The Garage

Really great venue. Travelled here to see L7 in June and loved this place. The truck sticking out of the front of the building looks really cool and it’s nice and spacious inside. The drinks are well priced too — £2.50 for a vodka and coke. The sound quality is brilliant, so would definitely come here again if I ever find myself back in Glasgow.

Haven’t been to The Garage for a club night since it did good rock nights in the early 1990’s, but I go a lot for gigs.
It’s a good venue — the main hall is small enough that you get a good view from anywhere. There is seating down one side if you’re feeling lazy (and you can get in early enough). There are two small bars up the back although occasionally those are shut and there’s a separate bar in a side area instead (I think it’s to do with whether there are a lot of under 18’s at the gig, as they can put a bouncer on the side bar area and ID people more easily). At the time of writing it was £4 for a pint of Fosters — not the worst price among Glasgow gig venues, although I’d be a bit happier if it was better beer.
The only things I can think to criticise are that if you go to a gig on a night they’re also having a club night, the gig has to finish early. This can be handy for getting home at a sensible time but also means that unless you show up at doors opening, you risk missing the support act. Also, the floor is so sticky! It’s the stickiest floor I’ve ever stood on! (And when you consider that the Classic Grand used to be a porn cinema, that’s saying something).
The main reason I love it here is simply because it’s the right size for the kind of bands I really like so I’ve been to a lot of amazing gigs here. I still get misty eyed reminiscing about all the times I saw One Minute Silence here and how the mosh pit took up the entire floor…

Only my third time here (the first two were to see comedians) and this time it was for a gig — Eagles of Death Metal if you must know (with Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age on drums!).
What can I say, I’ve heard all the horror stories about the weekend nights here (and thankfully never experienced them) so I wasn’t surprised that the interior was a bit run-​down, slightly sticky carpets and all!
But hey, I was here for a rock gig! It’s a good sized venue with a good sound, I was on my own so ended up moving around a bit to try to get different views and each location was as good as the next!
Bar wise the prices are pretty good (cheap), and getting in and out seems less cramped than some other venues, but that’s maybe because I was right by the door when the gig finished!

Bad music. Bad booze. Bad people. Only for the ¹⁸⁄₁₉ year olds. Stay away. Stay well away

Great place fior gigs.
The actual venue would get 4 stars if it wasn’t for the staff member whom I phoned before the gig:
Me: Could you please tell me how many supports are on before the headliner and the times on stage?
Ignorant guy from Garage: don’t know.
Me: Do you know of approximate times and how many supports?
Ignorant guy from Garage: One support, doors at 7.
Me: What’s the support? What time do you think Death from above will be on at?
Ignorant guy from Garage: Support is the grays…
Me: is that with an E or an A?
Ignorant guy from Garage: don’t know… [HANGS UP!!!]
I’ve worked dealing with the public on phones before and regardless of how much of a bad day you’ve had you should at least give the impression of good customer service, this guy basically could not give a damn.
Whoever you are, barman or manager, your customer service stinks!
The website is also terrible, no info about support bands, I mailed them asking the same thing I asked the ignoramus, no response.
Real shame as the venue itself is great for gigs, They just have terrible staff on the phones and lazy staff answering, or not answering, as the case was, Emails. We live in a digital age darlings! Even mailing back. «the promoter has not shared that information with us, sorry about that. I have no idea about times» Would have placated me… But nothing.

This is a review of the Garage as a gig venue: I haven’t been to a club night here in about 15 years, but I get the impression nothing would have changed. I hated it as a club then and I would probably hate it now.
As a gig venue it’s pretty good. It has a balcony which is a bonus, you are guaranteed a decent view from most parts of the floor and the sound isn’t bad, although it can be a bit muddy at times. There is a decent couple of bars, and a good separate area for the merchandise.
It’s biggest flaw is the timings. As its open as a club every night all of the gigs tend to finish early, often just past 10. If you don’t like staying up late it’s great, but you always feel rushed out the door, and there isn’t real chance for the band to extend their set if they’re enjoying it.
All in all, as a venue it’s not bad, and I’d definitely not avoid going to a gig if it was on there. A review of this as a club would be very different though…

Was here for a comedy gig last night but haven’t been for a club night in years. Was a great intimate venue for Thai type of thing, two bars and right next to the toilets so all in all happy. The only issue was the seats OMG they are so uncomfortable, really hard, small and squashed together. My hubby had to go and stretch his legs every 20−30mins and has a sore back today. Highly recommend Russell Kane :)

woat club woat music woat drinks woat dance floor. you just toss your drinks on the floor like its nothing. i dont understand that but the cups are plastic and the drinks are watered down like crazy and stupid cheap so why not right. they have a face painting section… enough said.

You’re probably not going to enjoy yourself here unless you’re already absolutely out of it by the time you arrive. Dirty wet floors, crazy club-​goers and sweaty, noisy and busy, this place just is not for me at all.
I’ve been here before for gigs and for nights out and I’m just not a fan for either. I was here the other night for my friend’s 21^st, and after paying the fiver entry, we went upstairs to the main room. In total I think there’s 3 rooms, possibly 4. The main room is where gigs are played here normally, and the busiest room. There’s then a room on the level you come in at, and another room downstairs that seems to be the quietest.
The place is student heaven, with free drinks and offers on specific nights they’re going to be here all night every night. Even though that’s my age group, it’s just not the sort of people I’d normally associate myself with and that’s probably my main reason for not enjoying it. I don’t doubt that a load of people absolutely love it, just not for me!

Well its been a long time since I’ve been In the Garage, 10 years at least. Liked the new size of the venue and the Strongbow at £2 a can went down very well too. It seemed to me that it was ½ the size it used too be but that’s a good thing. Went to see the Twang there and wot a brilliant night the most underrated hard working band in Britain blew me away once again with their totally brilliant set. I just wish more people would listen to them and appreciate how good this band actually are. As for a live act I’d put them up there with the best of the best.

Are you 19 years old? Then you’re far too old for The Garage. Turn around. Go home. Or go elsewhere. But not here, grandma!
I don’t know what else to say. The place smells funny. Like stale beer and sperm. Speaking of which, go here if you want to be fingered behind a curtain by a 17 year old boy with too much gel in his hair and the stench of Strongbow on his breath (for the record, this is NOT speaking from personal experience, just what I’ve witnessed as a horrified onlooker! :-p).
There are also far too many stairs. Stairs aren’t good in a nightclub. It’s only a matter of time before a drunk teenager falls to his/​her grisly death, or a sensible someone throws themselves down these stairs, chancing and favouring death rather than venturing inside.
On the up side, the G2 venue is alright for a gig. A wee bit pricey considering it’s a student venue, but alright nonetheless.

Ah the Garage. The last time I was there, it was Thursday evening and I was out for my 20^th birthday. I shouldn’t have, but I felt old. It started off well I think, popular music that you can have a boogie too, cheap drink deals, jäger bombs… a good studenty vibe. Then the drinking games started. A slezy old man with a beard and greasy dyed blonde hair started pulling people up on the stage to play the «Sex position game» where you had to get into as many sex positions as possible in 30 seconds, then you had to slap the girls arse and see how hard it was, then you had to swap clothes. It was like this guy was playing out his own sick sexual fantasies with people who were young enough to be his children. Then there people grinding against each other, people that probably shouldn’t be grinding and it all seemed to descend into some kind of Roman-​esque giant orgy on the dancefloor.
We left promptly.

Une boîte sympa a Glasgow, ambiance etudiante, bonne zik tendance. Prix dans la norme.

I’m reviewing the Garage for a gig venue, not a club night — as I have never been here on a club night, and I highly doubt I ever will!
For a venue it works really well, and I have seen some incredible gigs here over the years. I’m pretty short, and in most venues, I will be lucky to see the stage (and if I am fortunate enough to be in a venue which is well designed enough for me to see the stage, some tall guy and/​or the most annoying person in the room normally stands in front of me anyway so hey! can’t win!), but no matter where i stand, or who is in front of me at the garage, i can manipulate myself so that i can see the stage, not only a little, but very clearly. this is especially good when you go to see a band like four year strong and like to spend a lot of the gig just admiring the beauty of their very lovely beards.
it is also never too hot in here (in fact on saturday night i kept my jacket on the whole gig — perhaps it could have been a little bit warmer, but i’m not complaining, i’m a very cold person so the temperature was probably just right for everyone else), the drink prices are reasonable, the sound quality is always very good, there are plenty of bars, and there are plenty of toilets so you never have to queue. all good things! i also really like how the garage are very strict about ID and searching you as you come in — as most of the gigs (if not all?) that are put on here are 14+ it’s really good to see how responsible they are in regards to making sure underage kids are not getting wrecked and wretchy here. i’m sure as a 15÷16÷17 year old i may not have appreciated this so much, but now that i am a grown up (ha) i sure do appreciate this a lot.
it definitely doesn’t stop the venue smelling like vomit… but you can’t get everything right!

When I was a wee lass, I used to gaze in wonder at the very yellow truck poking out of this building on Sauchiehall St and ponder how the hell they managed to fit a car garage into this confined space! «How the hell would you get cars through that door?» I asked myself.
I swiftly found out the truth when I was 18. A den of grindy dancing and cheap booze awaited. The student hovvel of the city, The Garage blasts out the 90s dance music (if you’re lucky), but mainly sticks to David Guetta’s Ibiza anthems, even in the middle of winter.
18 year olds wiggle their bodies to the pounding music, guys surrepticiously sip their booze on the edge of the dancefloor, some people attempt to dance (and fail), occasionally the DJ chucks in a bit of Funkytown and Bruce Springsteen. On Thursdays they house a bouncy castle, on Mondays they have a rock night upstairs.
I lived in this place up until the age of 20, and I’m not ashamed to say I loved it. I was a leary little minx and used to enjoy the cosmic, drunken thrusting that would undoubtedly occur. Now, even at 24, I find myself drifting into this place. Feel a wee bit old for it now but saying that, it’s the Jack of all Trades, Jim Will Fix It nightclub of the town. If indie kid is arguing with soul Jeff about where to go on a nightout, The Garage at least is a one sizes fits all, cheap booze bonanza. Some people critique its boozy mess but it’s cheap fun for all the family.

I might just be getting old, but MEH, oh so very MEH.
So go there and frolic you freshers and youth, have fun being so drunk you don’t mind the music is mostly cack and there is no thought put into the dark interior whatsoever, not to mention the absurd half truck outside. This place isn’t hideous, I mean, it isn’t Campus, but still. Youngins keep goin” here and leave the cooler places for the rest of us old cranky people. Thanks a bundle!

90% if the time on a night out in Glasgow, my mates and I end up in the Garage.
We never, ever plan to go there, but always end up in there somehow, probably something to do with the copious amount of beer consumed.
The floors are sticky, the music is commercial and average, and the drinks are usually warm and served in hideous plastic glasses. However, there is something that keeps drawing me back here, and as much as I hate to say it, I actually like it.
The big main room is the room to be, with a huge dancefloor and a mixture of chart and indie tunes to keep you dancing all night. Fancy a bit of headbanging? The upper floor will keep you satisfied with rock and metal, and certainly draws a more interesting crowd.
Huge club, probably the most popular in Glasgow, but certainly not the best.

The Garage is, on a night for night, averaged out over the calendar year basis. the busiest club in Glasgow.
The truck jutting out the front of the building loses its kitsch value really quickly and soon becomes a landmark for finding your mates at the end of the night, or directing people to other pubs and clubs.
«It’s across the road from The Garage».
When you’re not across the road, The Garage has the capacity to be the backdrop to a great night. It’s pretty big inside, but being that it is always busy it can still take a minute to cover a few metres. Once you do get to the bar, you could easily be there for up to 30 minutes.
I don’t know what came first, The Garage, or the phenomenon of girls with revealing clothing getting served quicker at a bar. While the latter is far more likely, The Garage definitely adheres to ensuring young sexy ladies get their Blue WKD’s and Smirnoff Ice’s with priority.
Or maybe I get so distracted by young sexy ladies getting their Blue WKD’s and Smirnoff Ice’s I lost my sense of purpose of being in the queue in the first instance. Maybe.
The music is cheesy and danceable, appealing first and foremost to young student girls.
It’s a good nightclub, in that it ticks off all the boxes. A mix of young men and women coming together to drink and dance, its easy to lose your mates and spend half the night in queues for the toilet or bar. All the good stuff.
It’s worth going sober one night to witness the spectacle that is 3 – 4 am OUTSIDE of The Garage.
While you’re inside though, expect to end up very drunk and dance to songs you would never find in your Top 25 Most Played playlist on your I-​Pod.

The Garage is the Neverland of nightclubs.
Primarily frequented by the 17 – 21 crowd, I personally haven’t been since not long after I turned 18. I have been constantly assured that it hasn’t changed a bit, though! Part of the reason for this is that it fell out of style as the ABC became the place to go on a Saturday night, and at the time, the Garage wasn’t changing its music or upping its game enough to keep us from drifting off elsewhere.
As far as live music here goes, they do tend to have some good bands on. I remember going here to see bands like Lost Prophets, Thursday, Coheed & Cambria, and Kasabian in their early (and I mean eaaarly) days. Does that make me sound old?! The Garage always seemed to be a good gauge of the size and success of a band, and while gigs wouldn’t necessarily sell out, the venue was the perfect size for the bands that it chose. A warning, though: don’t stand too close to the speakers! They aren’t the best quality, and once night I actually lost the hearing in my right ear for 2 days. Ouch!
The Garage does, however, remain a great place to boogie the night away, get far too drunk and fall over, and listen to some seriously cheesy tunes. We all know what they do, and we all know what we want. When those two precursors collide, a night at the Garage is on the cards, and you probably won’t be disappointed.

It shows how little I have matured that the Garage is still usually my club of choice in Glasgow. I guess it just tells you how I am still unable to accept the fact that I have finished university (sniff!) and go here to try to relive the glory days.
The Garage is a very studenty place and it IS most popular with those in the 18 – 21 age group. But I think some of the things people say about it is pretty exaggerated — «oh, the girls are all about 17 years old» and «I felt like the oldest person in there». There is still a good bit of the 20 – 30 age group in there and if this wasn’t the case then I would certainly feel old myself, which I don’t particularly.
The drink prices are reasonable (try some of the pound-​a-​drink offers during the week), though the pints are pretty crap. And as the bottled beers have to be poured into plastic glasses, they don’t taste much better. However, with a huge main hall and several other rooms with bars, even at the busy weekends you are not waiting a lifetime to get served unlike a lot of the other clubs in Glasgow.
The music is usually a good cheesy mix of everything. It can get a bit predictable though — at the weekend you know its just a matter of time till you hear «Don’t stop believin’» or «Since u been gone». There is a nice little balcony in the main hall though strangely it doesn’t seem to be open any more, why I don’t know.
Lastly, although the door staff don’t give you an easy ride, they are at least a lot more reasonable than most Glasgow club bouncers, who will turn you away for no reason at all despite being stone cold sober and smartly dressed. You shouldn’t have this probem here. The Garage is definitely more a place for the students though, but even if you’re not, it can still be a good laugh at the weekend. Ignore the tripe people say — go and enjoy yourself!

The Garage remains a right of passage. Come every giddy eighteenth birthday, night after night will be spent in this huge club, doing the Cha Cha Slide.
This venue is good at what it does, of that there’s no doubt. Just bear in mind it’s more of a ‘wanna nip ma pal’ place.
Open on every single night of the year, I now roll my eyes when friends suggest we pay a visit. 18 – 21? Great. Older? Move on.