people are just strumming out unknown tunes, but isn’t this how you find a star?
Yes, you can choose which night you would like to go to from eclectic collaborations to acoustic night, so depending on whether you want a bit of something new, or a good chill out, Cosmopol can offer you a bit of everything. Wednesday night is usually for unsigned acts to book in to show you what they have got. It’s no King Tuts but you might see the spawning of a world famous band.
Oh I should mention, if you are a bit more extroverted than me you might like to go along on a Thursday where customers are encouraged to bring their singing voice and an instrument… get your 10 minutes of fame on the Cosmopol stage.
Also you may be interested to know that it is free entry pretty much every night of the week except fri and sat.

Cosmopol is one of Glasgow’s intimate music venues, the sort of place where anyone can get up and turn out their party piece. I have never caught a band that really excited me here: on the other hand, I have never stormed out, so I guess it is quite good!
The drinks are cheap and the décor is relatively smart, compared to other bars that cover the same open mic policies: at the weekends, it become a pretty smart place for a pre-​club drink, with a friendly bar staff.

The name «Cosmopol…» is pretty fitting for this place.
It starts well, but something about it just doesn’t quite follow through.
It’s slightly dingy, but has that whole-​in-​the-​wall feel to it. I like the colour scheme, it’s not often you see a purple bar. As a pub, it’s pretty typical and kind of boring. It’s more fitting, however, as what it purports to be: a music venue. There isn’t much to look at, other than the stage, so in that sense it works pretty well.
I popped in here with a friend last night since the place we were eating had ridiculously overpriced drinks. We didn’t want to walk far, though, so we decided to wander into the first place we saw. That place just so happened to be Cosmopol.
Live music features prominently here, and last night was no exception. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesay are free entry open mic nights. The first couple of acts were surprisingly good, considering. One was fantastic but kept losing his harmonica. When the third didn’t show, the girl who runs the night took to the stage to play a few songs, which devolved into a sort of jam session between all of the bar’s occupants. We weren’t in a rush to get on, so we stuck around, but it wasn’t really the music that was keeping us.
If you’re into live music in its various forms and levels of quality, or you’re a musician looking for stage practice and exposure to a few locals, it’s worth a visit. Otherwise, I’d give it a miss.