Toronto City Guide - Nightlife

Toronto's nightlife is yet another aspect of urban life that defies the city's staid reputation. Drinking hours run until 0200 and nightclubs and after-hours clubs often stay open until dawn. A few self-consciously trendy nightclubs may have no-jeans, no-trainers policies at the door. Since it is illegal in the Province of Ontario to serve alcohol and not serve food, bars can often be considered places to eat as much as to drink. The legal drinking age in Toronto is 19.

The free, alternative weeklies, eye (website: www.eye.net) and NOW (website: www.nowtoronto.com), provide the latest information on club nights and gig listings, while Xtra (website: www.xtra.ca) covers the gay scene.

The most common nights for locals to spend on the town are Thursday, Friday and Saturday, although enthusiastic crowds can usually be found on most other nights. The most popular area for bars and clubs is in the heart of the city centre, slightly west of the Financial District, around the Theatre District on King and Queen Streets. For a more ethnic feel, Little Italy offers Italian-flavoured bars and clubs that tend to attract a cooler, more refined crowd in search of pasta, properly mixed drinks and better music. Greektown offers a slew of Greek restaurants and bars that import something of a Mediterranean festive feel even on the darkest of winter nights. Local pubs and bars playing a hockey or baseball game on TV can be found almost anywhere and are great spots for a plate of chicken wings and a beer.

Bars: British visitors will feel at home in the many pubs that dot the city, showing up on street corners and in the more commercial neighbourhood high streets. The Madison Avenue Pub, 14 Madison Avenue, is something like a super-pub, taking up four floors within two converted Victorian houses. The Rebel House, 1068 Yonge Street, a neighbourhood favourite, serves a range of good beer and uncommonly good pub food. For a taste of the excellent lager and ale at the city's best brew pubs, try the Granite Brewery, 245 Eglinton Avenue East, or the Steam Whistle Brewing Company, 255 Bremner Boulevard, directly south of the CN Tower.

Little Italy's Bar Italia, 582 College Street, is a stylish and trendy cocktail bar with reasonably priced and tasty pasta, which attracts the good-looking weekend crowd. The Rivoli, 332 Queen Street West, draws a slightly more alternative crowd. One side of the bar serves fusion cuisine, the other cocktails, while concerts, club nights and spoken-word events take place in the back and there is a large pool hall upstairs. Further west is the Gypsy Co-op, 817 Queen Street West, comfortable as a bar/lounge/restaurant earlier in the day or as a nightclub later on. One of the friendliest gay bars in Toronto is the boisterous Woody's, 465 Church Street. A sense of the country's ice hockey obsession can be experienced at Wayne Gretzky's, 99 Blue Jays Way, owned by one of the game's greatest players ever and a monument to his success on the ice.

Clubs: Richmond Street is home to many of the city's biggest and best-known clubs. Joe, 250 Richmond Street West (website: www.joeonline.ca), is one of the city's longer-standing venues and offers a lounge and rooftop patio in addition to popular nights of house and retro hits. Not far away is Roxy Blu, 12 Brant Street, known for modern R&B, garage and house, as well as high-profile DJs occasionally flown into town. Muzik, 15 Saskatchewan Road, Exhibition Place (website: www.muzikclubs.com), is energetic, stylish and decadent. High energy levels also characterise Lot 332, 332 Richmond Street. Chilled-out spots include Ciao Edie, 489 College Street, filled with retro-funk furnishings, and Fluid Lounge, 217 Richmond Street West. On the eastern edge of the city centre is The Guvernment, 132 Queen's Quay East (website: www.theguvernment.com), a massive warehouse rigged with an industrial-strength sound system that pumps out progressive house and trance Saturday nights until dawn. Gay clubs are scattered throughout the Church and Wellesley area; one of the biggest is the three-floor complex at 418 Church Street, The Barn and its adjacent Stables.

Comedy: Toronto is home to what is probably North America's most famous comedy club chain, The Second City. The Toronto branch, situated at 51 Mercer Street, at Blue Jays Way, next to Gretzky's (website: www.secondcity.com), however, is of particular pop-cultural significance; it witnessed the beginning of the careers of future Hollywood greats, such as Dan Aykroyd, Mike Myers and Martin Short, in the late 1970s. Toronto's other big venue is Yuk Yuk's Comedy Cabaret, 224 Richmond Street West (website: www.yukyuks.com).

Live Music: The Horseshoe Tavern, 370 Queen Street West (website: www.horseshoetavern.com), a gritty down-home and historical venue and the first on the continent to receive The Police, is a good place to hear local and international acts. Even better in terms of showcasing new, international talent is The Mod Club Theatre, 722 College Street (website: www.themodclubtheatre.com). The Phoenix, 410 Sherbourne Street (website: www.libertygroup.com/phoenix) is another nice venue for big and small names. Massey Hall, 178 Victoria Street (website: www.masseyhall.com), hosts everything from jazz, classical, rock and world music to international dance troupes. A more laid-back atmosphere can be found at the The Rex Hotel Jazz & Blues Bar, 194 Queen Street West (website: www.therex.ca), and the Montreal Bistro and Jazz Club, 65 Sherbourne Street. For more jazz, check out the Jazz In Toronto website (website: www.jazzintoronto.com).