The devil might have all the best tunes, but the Union Chapel is proof that him downstairs knows bugger-all about architecture. Read more.
Headquarters of the English Folk Dance And Song Society (a shadowy offshoot of MI5 of which little is known, or provable), Cecil Sharp House is a great place to visit even when there isn’t any music. Read more.
The Windmill’s been revelling in its rough-around-the-edges eccentricity for years, its unprepossessing exterior a cloak for its dedication to new leftfield music. Read more.
Effectively the common room for the music industry’s perennial sixth form, this is where the hottest US exports will generally make their London debut. Read more.
The Academy’s famous raked dancefloor splits opinion – it allows the petit(e) attendee to see something of wht’s happening on stage, which is good, but isn’t exactly ideal if you fancy a boogie. Read more.
Camden features heavily in London’s pop history, but Koko must surely be its Forrest Gump, having had a hand in the gestation of numerous sounds and styles over the decades. Read more.
To the most fair weather of British music fans, the RAH is, and always will be, synonymous with the last night of the Proms, and all that goes with it. Read more.
Jazz is the order of the day, but the Vortex serves it up in kaleidoscopic variety. Read more.
The Grade II-listed Roundhouse was built in 1846 as a turntable shed for steam engines, and the venue has married beautiful looks with beastly behaviour ever since. Read more.
Poor old Ally Pally: this landmark hilltop venue (with some of London’s best views) opened in 1873 as The People’s Palace, but it’s been devastated by fire twice... Read more.
Although it’s as east London as pretending to like pie and mash, XOYO is a venue in the un-grand New York tradition. Read more.
Opened by British saxophonist Ronnie Scott in 1959, Ronnie’s has since amassed as much history as the British Museum. Read more.
The Shacklewell Arms occupies the position in fashionable hearts that was held by the Old Blue Last in the past... Read more.
The 100 Club is synonymous with punk, hosting shows by the Sex Pistols, The Clash, Siouxsie And The Banshees and Buzzcocks in September 1976 alone. Read more.
Once a BBC Television Theatre, it’s not surprising there’s something telegenically grand about the Empire. The building’s baroque interior exudes a grown-up glamour few venues can match... Read more.
It might look like it was built in 1920s Uzbekistan (then turned inside out) but, believe it or not, the Barbican is about to celebrate its thirtieth birthday. Read more.
Given its reputation, you wouldn’t think the Jazz Café was such a newbie on London’s music map, but the venue was only converted from a branch of Barclays in 1990. Read more.
Originally constructed as part of a chain of art deco cinemas with a spurious Roman theme the Forum became a music venue in the early 1980s... Read more.
The plucky 20,000-seater has proved the critics wrong and established itself as the capital’s de facto home of the megagig. Read more.
Although the venue has vacillated between use as a picturehouse and concert hall the Scala’s one consistent trait has been its lack of respect for authority. Read more.
