The UK has a rich musical history and has produced some of the world’s finest performers. Then the question is: if you’re a big music fan, what are some of the best places to live in the UK? This is a debate that’s raged ever since the first Brit learned how to plug in an electric guitar or bang a drum.
While touring musicians are great, nothing compares to living in a city with a thriving music scene.
If you’re looking for a place to move to, and this is one of your key considerations, then this article is for you. And if you’re not someone who’s used to the peculiarities of British weather, you’ll be relieved to learn that you can also enjoy your favourite music in the comfort of indoor venues where you can stay warm and dry year-round.
London
Whether through The Kinks’ view of the Waterloo Sunset or Eddy Grant’s stroll down Electric Avenue, London is very much present in music lyrics. That’s not at all surprising because London’s mix of urban seclusion and multicultural unity has an uncanny ability to inspire artists.
There is something for every taste and budget, but if you want to experience the heart of London’s contemporary music culture, you need to venture beyond the 02 Arena.
This way, you’ll get to experience venues like Corsica Studios located south of the river Thames, XOYO to the north in Shoreditch and the Pickle Factory to the east. These are three perfect examples of the kind of musical cross-pollination you can expect in London. There are also many record label parties and impromptu rave takeovers.
If you’re a jazz fan, you’re in luck because the south London jazz scene has been flourishing in recent years. The best places to enjoy it are the Hackney Arts Centre’s EartH and Camden’s Jazz Café.
London has six arenas, 84 live venues and more than 2,000 nightclubs. Of course, as you know, London isn’t cheap. It’s the sixth most expensive place to live in the world and the most expensive place to buy a pint of beer in the country (£4.44). The average rent is about £2,500 a month, but you can use platforms such as the one provided by Walton Robinson to look for the best deals.
Manchester
Manchester has given us fantastic bands like Oasis, Joy Division, The Smiths and New Order. However, its greatest contribution to modern music is probably The Haçienda – Manchester’s most prominent club throughout the 80s and home of English dance music.
While the city’s love affair with dance music continues to dominate, it has divided into scenes that embody the richness of the UK’s most linguistically diverse city. Every night of the week, the town is alive with a plethora of sounds, voices, and cultures.
If you like hip-hop, you won’t want to catch performances by the multi-talented LEVELZ collective at venues like YES. If you like jazz, we recommend you go to venues like Band on the Wall and listen to how trumpeter Matthew Halsall’s Gondwana Orchestra infuses spiritual jazz with modern electronics. If you’re looking for a full-on acid house hedonistic experience, go to Homoelectric.
Manchester has one arena, 15 live venues and around 200 nightclubs. Granted, there are fewer venues than in London, but the rent is about half of what you would pay in the capital while the cost of living is about a third lower. Oh, and a pint is only £3.93.
Glasgow
Scotland’s largest city continues to defy its naysayers and produce vibrant cultures that refute the city’s portrayal as a working-class Edinburgh. This city is brimming with unabashed outliers showing their creativity in their own unique ways, and the music scene is key to its expressive individuality.
Glasgow is known for massively popular bands like Franz Ferdinand, Primal Scream and let’s not forget Wet Wet Wet – one of the pop acts that dominated the British music charts in the 80s and 90s. However, it’s possible that the people of Glasgow would very much like you to forget about Wet Wet Wet.
One of the main reasons people are drawn to Glasgow is that it’s the perfect place for loud music and sweaty dance floors.
Comfort and Hairband are two new breeds of bands that offer anything from industrial noise to melancholic pop songs. You’ll find them performing at iconic venues like Nice’n’Sleazy and King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut. The Barrowland Ballroom is another great place to visit, and it happens to a favourite for bands like Oasis and Metallica.
If you want to get a taste of Glasgow’s dance music scene, go to the Sub Club, and for electronic music, you’ll want to try La Cheetah.
Glasgow has two arenas, five live venues and about 140 nightclubs. The average rent in Glasgow is approximately £900, and a pint is £3.79.
Bristol
Bristol’s music scene, more than any other on our list, is a distinctive product of its past. Bristol was a major slave trading port in the 18th century, and Caribbean immigration in the 50s and 60s increased the already diverse population, making reggae and ska a popular choice for celebrations. This later influenced hip-hop acts like The Wild Bunch and post-punk bands like The Pop Group. Ultimately, this led to Bristol’s most successful musical export – trip-hop – and performers like Massive Attack, Portishead, and Tricky.
That is still a tradition in a city that is widely recognized as a powerhouse of innovation. Shackleton and Appleblim’s Skull Disco label revolutionized dubstep by incorporating African polyrhythms in the 2000s. Today, underground bass music is pushed to its extremes by record labels like Timedance and Tectonic.
If you want to experience electronic music in Bristol, we recommend The Love Inn or Lakota. For guitar-based music, you’ll want to head to the affordable and lively Louisiana where bands like The Scissor Sisters and Florence and the Machine made their debuts. At Bristol Beacon, you’ll find everything from rock to classical. The Beatles and The Rolling Stones have performed here.
Bristol has eleven live venues and around 109 nightclubs. The average rent in Bristol is £1,300, and a pint is £4.32 – the second most expensive in the country, after London.
Header image: Oberholster Venita from Pixabay
