Next door to the Sub Club - one of Scotland’s most revered clubbing institutions - a new venue has just opened its doors to an eager public. One of Glasgow’s oldest cinemas and formerly the Coco Club, The Classic Grand on Jamaica Street is a newly refurbished, multi-purpose club and music venue over two floors with a total capacity of about 700. With already established nights like Club Olum and White Heat joining forces with their own in-house nights, Friday Factory and Porno, the venue knows where it wants to be in the grand scheme of things clubs-wise.

Alec Downie, venue manager, elaborates. ‘There is a point where being surrounded by 18-year-old kids is cool and there is a point where you think, “maybe I’m getting that little bit older but I still want to do stuff”. That’s almost the golden egg in club land. Everyone has tried to do that but the mistake that a lot of people have made is that they have gone for the straighter audience. I think we are going to do something that is exciting, accessible and comfortable for those people who want to go out and listen to good tunes but do it in a slightly more comfortable and cleaner environment.’

The Classic Grand is just one in a long line of new kids on the block, each one offering different things to different groups of punters. As Alec says, ‘We are really at the cooler end of indie. If you want to dance, you can dance here and have fun, but if you want to go to a rave and get pilled up, don’t come here.’

Young Mister Klaxon may have coined the phrase ‘new rave’, but let’s face it people, dance music never bloody died, it just went into hiding, dodging the editors of certain music mags and lifestyle pages that tell you what’s hot and what’s not along the way. In a sweaty basement near you, the dance music massive have been flying their flags all along, waiting for more venues to open, and Glasgow has come up trumps on the venue front of late. A whole new batch of fledgling venues has literally sprung up overnight, with Sauchiehall Street leading the pack with Stavka and Firewater and Guru (formerly Blanket). Karbon, located just off Buchanan Street, is hosting regular electro and house nights at weekends with a more student-friendly programme mid-week, while The Hold, beneath the Admiral Bar, has hosted some great parties of late, including Smash Team Disco. Even the west end has a new venue in the shape of Boho.

Fuck the begrudgers, clubbing in Glasgow right now is as hot as a night down the Hacienda or at Studio 54 in its heyday.

The Classic Grand is located at 18 Jamaica Street, Glasgow. Its club programme currently runs Wednesday-Saturday. See listings for details.