The Arches Details...

The Arches, 253 Argyle St, Glasgow G2 8DL  

The Arches in Glasgow city centre is one of Europe's leading arts venues. With its pledge to support and showcase emerging talent alongside major artists, the Arches has secured a deserved, international reputation as an exciting hub of ground-breaking creativity, with a year-round programme of live music, club nights, theatre, corporate events and visual art, winning numerous awards and media accolades along the way.

The Arches Information...

There can be no more unique venue in Scotland than the Arches. While certain spaces that run under Edinburgh’s Old Town mimic its subterranean, almost claustrophobic feel, the Arches’ old vaulted stone rooms under the platforms of Glasgow’s Central Station are so much larger and more imposing. Famous as a club venue, a music venue, a theatre space and a relaxing bar café hangout, the Arches has a singular place in Glasgow’s cultural life.

‘A few times since I started working here,’ says the Arches’ music programmer Brian Reynolds, ‘I’ve caught myself looking at the place and being overwhelmed. We can run club nights for as little as 300 people or as many as 2500, over three rooms and the bar. Yet we can also accommodate gigs for 200 or theatre shows for fifteen people quite happily.’ Among the regular club nights at the Arches are the house events Pressure, Colours and Inside Out, which feature big guests every month. Underground electro night Death Disco is popular with scenesters while Wednesday’s weekly Octopussy is also one of Scotland’s biggest student nights.

‘It’s not just about the events we put on, though,’ says Reynolds, ‘it’s about the fact that the Arches is a supportive environment, so there are always a lot of local artists and musicians in. The other night, for example, we had Adele Bethel from Sons and Daughters performing at our Scratch theatre night – that’s the sort of thing that happens here.’

The Arches Club Night Review...

Home to Slam's appropriately titled Pressure parties for over a decade now, Glasgow's Arches is a venue that is match made for ceiling-sweating, panel-beating techno raves of Pressure's ilk. From the first time you step into the Arches's bricked-out and stretching railway arches, you know there's only really one choice - rave like fuck or get the fuck out of here. Although, it's not usually a hard one to make given that Dave Clarke, Joris Voorn, Carl Craig and Boys Noize all Pressure regulars. Noisy electro session Death Disco and trance-loving glowstick orgies like Inside Out and Colours also reside here.

"A cavernous warehouse style venue with an outstanding Funktion 1 system and an atmosphere that you don't find anywhere else on the planet - it's like playing a festival every month," say Slam on their spiritual home.