Anywhere with a listing
Why some listings look invented
The directories currently show example entries while real venues are being signed up.
How it works
- The footer says so on every page, and the pages showing examples are deliberately kept out of search results so nobody arrives at one from a search.
- The pages that are true today — what the platform is, what it costs, how to sign up, the policies — are real and are in search results.
- When the real listings arrive, the examples go. There is no second version of the site to switch to.
Venue directory
Filtering the directory
Narrowing the list to the pubs that match what you actually want tonight.
How it works
- Filters combine: picking two things shows pubs that have both, not either.
- A pub that has not answered a question does not appear under that filter. An empty answer is unknown, not no, so a filter can hide a pub that would have suited you.
- The map and the list are the same results. Moving the map does not change the filters.
What to do
- Start with the one thing you will not compromise on, and add filters only while there are still results.
- Clear all is quicker than undoing four filters one at a time.
Home page and venue directory
The map
One pin per pub, placed from the address the pub gave us.
How it works
- Pins are coloured by how much a pub has going on, not by how good it is.
- Clicking a pin opens that pub. The map and the list below show the same set of pubs.
- Nothing about your own location is sent anywhere unless you ask for pubs near you, and you can search by area instead.
Venue directory
Find a beer
Which pubs have a particular beer on, and which have it in the cellar.
How it works
- The list you are offered is what the pubs on here have actually typed on their own pump lists, so whatever you pick, a real pub has it.
- A few well-known beers are offered as well, marked as having no pub yet, so an empty search still tells you something.
- On now and Coming soon are kept apart. Coming soon is a pub saying it is in the cellar and roughly when it goes on — it is not a promise about tonight.
- Spelling is forgiving: “landlord” finds “Timothy Taylor’s Landlord”. Nobody’s listing is renamed to match anybody else’s.
What to do
- Searching a short bit of the name finds more than the full one.
- The result is a normal link — it can be sent to whoever is deciding where to meet.
Venue directory
The music star
A mark a pub earns from the people who go there, for the music.
How it works
- A pub gets it once a hundred people have rated the music and the average holds above eight out of ten.
- It cannot be bought, and it is not given out by us. Pubs cannot pay for it or ask for it.
- It comes off again if the average drops. It describes the room now, not the room in the year it was awarded.
Record nights
The Unknown
A pub night built around records: you bring one, the staff play a side of it, and the people in the room vote.
How it works
- You bring a record. Pick a side nobody in the room is likely to know.
- You book a slot for it. A slot is thirty minutes, which covers the changeover and a short intro, and the staff put your side on.
- The people in the room vote on what they heard. The best score of the night takes the crown.
Record nights
The room score
What a room thought of a record, out of ten, averaged across everybody who voted.
How it works
- It is the average of the room on the night. The landlord's opinion does not count for more than anybody else's, and neither does ours.
- It is attached to the record as played in that room on that night. The same record can score differently in a different pub, and frequently does.
- Scores are only comparable within a night. A nine on a busy Friday and a nine in a quiet back room are not the same achievement, and nothing pretends otherwise.
Record nights
The crown
The highest-scoring record of a night, and who brought it.
How it works
- One per night. It is recorded against the member who brought the record, not against the pub.
- Crowns are what the league table counts. Turning up often matters more than turning up with something rare.
- It is awarded by the room's scores, not chosen by the host.
Record nights
The league table
Who has won the most, and how it can be read two ways.
How it works
- By crowns rewards turning up. By room score rewards the quality of what you brought, and needs a minimum number of nights before you appear, so one lucky night does not top the table.
- Both orderings are the same people; only the sort changes.
- It counts nights at every pub, not just your local.
Top 100 venues
The ranking
Pubs ordered by what people who went there said about the music.
How it works
- The score is the average rating for the music, and the number beside it is how many people rated it. A high average from nine people is not a ranking.
- It is rated by people who went, not by us, and no pub can pay to move.
- It is music only. It is not a ranking of the beer, the food or the welcome.
Gigs
Saved acts and venues
A list of who you want to keep an eye on, which changes what you get shown.
How it works
- Saving something moves it up your own listings and nothing else. Nobody is told you saved them.
- It needs an account, because it has to be saved against somebody.
- You can unsave anything at any time and nothing is kept.
Buy, swap, sell
Trade days
A day when a pub gives its room over to people selling records across a few tables.
How it works
- The pub hosts it and takes the table money, if there is any. We take nothing and are not involved in anything sold.
- You turn up, you browse, you buy. Cash is safest; some sellers take cards on their own reader or a payment link. There is normally a deck on the bar so you can hear something before you commit.
- Every sale is between you and the seller. Neither we nor the pub takes a cut, holds the money or is part of the deal.
- Tables are limited by the room. A snug takes two; a function room takes ten.
What to do
- Bring cash and a bag. You will need the bag.
- It is fine to bring a crate and buy nothing, and fine to buy the whole crate.
Buy, swap, sell
Booking a table
Taking one of the selling spots at a trade day.
How it works
- You book through the pub, not through us. The money, if there is any, changes hands in the pub as it always has.
- The number of tables is the landlord's own figure, set in their admin, and the number taken is live.
- A day showing as full is full. Nothing is held back.
What to do
- Take your own payments: cash, your own card reader, or a bank payment link. The pub's till and card machine are not for your sales.
- Check your reader works offline before the doors open. Back rooms have bad signal.
- Watch the money arrive before the record leaves the table. A screenshot of a sent payment is not a payment.
- Selling your own records now and then is not trading. Buying records to sell on is, and over £1,000 a year that means telling HMRC.
Merchandise and checkout
Collect from a pub
Having an order sent to a participating pub instead of to your door.
How it works
- Orders go to the pub in one delivery with everybody else's, so it is cheaper than posting and often quicker.
- You get a reference. You show it at the bar and they hand over the parcel.
- The pub is not paid for this and does not handle any money. They do it for the footfall.
What to do
- Pick a pub you actually pass. A parcel at a pub you never visit is worse than the postage.
- Collect it within 28 days. After that it is given to the pub or comes back to us, whichever you chose when you ordered.
Merchandise
Sizes and fit
What the sizes mean, measured rather than described.
How it works
- Sizes are given as garment measurements, not as small, medium and large, because those mean different things from different suppliers.
- Measure a shirt you already like flat across the chest and match the number. It is more reliable than guessing from a label.
- Printing is to order, which is why there is no sale rail and no sizes out of stock.
Checkout
Postage and returns
What delivery costs, how long it takes, and what happens if it is wrong.
How it works
- Postage is shown before you pay, not added at the end.
- Because items are printed to order, dispatch takes a few days before the postage time starts.
- Something faulty or wrong is replaced. Something that simply does not fit is covered by the normal statutory return rights, which the terms set out in full.
Track your order
Tracking an order
Looking up where an order is, with the reference from your confirmation.
How it works
- You do not need an account. The reference is enough, which is deliberate so a gift can be tracked by whoever is waiting for it.
- The status is what the dispatch desk has actually recorded, not an estimate.
- For a pub collection, collected means somebody took it from the bar.
Sign up
Choosing a plan
The difference between the free account and the paid ones.
How it works
- The free account browses everything, saves places and joins in on a night. It is not a trial and it does not expire.
- The paid plans add the benefits listed beside them. The comparison is the honest version; the headline is not.
- You can start free and upgrade later without losing anything, and you can stop a paid plan yourself at any time.
What to do
- If you are not sure, start free. Upgrading later costs nothing extra and keeps your history.
Sign up and the home page
Founding places
A limited number of places with a better deal for joining early.
How it works
- The counter is real and it counts down. When it reaches the cap the offer stops advertising itself, rather than quietly staying on.
- It applies automatically when you join. There is nobody to ask and no code to enter.
- It is a fixed number of places, not a date. It can run out sooner or later than you expect.
Founders
The Founder plan
A year paid up front, cheaper than twelve months of the monthly plan, with a few things that only come with it.
How it works
- It includes everything the monthly plan gets, and the joining pint comes on day one rather than after three months.
- There is a fixed number of them. Your number stays yours afterwards, whatever happens to the platform.
- It renews yearly at the same price unless you stop it.
Forum
Why the forum is shut
It is closed deliberately, until the duties that come with hosting user content are met in full.
How it works
- Hosting what the public writes carries legal duties around risk assessment, reporting and protecting minors. We read them and decided we were not ready.
- It was our decision rather than something we were made to do, and it is written up in the repository as a risk assessment.
- When it opens it will be members-only, screened, and reportable on every post.
Sign up and the app
The age check
Why you are asked to confirm your age before joining.
How it works
- The whole platform is about licensed premises, so an adult-only account is the honest default.
- It is a declaration, which is what is proportionate here. It is not an identity check and no document is asked for.
- The date you give is recorded against the account so you are not asked again.
Not answered here? Ask us. A person reads it.