Studio 24

Good club located in the heart of Edinburgh — Different than anyother club in edinburgh, completely different types and styles of music than popular trendy nightclubs such as Hive and WhyNot… It reflects the style of a group that exists but is often forgotten about by other nightclubs! Definitely has the friendliest staff and the nicest people who will want to come up and talk to you or dance with you. Here it is safe to say that everyone feels like family and treats eachother like one, I’ve seen numerous people help drunk and wasted people they don’t even know. This club is one of Edinburgh’s best for socialising expecially because the music isn’t soo loud. The best part is the prices are very reasonable for a good nightout and hosts the best events which are usually fun and even childish sometimes such as the bouncy castle etc.

Nice enough venue for an evening out. The set up is a bit weird in terms of layout and the place as its live music venue rather than a nightclub, but both functions exist here.
The booze is cheap and cheerful, but here is a strange system where by you need a wrist band to show you are over 18. This means that if you are buying a round then you need a line of sight to your table or everyone needs to go to the bar at the same time. The staff seem to turn this into a but a of a game with such a strange senario it does need some light relief. This is where everything really works for me — the service in here even with the presentation of a band senario you are served quickly and always with a bit of a laugh and joke. some bars could really take note of the turn over here in terms waiting time for punters… it reallyy is quite impresive when the place is busy.
Not much more to be said slightly out of town venue for gigs/​club nights, resonable booze selection and great service.

Not a place that I’ve regularly been in — I think I’ve been here maybe twice before — and I’m quite happy about that.
It’s a multi use kind of venue — gigs, night clubs, dancin’ and the odd pro wrestling show (‘mon the ICW guys!) which means it’s jack of all trades, master of none. Club nights mean there’s a 10pm curfew for any gigs at the weekend. I came out of a gig last night and it was still daylight! Wahssupwidat???
The venue itself is handy, being a straight 5 minute walk down the hill from Waverley station, and the staff are all friendly and helpful. It’s the set up that lets it down for me.
It was ROASTING in here. Precious little, if any, fresh air getting in thanks to the way the only door into the main area is at the back, away from the stage. Overbearing lighting didn’t help (I could swear the guitarist was actually melting in front of me) and I was desperate for a drink of water to try and cool off.
Of course, being such a small venue means that people were packed in and moving was more or less an impossibility… I saw a couple of people looked REALLY worse for wear with the heat; I think I sweated off a ton of weight and needed a shower when I got home as it felt like everything was still stuck to me.
The bar as well, that needs addressing. No draft tap. None. Not one. Just lukewarm fridged cans. I got a can of Red Stripe when I went in, and it wasn’t cold. Unforgiveable! As such, I didn’t buy anything else while I was there.
There are far better and bigger gig venues to attend. This is not one of my favourites, I have to say.
Maybe I’m just too old to appreciate being squeezed in like a sardine, battered about, and overheating to dangerous levels?

Studio 24 is a bit of a strange place. ‘Are we there yet? Are you sure it’s this way? Are we in Glasgow? We’ve walked quite far and this kind of looks like Glasgow. Are we close?’ tend to be how conversations go on the walk over to this place (although in fairness, it’s not really THAT far, it’s just in a quiet area).
The place is a bit scruffy, there’s no doubt. But the bouncers and bar staff are friendly and they offer something a bit different from the sticky floors and bright lights of other Edinburgh clubs and for that, it wins an extra star.
I came here for a roller disco (!!) and it was the perfect place for it. It wasn’t too expensive, with £5 entry and £2 skate hire. The music wasn’t so loud that it made it hard to talk to others and it was small enough that it made it easy to spark up conversations with other patrons (often leading with ‘are you really rubbish at this too?!’).
Studio 24 most certainly wouldn’t be to everyone’s liking, but it has a certain charm and I will definitely be at their next roller disco (I’ll be the one with bruised elbows and knees).

Studio 24 is definitely not my sort of place and i don’t think that i’d ever have found myself here. however when a friend organised her birthday night and planned to go to Studio 24 for its Green Door night, i said yes and found myself looking forward to it.
Green Door is sort of a pop up 50s/​60s dance night upstairs from the usual bar of Studio 24. the place is a bit off the beaten track, in fact i wasn’t sure where we were going until we actually got there. it’s £2 to get in before 11pm and £5 thereafter, so while not free to get in it’s not expensive either. drinks are also on the less expensive side, so it’s a good night out if you are looking to keep costs low. the space itself is a bit of what i’d call frat party-​esque. sticky floors, random array of tables and chairs, and a hand drawn assortment of decorations on the way, while you continue to question the cleanliness of anything you touch the whole night.
the main attraction of Green Door however is the music! and what fun it was, loads of hits from the 50s and 60s to twist and shout to! i loved that there were so many people dressed up for the night, proper 50s hair dos and dresses, it really added a fun element to the night. i definitely had a great boogie and a good time! not sure if this is really my sort of place, but last night i had a great time and with enough drinks first could probably be persuade to go again!

I go to Studio 24 on a regular basis, mainly for their monthly nights. In particular, Green Door on the 2^nd /​3^rd (I can’t remember) Saturday of each month: a retro ‘disco’ night, playing only tunes from the 50s and 60s for you to shake it up (baby), twist and shout.
I love the night, but I always warn friends who are thinking of going that the club itself is a bit scaffy. It reminds me of those cringe-​worthy school discos at 1^st year in school. Dusty wooden floors, chairs and tables scattered round with a space made for the dance floor.
But at Green Door there’s a papier mache crocodile (the Rock-​adile) looking after the free cake (that’s always delicious) and a barber giving gents a proper Danny-​from-​Grease flick hair style. The scaffyness kind of suits it.
The club itself is down a dodgy road, under a bridge, behind Waverley train station. Wouldn’t recommend going down there alone.
The bouncers are always friendly. The staff on the door are nice. It’s just very cheap, scaffy, a bit old. I’d go here for themed nights, but not much else.

As a night club the Studios is a bit out of the way and in all honest probably isn’t worth the walk to get there, if this sounds like a rather negative opening gambit, give me a moment to explain the A-​OK rating.
Studio 24 is a great mid sized gig venue, I have seen various rock/​metal/​thrash/​industrial bands here and enjoyed it immensely. They have a proper sound desk and the sound quality is good (if occasionally a little loud) along with decent lighting and projectors, this place is a good venue. On the nights where it hosts a gig studios is worth the wander away from the beaten track.
So it’s good? Well the thing is beer/​cider comes in bottles or cans (no draught) and the spirits are your generic ovd/​smirnoff/​gordons type all served in plastic glasses (though they are reasonably priced) as you may tell I am a little conflicted.
Let me attempt to sum up, Studio 24 is a good (maybe even great) venue but an average club, my recommendation is come for a gig and stick around with the gig crowd and on other nights well there are a host of better clubs.

Best reviewed by the immortal lyrics of The Hooters,
And we danced like a wave on the ocean, romanced
We were liars in love and we danced
Swept away for a moment by chance
And we danced and danced danced.
And we kissed boys ½ our age
and we wore 50’s clothes
and we drank shots of buckshot
and we walked home with no shoes on
and we may or may not have witnessed the making of a homosexual orgy
and we ate candy off the tables
and we didn’t hate even one second (which is rare for me, cause dancing gives me hives)
I hate clubs, but I don’t hate Studio 24… so there’s enough reason to give it five stars right there…

Having not been in a few years I’ve been back to this venue a few times this year for an electronic/​techno night. There doesn’t seem to have been too much of a change (from what I remember) and that’s not a bad thing. The stone, lighting, rough edges, etc are the perfect backdrop for an underground/​alternative club night. Decent number of seats near the bar and the atmosphere can get pretty intense down the front.

I have such mixed feelings about this place, it was the first club I ever went to and being into «alternative music» was, and still is, one of the very few options I have in Edinburgh for a going out a for a dance and I have had some truly great nights out there. It also hosts gigs, an being a big fan live music I often attend for that purpose.
As a club, its OK, Saturday night (the rock night) is when I tend to go and although I hardly go nowadays (compared to every week or two when I was younger) it seems to be the same songs every week and has been the same for the last 10 years (it does feel like i go back in time every time I step in) and they do play some more modern stuff now, the same old same tunes are guaranteed to prevail. It can be fun though, and yes its dirty, and sweaty and the toilets stink and the floors stick, but to be honest that’s what makes this place «the studios» and its cheap enough. If they tried to do the same thing is a clean, modern and shiny venue it would just fall flat on its arse. Problem is, it seems to have got a bit elitist and judgemental and the last few times I have been there I have spent WAY too long trying to get a drink and getting blatantly ignored in favour of the regulars, to the point where even they had to tell bar staff that it was time to serve me. This has happened to pretty much everyone i know that doesn’t fit a stereotypical rock/​punk/​emo/​metal look and just seems a bit crazy seeing as their numbers are in decline, you would think they would be encouraging custom, not pushing it away. Problem is, with the likes of the Cathouse and Classic Grand in Glasgow showing how it should be done, its hard not to compare and end up with the conclusion that Studio 24 pales in comparison, especially as its so easy to just take the trip to Glasgow for a night out instead and get the night bus home.
As a gig venue though, it is one of the best small venues in Edinburgh. Its a good size, with good sound and a great layout for viewing and wish there were more small bands that I like playing here rather than Glasgow. The staff don’t cause any grief when its a gig either, which is nice.
Its an Edinburgh Institution, and i’ll no doubt be back and i’ll no doubt have fun, I will just never hold my hopes very high!

As venues go this is one of a strict dichotomy, the upstairs is freezing, the downstairs is boiling and everywhere Inbetween is inexplicably soaking wet.
The bar is reasonably priced but it takes so long to get served that it’s hardly worth it. Both cloakrooms were full before midnight and it really didn’t feel worth the £9 entry fee.
The toilets had no signage to distinguish between male and female so we ended up with two unisex mish mashes, There are plenty of arcade machines dotted around the place but very few of them seemed to work.
All in there are lots of things making this a less than average venue, the least of which is the lack of ventilation and thus escape from the foul smell that clogs up the place.
As it stands I was there for a very particular event and whilst I may revisit the club were the event to revisit the same location; I’d be much more prepared to see it somewhere else and give this place a wide berth…

Studio 24 is dutty (yeh I said it… dutty), but in that really cool eway. It is a grimy little club down around the back of Waverley but has some amazing club nights on and just is one of those filthy places that are awesome. The crowd are always either rock kids, punks, hippies, grungers or some form of alt chic and there is a really good anti-​mainstream feel to the club. The music shows this as well, with weekly rock nights and the best one –Balkanarama — being the complete opposite of George Street. It is awesome Eastern European folk rock music, kind of like a night of Gogol Bordello impersonators.
They also have great live music as well, and this is saying something in Edinburgh. Normally there are underground alternate bands, but occasionally there are awesome names playing (like Rancid, who I saw 2 years ago and were incredible). The venue is just the right size for these as well, it is small enough to have a great atmosphere but big enough not to be too cramped.
They have a bar in the main room which sells the normal beers you’d expect at a gig venue, and another upstairs. This smaller second room is often overlooked by people but you can find some great acoustic sets up there and it’s a good place to chill out once you’ve moshed a bit too hard.
A dirty little place but it relies on the music and with this, it is one of the best clubs in Edinburgh.

Studio 24 is one of Edinburgh’s premier alternative night clubs. Set on two floors, each with its own bar and nightclub, its not actually the biggest club given the numbers that can attend.
When I first moved to Edinburgh I used to visit Studio 24 with friends on a Saturday night for their «Retribution» night, which features more classic rock and heavy metal than anything else (but still a range of rock in between). This is probably Studio 24’s busiest night. Throughout the week they have several other themes, but all tend toward various rock, punk, and associated genres.
The bar isn’t fantastic and a little overpriced. But if you’re planning on drinking and you’re sensible you’ve probably been to a bar beforehand anyway. One thing I’ve always liked about Studio 24 are the clean toilets!
I’ll always have a soft spot for Studio 24. For someone who feels uncomfortable and out of place in many clubs, Studio 24 offers an alternative atmosphere, one of surprising openness and tolerance, even if half the clientele look like vampires.

Studio 24 is great in that way that really skanky clubs are great. I mean, the amount of times I’ve been there an come home covered in beer and seen the walls sweat while I danced is a number you couldn’t reach by counting all your limbs, digits, strands of hair (I’m prone to exaggeration). Again, I think one qualitative aspect of a venue is its ability to choose decent nights to put on, and Studio 24 puts on one of the best nights in Edinburgh: Balkanarama. It used to be the kind of night that was kind of underground, but in the last year or so it’s picked up momentum and has acquired quite a following. And Studio 24 is the perfect venue for it: there’s an acoustic session in the upstairs bar, and downstairs there’s live music by bands such as Black Cat and Orkestra del Sol. Once, Saska, who runs the night, put it on at the HMV Picturehouse, which we were all excited about because it’s a proper venue. But it just wasn’t skanky enough. The walls didn’t sweat and it was too easy to get away from the music if you found yourself exhausted from dancing.
Yes, you won’t come home smelling clean from a night out at Studio 24, but neither would you want to.

Hosting a variety of very good nights in Edinburgh, such as the amazing Itchy Feet and Balkanarama, I have grown to like this place. It’s not the the biggest or certainly not the prettiest club but these events do become quite crowded, but it’s nice that the dance floor is somewhat separate from the bar and that there is a large stage and a convenient outdoor smoking area.
I once got got dizzy from the smoke machines here but I think they have fixed them since then. The cloak room is tiny and manned by one person so on a busy night expect ques. There is also a second bar as you enter up the stairs which is more laid back and has more couches.
The main bar is pricey for the sloppy drinks it serves but you don’t really come here for the bar, it’s more for the event that’s on.
Studio 24 is located under Carlton Hill and there isn’t a whole lot of alternatives around but it always seems to be popular with the young crowds of the City.

Studio 24 is probably as far away as you’ll get from any mainstream banter in Edinburgh. It aims to be completely different, and does so pretty excellently. If you want Reggae, Dancehall, Dubstep, Punk, New Wave, Mod, Ska, Rockabilly, Surf, 60s, Psychedelia, Garage, Soul, Rock, Metal, Hardcore, Industrial, Goth, Breaks, Balkan, Psy-​trance, Techno or House, then this is your place. Alternative is the name of Studio 24’s game (like a nice rhyme), so if you want your jaded night time outings to be jolted back to life with a big zap of something different, then I recommend giving this well established venue a try.
As well as the range of alternative nights held here, there are also a lot of live performances, and a night called The Mission, for classic rock and metal, which my rock music loving friends keep banging on about. Last time I was here I watched an awesome Ska band, then danced badly to some Reggae. The club’s interior isn’t aesthetically stunning or anything, but it does have huge character, and the space for gig watching is pretty big. I don’t know any other venue where you get such a wide range of different kinds of people and styles mixing in the same room, and that’s what really struck me when I was here. Dance and dress how you want without the fear of pretension and dubious vibes stopping you from enjoying yourself.

Sometimes Studio 24 puts on some wicked ‘alternative’ nights; psy-​trance, balkan music, even gabba.
But most of the time the nights will be of the emo or metal varieties, which personally doesn’t go down too well.
There are also heaps of underage emo kids cutting about a lot of the time.

Studio 24 knows its business & has long been the favoured hang out of Edinburgh’s Metal and Goth alternaclass, with regular EBM and ‘Metal’ nights and metal gigs galore, it looks like nothing will change anytime soon.
However the Studios is past its prime, its club nights are sparsely attended and feature poor DJ choices and lack the atmosphere for which the place was previously reknowned! A refurb a few years ago fixed many of its grubbier façade issues but the rancid sewage stench from the bathrooms tends to engulf the place from around 12am & is pretty unbearable.
Gigs at the studios usually fall into the generic metal category (with the odd exception) and bands playing there are rarely anything that will tempt even the most hardened metal fan to leave their cosy recliner.
I hope that the venue regains its reputation, nothing some good promoters, a decent plumber & new DJ or two couldn’t fix anyway!
Ess

Must admit not been there since I was in my early teens. They used to do a under-​age night on a Saturday which I think they still do.
Never felt like they treated the clubbers as kids which was good.

Compared to Glasgow, Edinburgh’s club scene can feel rather bland if sometimes virtually nonexistent. Many of the clubs feel innocuous with an outdated pop-​dance environment or stifling and repetitive drum and bass. Perhaps it is for this reason that Studio 24 has become so well known amongst advocates of an alternative music scene. Indeed in the Edinburgh setting it does stand out.
The music varies throughout the week from diverse genres of rock, electro and metal. However Studio 24 is perhaps best known for Retribution on Saturdays. For a reasonable five pounds, come early and rock your head to heavy rock until the early hours. Retribution has a fairly regular clientele. Perhaps this aides the almost familial, or maybe tribal, feeling you get when you are head banging in a circle to loud metal.
The overall environment is well fitting: dark, perhaps a little dank, with loud audio and a colourful crowd. Incidentally Studio 24 does feel like a place where you can literally let your hair down and be yourself. Many clubs feel too image conscious with an air of coercion to dance and act in a particular fashion. Undoubtedly Studio 24 leans more towards some sub cultures than others, but there is a sort of unwritten rule forbidding those on the dance floor to scoff at others, allowing you to be yourself and just go a little crazy.
However one can’t help feeling that Studio 24 only stands out so much for lack of alternative. Within Edinburgh Retribution does feel different but perhaps benefits from the overall rather poor club scene.
None the less a different and diverse club where you can feel free to express yourself. Recommended.