done a million times but new NME vote thing, obvs meaningless and the demographic will choose pretty awful stuff, but an excuse to give some recognition to places you like http://www.nme.com/smallvenues

for me obvs nothing comes close to leeds Brudenell Social Club, been to all the places people rate in london, manchester, etc and there's just nowhere in the same league i've found. it's obviously massively through familiarity but it's pretty much objectively the best place on earth

seriously is there anywhere near this good in london? the lexington's alright i suppose, and i quite liked the luminaire but didnt get people raving about it. quite like the shacklewell arms.

reasoning:
-good area
-good staff
-great in-house bookings/works with the best promoters
-supports good "local stuff" and not in an awful battle of the bands high school kind of way
-good selection of drinks, reasonably priced
-great layout for any type of music, almost always good sound
-best place for alldayers
-diverse gigs
-games room
-good in either summer or winter
-tvs with football on
-sceney and a bit cliquey but in the best possible way. i.e. welcoming
-dog
-broadly speaking "indie" but not in a poncey way like certain places. working class roots etc (CLASS WARFARE)

maaaaan this is embarrassing that people i know will probs read this